Sacker & Partners LLP > London, England > Firm Profile
Sacker & Partners LLP Offices
20 GRESHAM STREET
LONDON
EC2V 7JE
England
Sacker & Partners LLP > The Legal 500 Rankings
Employment > Pensions: dispute resolution Tier 1
‘Second-to-none‘ boutique firm Sacker & Partners LLP focuses exclusively on pensions work. The litigation team deals mainly with professional negligence cases, rectification actions, member complaints, regulatory investigations, and risk management work. Practice head Peter Murphy
is commended by clients for offering a ‘Rolls Royce service’ and is especially experienced in enforcement cases. James Bingham, who is noted for his provision of ‘sensible advice‘, is experienced in complex High Court claims as well as recovery actions. ‘Excellent‘ senior counsel Arshad Khan‘s recent work includes high-stakes professional negligence claims worth in excess of £100m. Practice head(s):
Peter Murphy
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘Peter Murphy and Arshad Khan are both very impressive – incredible knowledge of pensions law and a pleasure to work with.’
‘Sackers has the ability to call on the most appropriate expertise within the company to deal quickly with your specific query or request for help. The team will follow through the query until is fully resolved and settled to the customer’s satisfaction.’
‘James Bingham is always engaged and offers sensible advice that clients can understand and appreciate. He involves and trusts his associates who always deliver.’
‘The dispute resolution practice at Sackers is second-to-none. The team are very experienced, and they clearly set out what they believe is the right approach in dealing with the dispute and the required outcome.’
‘I work with Sackers on complex complaint cases, and they are always extremely efficient in providing their legal guidance and drafting responses where necessary. I greatly value their flexibility in joining calls to discuss cases, or technical points, and the way that they communicate their guidance in plain English.’
‘Peter Murphy offers a Rolls Royce service where you know you are in good hands from start to finish. There is nothing about pensions litigation that he doesn’t know about, and he always makes you feel confident about the outcome.’
‘They are a leading pensions law firm – brilliant at understanding and dealing with the complexities of pension litigation.’
Key clients
Honda Motor Europe Limited and Honda Group UK Pension Scheme
GEAPS Pension Scheme
John Lewis Partnership Trust for Pensions
ITV Pension Scheme
Arup UK Pension Scheme
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc
Nationwide Pension Fund
Yorkshire & Clydesdale Bank Pension Scheme
DHL Group Retirement Plan
GSK Pension Scheme
Work highlights
- Advised the company and the trustee of the Honda Group UK Pension Scheme in complex and high-value High Court proceedings alleging negligence against their former pension consultants, Mercer.
- Acted for the Trustees of the Arup Pension Scheme in relation to the recovery of large sums that were overpaid to Scheme members following administrative errors.
- Advised new and longstanding clients on investigations into losses incurred due to investments in pooled liability driven investment funds (LDI), and on merits assessments of potential claims.
Employment > Pensions (non-contentious) Tier 1
Pensions boutique Sacker & Partners LLP is noted by clients as being the ‘go-to legal practice for pensions‘, with a ‘world-class’ depth of practice. Team lead David Saunders has extensive experience in advising clients on defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes, bringing more than 20 years’ experience to the practice. Janet Brown, who is experienced in de-risking matters, is commended for her ‘unique skills‘ and provision of ‘invaluable’ support. Other key names include Fuat Sami who focuses on transactional cases; Stuart O’Brien who works mainly on matters relating to ESG and climate risk; Philippa Connaughton, who has expertise advising on the pensions aspects of corporate acquisitions; defined contribution schemes specialist Helen Ball; and the ‘superb‘ Jacqui Reid as well as Edward Hayes.Practice head(s):
David Saunders
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘Janet Brown is a gem and has the unique skill of making our trustee board feel relaxed and assured when she gives her advice. Her regular reassurance is so valuable as we grapple with a range of complex topics.’
‘Helen Ball’s ability to grasp an issue immediately, identify the range of solutions available and navigate a path that kept both trustee and employer content was invaluable on our project.’
‘In my opinion, the best pensions team in the UK. Always on point, always accessible and always leading the way. The depth, knowledge and client understanding are world-class.’
‘Sacker & Partners LLP is recognised as the go-to legal practice for pensions advice to trustees. Their pension expertise is undoubted, but this combined with the team’s pragmatism and approachability sets them apart.’
‘An impressively broad range of subject matter experts, who ensure we receive tailored and proportionate approach for specific projects.’
‘They are highly responsive and take the time to understand our characteristics and perspective, to provide bespoke advice.’
‘Jacqui Reid has been superb at encouraging effective interaction between the industry and regulators. She has played a key role in helping a consensus to develop across many different players and perspectives in terms of how best the industry can implement the regulators’ policy intentions.’
‘Friendly team, able to take complex matters and support the trustee board members through the detail. All members of the team are strong, collegiate, and readily available.’
Key clients
DHL Group Retirement Plan
Railways Pension Scheme
Royal Mail Pension Plan
TFL Pension Fund
John Lewis Partnership Trust for Pensions
Bank of England Staff Pension Fund
Trustee of the Boots Pension Scheme
The Trustee of the GSK Pension Scheme and the GSK Pension Fund
The Trustee of the TotalEnergies UK Pension Plan
Airways Pension Scheme
The Trustee of the Nationwide Pension Fund
Nestlé UK Pension Fund
Trustee of the Siemens Benefits Scheme
The Trustee of the Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London
The Trustee of the Telefonica UK Pension Plan
Chevron UK Pension Plan
IBM Pension Plans
EDS Retirement Plan
Citi Pension Plans
Work highlights
- Advised the Trustees of the Sal Pension Scheme, sponsored by RSA Group, on the largest ever bulk annuity transaction, insuring a total of £6.5bn of liabilities and covering the pensions of 40,000 members.
