Firm Profile > PwC LLP > Manchester, England

Employment Tier 4

PwC LLP's employment head Laura Nadel, who was promoted to director in 2018, has been leading the firm's work on the liquidation of Carillion, one of the biggest and most complex insolvencies of its kind in UK history. The team also advises employers on national minimum wage and holiday pay compliance as well as gender and equal pay issues. The team has seen a number of recent significant changes, with James Buckley and Jo Payne both promoted to senior manager in December 2018 and two new junior lawyers joining from VWV and Hill Dickinson LLP in November 2018.

M&A: smaller deals, up to £50m Tier 1

PwC LLP provides the full range of corporate M&A advice to clients, leveraging off its conversion to a multidisciplinary practice and working in tandem with colleagues across the firm's traditional practices. The team handles work for existing non-legal clients, in addition to bringing on new clients specifically for legal services. The firm also has a dedicated due diligence offering, and has worked alongside other law firms on large-scale M&A projects. Prior to the multidisciplinary conversion, Shirley Brookes was senior partner of Pwc Legal,  she continues to engage with a number of the firm's clients, while Stuart Hatcher is a key name for deals.

Data protection, privacy and cybersecurity Tier 2

Tax litigation and investigations Tier 2

At PwC LLP, David Anderson takes the lead on indirect tax disputes, Mark Whitehouse heads the direct tax disputes department, while contentious UK environmental tax is led by director Jayne Harrold. The group is closely aligned to the firm's wider tax offering, benefiting from the accounting and professional services firm's deep taxation expertise. This enables the firm to provide clients with a truly multi-disciplinary service. As well as covering the full  spectrum of tax litigation and investigations, the team has experience in handling judicial reviews.

Pensions (non-contentious) Tier 3

PwC LLP’s pensions offering largely caters to the firm’s corporate sponsor clients, who instruct the team on a broad scope of matters for their high-value pension schemes. A strong point for the team involves working alongside the firm’s actuarial and tax practices to deliver innovative asset-backed funding arrangements including property-based arrangements. Further mandates include pension liability management (including contentious indexing issues), scheme restructuring exercises, auto-enrollment compliance advice, corporate transactional assistance and ESG planning. Oliver Reece heads up the team, which also includes Fraser Sparks and David Farmer.

Commercial property: investment Tier 4

The ‘dynamic and pragmatic’ team at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is noted for its ‘exceptional client service’. Real estate practice head Amit Unadkat is ‘always on the ball’ and oversees a team with specialist knowledge of acquisition and disposals, developments, corporate occupier work, structuring and joint ventures as well as real estate-related corporate and banking transactions. Among the team's client roster are real estate funds, investors, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and asset managers.

Employment: employers Tier 4

PwC LLP's employment practice has a strong reputation in the market for its work on equal pay and workplace diversity issues, and the team has recently advised the BBC on high-profile gender pay gap reporting issues. Other areas of strength include cross-border transactions, compliance work, TUPE and outsourcing matters and senior executive departures, while it is also described as 'a real tour de force on the employment litigation scene'. Ed Stacey leads the team and is a key contact for discrimination issues, equal pay audits and contentious matters; Tom Ince focuses on sourcing transactions and is a TUPE expert; Tom Williams handles compliance and industrial relations work; and Chris Perkins leads the team's cross-border work.

Regulatory investigations and corporate crime Tier 4

PwC LLP advises on various financial crime issues including compliance, anti-bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering, preventing facilitation of tax evasion, Modern Slavery Act requirements and international sanctions. The firm also deals with corporate investigations involving fraud, tax evasion, asset tracing and enforcement. It offers an integrated approach that includes forensic analysis, actuarial and accounting expertise, corporate intelligence and data management. Head of team Agnes Quashie focuses on regulatory and internal investigations and related disputes.

Commercial litigation Tier 7

PwC LLP's disputes work frequently spans multiple jurisdictions and covers commercial contracts, debt recovery, asset tracing, professional negligence, shareholder and board issues, financial services, IT, private client matters and tax. Agnes Quashie heads the UK regulatory and commercial disputes practice, and Dipti Hunter  is a senior manager.

Immigration

PwC LLP’s London immigration team works with an impressive roster of big-name corporates, providing a global service which draws on the wider firm’s tax and employment capabilities and huge international footprint to provide an integrated offering for multinational clients. The practice is now jointly led by Lindsey Barras and Sharan Kundi, who were promoted to the partnership in 2019. Key clients are drawn from sectors including financial services, manufacturing, technology and education, while the team - which has particular expertise in business travellers and the Posted Workers Directive - also includes a private client practice.