The Legal 500

Jersey

Banking and finance

Banking and finance - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

Carey Olsen ‘is the leading finance practice in Jersey’, known for its ‘consistently considered and commercial advice’, according to one client. ‘Sensible, responsive and commercial’ team leader Robin Smith ‘is always a pleasure to work with’ and recently acted for a major transnational bank in a high-value term loan facility to a borrower group structure comprising over 30 Jersey and Guernsey companies. The department has also recently handled significant ring-fencing mandates and fund financing work, and NewRiver appointed the team to advise on £430m of unsecured facilities from a syndicate of lenders including Barclays, HSBC and Santander. Clients also praise Kate Andrews and Peter German as ‘user-friendly and proactive’. The group recently made several hires, including counsel Michael Evans from Ogier and senior associate Laura McConnell from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.

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Commercial property

Commercial property - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

The ‘extremely competent and knowledgeable team’ at Carey Olsen ‘provides an excellent service’ through its ‘proactive collaborative approach’. Alex Ohlsson is recommended for property structures and commercial leases, and clients praise practice head Christopher Philpott for his ‘in-depth knowledge of property’ and John Kelleher for his skills in litigation. Also recommended is senior associate Will Whitehead, who is part of the team advising the Ports of Jersey on the restructuring of its major property portfolio, and is supporting Ohlsson in his advice to the States of Jersey Development Company on its residential redevelopment of the former Jersey College for Girls site. A wide array of clients including both landlords and tenants also appointed the department to oversee high-value asset disposals, negotiate lease arrangements, and handle office moves and property transactions. New clients include Minerva Trust, Molton Brown and STM Fiduciaire.

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Corporate and commercial

Corporate and commercial - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

Carey Olsen's enviable client base includes names such as Sanne, Stonehage Fleming and Janus Henderson Group. Guy Coltman was instructed alongside the firm’s banking department to advise Delphi Automotive on the spin-off of its Powertrain Systems segment into a new publicly traded entity with support from counsel David Allen, who has experience in scheme of arrangement matters. On the transactional front, the ‘very responsive and commercial’ James Willmott acted on the buyer side of Sandpiper CI’s acquisition of a chain of Costcutter-branded convenience stores in Jersey, and advised Cape on the Jersey aspects of its proposed multi-million-pound takeover by a subsidiary of Altrad Investment Authority with help from senior associate Katherine Tresca. Clients also engage Alex Ohlsson and the firm’s real estate outfit to handle high-value property transactions. Counsel Michael Evans, who recently joined the team from Ogier, is another key name to note, alongside senior associate David Taylor. Paul Burton joined Maples and Calder's newly opened Jersey office in September 2018.

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Dispute resolution

Dispute resolution - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

Carey Olsen is ‘at the forefront of dispute resolution in Jersey’ thanks to its ‘enormously experienced and talented’ team. Known for his ‘great legal brain and silky advocacy’, John Kelleher spearheads the six-partner offering, which recently welcomed counsel Michael Goulbourn from First Names. The ‘authoritative, precise and clear’ William Grace advised the United States government on Jersey law issues pertaining to the enforcement of a financial order in criminal proceedings; Jeremy Garrood is currently representing Investec as the senior secured creditor in enforcement and insolvency proceedings against the Jersey interest of a high-net-worth individual; and Marcus Pallot, who ‘has extremely good tactical awareness’, continues to act for Faircliff Property in the recovery of fraud losses. Other notable contacts include ‘excellent advocate’ Richard Holden, the ‘user-friendly’ Andreas Kistler and Stephen Fitzgerald, who can ‘get to grips with an issue in a frighteningly short amount of time’.

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Employment

Employment - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

Carey Olsen ‘can easily hold its own against competitors in the employment field’. Practice head Siobhan Riley led the advice to a leading accountancy practice with regard to race discrimination and unfair constructive dismissal claims brought against it and an individual within the company. A major international bank appointed ‘engaging and swift’ counsel Huw Thomas, who ‘never disappoints’, to collaborate with the corporate team to advise on the employment aspects of its sale, including specific issues pertaining to the transfer of senior executives. He also continues to work alongside associate Tarina Le Boutillier to advise a major infrastructure asset owner and operator on a range of union, data protection and industrial relation disputes before the Employment Tribunal. Other notable highlights included handling a subject access request dispute, restructuring and pension issues with regard to ring-fencing proceedings for banking clients, and senior executive exits.

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Investment funds

Investment funds - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

The investment fund lawyers at Carey Olsen ‘are fantastic – very commercial, practical, helpful and approachable’; clients feel they ‘can always pick up the phone and know the team will give high-quality, pragmatic advice’. Jointly led by the ‘excellent’ James Mulholland and Robert Milner, with ‘the perfect balance of client-handling skills, legal acumen and commercial nous’, the practice represents clients such as SoftBank and Quinbrook Infrastructure. Christopher Griffin ‘worked diligently and swiftly’ to obtain JFSC approval for a Jersey eligible investor fund, and oversaw the launch of a self-managed, crypto-denominated fund as well as ARC Fiduciary’s initial coin offering. The group also handled a number of conversions of private fund structures to expert funds in accordance with the guidance set out by the regulator. Daniel O’Connor specialises in real estate financing and fund structuring mandates. Also notable are ‘proactive and solution-focused’ senior associate Nienke Malan, associate Joseph Barker-Willis and ‘smart and super responsive’ senior associate Claire Le Quesne, who one client describes as a ‘rising star’.

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Private client, trusts and tax

Private client, trusts and tax - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

Carey Olsen fields a ‘strong team with a tight grip on the issues involved and always provides forward-thinking, practical solutions’; ‘the attitudes held by the firm and its practitioners are a comfort that any expectations of a high-quality service will be met’. The ‘professional’ Andreas Kistler ‘goes the extra mile’ and represented the minor and unborn beneficiaries of two trusts in an application to the Royal Court for the widening of the class of beneficiaries to include same-sex marriages and adopted children; practice head Siobhan Riley is known for her ‘technical expertise and commerciality’ and oversaw the establishment of a private trust company for a high-net-worth individual wishing to maintain a high level of oversight. Also notable is ‘highly responsive and pragmatic’ counsel Victoria Connolly, who advised an asset management company on UK inheritance tax issues after the trustee followed incorrect counsel from their UK advisers. Also notable are Keith Dixon, Alexa Saunders and counsel Stephen Fitzgerald, who ‘is an excellent example of the quality of lawyers within the firm’.

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Structured finance and securitisation

Structured finance and securitisation - ranked: tier 1

Carey Olsen

The ‘stand-out’ team at Carey Olsen handles the full gamut of transactions, including commercial mortgage-backed securities, master trusts, sovereign bonds, and synthetic and whole-business securitisations. Known to clients as ‘professional, knowledgeable, helpful, commercially sensible and user-friendly’, the group was recently instructed by a financial services provider to oversee an issuance out of a credit card master trust programme involving a receivables trust for which a Jersey company acts as trustee. Practice head Simon Marks ‘is a market leader in Jersey’ and led the advice to two major international banks with regard to separate synthetic securitisation transactions where a Jersey SPV acted as issuer of credit-linked notes pertaining to an underlying portfolio of bank assets. The ‘very responsive’ Kate Andrews and her ‘outstanding team’ acted for a financial services company in an equity issuance using a cashbox structure. Also notable are senior associates Ashley Morrison and Matthew Ecobichon.

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