- Advised the Trustee of the £13.5bn Royal Mail Pension Plan on its most significant projects of 2022, which included a major benefit correction exercise for the plan’s 124,000 members.
- Advised the Trustee of SAUL, still an open DB scheme, on establishing a DC feeder section within the existing trust.
Sacker & Partners LLP > Firm Profile
The firm: Sackers is the UK’s leading law firm to the pensions industry, advising pension scheme trustees, employers, providers and corporate investors on all aspects of their pension arrangements.
As the leading specialist practice for the pensions industry, with more top 200 UK pension schemes clients than any other firm, we understand the pensions world Widely viewed as leaders in the field, we advise more of the UK’s top 200 pension funds than any other law firm and have been consistently ranked in the top tier for pensions by The Legal 500 for over twenty years.
We are truly a ‘one stop shop’ for our pensions industry clients, advising on risk transfer solutions, ongoing operational issues, pension scheme investments and liability management, funding and security arrangements and contentious issues, as well as advising on contract based arrangements. We are equally as at home advising on the day-to-day running of a pension arrangement as we are helping clients to resolve a specific problem or complete a one-off project. This includes funding and investment, contingent assets and covenant support, managing liabilities, corporate support, regulatory, governance, risk, disputes and operations.
Principal areas of work: The firm is entirely devoted to meeting the needs of its pensions clients. Since Sackers was established in 1966, our specialist focus has helped us to build a stellar client list of over 450 occupational pension schemes of all sizes and structures and across all industry sectors. We retain key employer appointments on both an advisory and project basis, as well as advising providers, master trusts and IGCs on all aspects of DC pensions.
Whilst other firms have litigators, banking, investment and tax lawyers who ‘do some pensions work’, Sackers has specialist teams who spend all their time on pensions work. Investment lawyers advise on all the key risk transfer solutions including LDI and CDI strategies, buy-ins, buy-outs and longevity transactions, DC asset security and fund reviews and the full range of alternative investment structures. They also offer expert advice on the impact of ESG factors in pension scheme investing and managing and reporting climate risks. Pensions litigators advise on issues such as rectification, equalisation and investment claims. Banking and finance lawyers advise on a wide range of funding and security structures including contingent assets, guarantees, escrow accounts and asset-backed funding structures.
More information about who we are and what we do can be found at our website www.sackers.com
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pensions (Non-contentious) | David Saunders | david.saunders@sackers.com | |
| Pensions: Dispute Resolution | Peter Murphy | peter.muphy@sackers.com |
Lawyer Profiles
| Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
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Helen Baker | Helen is a partner with substantial experience in advising trustees, employers and… | View Profile |
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Helen Ball | Helen is a partner advising trustees, employers and providers on all aspects… | View Profile |
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Michaela Berry | Michaela has many years’ experience of a wide range of pensions issues.… | View Profile |
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James Bingham | James is a partner in our specialist pensions litigation team. His practice… | View Profile |
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Janet Brown | Janet advises both trustees and employers, large and small, of both defined… | View Profile |
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Claire Carey | Claire is a partner and head of the firm’s Know-how team. Claire’s… | View Profile |
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Vicky Carr | Vicky is a partner and banking and finance specialist with over 15… | View Profile |
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Adeline Chapman | Adeline advises trustees, scheme managers and employers on a range of pensions… | View Profile |
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Philippa Connaughton | Philippa acts for both corporate clients and trustee boards on the whole… | View Profile |
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Ian Cormican | Ian is a partner with a wide range of experience advising trustees… | View Profile |
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Eleanor Daplyn | Eleanor is a partner who advises a wide range of trustee and… | View Profile |
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Faith Dickson | Faith is a partner who advises both trustees and employers on a… | View Profile |
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Lucy Dunbar | Lucy advises trustees and employers on a wide range of defined benefit… | View Profile |
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Emily Forrest | Partner with broad pensions experience. Emily has been involved in a number of… | View Profile |
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Tom Jackman | Tom advises both employers and trustees, with a particular focus on transactions… | View Profile |
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Georgina Jones | Georgina is a partner in the firm’s Know-how team, which works to… | View Profile |
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Arshad Khan | Arshad is a member of our specialist Pensions & investment litigation team.… | View Profile |
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Ferdy Lovett | Ferdy advises clients from a wide range of industries and acts for… | View Profile |
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Ralph McClelland | Partner and finance and investment specialist with 9 years’ experience in the pensions… | View Profile |
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Peter Murphy | Peter is head of Pensions & Investment Litigation and has over 20… | View Profile |
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Stuart O"Brien | Partner with experience of a broad range of pension related matters, advising… | View Profile |
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Stuart O"Brien | Partner with experience of a broad range of pension related matters, advising… | View Profile |
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Paul Phillips | Partner and head of the firm’s finance and investment group. He has… | View Profile |
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Jacqui Reid | Partner and specialist pensions lawyer with over 15 years’ experience of advising… | View Profile |
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Fuat Sami | Partner who advises trustees and employers of pension schemes (big and small)… | View Profile |
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David Saunders | David has experience of a wide range of pension issues advising both… | View Profile |
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Joanna Smith | Joanna is an experienced pensions lawyer, advising employer and trustee clients in… | View Profile |
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Claire van Rees | