Christopher Stiles > Gowling WLG > Birmingham, England > Lawyer Profile

Gowling WLG Offices

Gowling WLG
TWO SNOWHILL
BIRMINGHAM
B4 6WR
England
Visit website 0370 903 1000 0370 904 1099

Christopher Stiles

Christopher Stiles photo
+44 (0)121 393 0663 christopher.stiles@gowlingwlg.com

Work Department

Pensions; Automotive

Position

Partner

Career

“very good technical command and spot on with detail”

Chambers & Partners, 2016

Christopher Stiles is a director based primarily in Birmingham who helps clients to deal with any contentious or non-contentious legal issues that may arise in relation to their pension plans with the greatest possible ease and efficiency.

Pensions can be a challenging area for employers, with pension plans that ranging from legacy arrangements that are now closed to accrual, but are still a major liability on the balance sheet, to ongoing plans that are used to reward current employees.

Christopher takes a particular interest in innovative and complex projects including asset-backed funding arrangements, liability management exercises and buy-outs.

On the trustee side, Christopher has close ongoing relationships with his trustee clients and helps them through the legal issues they face in running their pension schemes, both the day-to-day problems and larger projects including scheme mergers and wind-ups.

Experience

  • advising various clients on asset-backed funding structures using a range of assets and innovative structures to improve the employer’s cash flow while simultaneously improving the security of scheme benefits;
  • helping the trustees of a £1 billion scheme implement a comprehensive funding package with their sponsoring employer;
  • negotiating major buy-in contracts with insurance providers;
  • helping trustees to resolve disputes with scheme members including Pensions Ombudsman cases;
  • advising the trustees of schemes in wind-up to secure benefits with an insurer, terminate the schemes and achieve peace of mind from knowing that all liabilities were correctly secured;
  • helping a company to obtain a significant financial saving from the merger of its legacy pension schemes;
  • advising the trustees of a £1 billion scheme in relation to implementation of a liability-driven investment strategy.

Languages

English

Lawyer Rankings

West Midlands > Employment > Pensions

(Next Generation Partners)

Christopher Stiles   – Gowling WLG

The ‘brilliant‘ Elizabeth Gane  is at the helm at Gowling WLG  and is well-regarded for her work on complex funding issues, mergers and restructurings and benefit change. It has a stellar reputation for its work on diverse issues from advising on major and very large schemes to risk transfers and pensions disputes. Richard Black advises the trustees of some of the largest schemes in the UK. Paul Carberry  is a known name for his work with a broad mix of trustees and employers. Christopher Stiles  is skilled at advising both employers and trustees. Joanne Tibbott  is highly regarded for her work with both trustee and employer clients. Richard Lee  is another leading member of the practice.

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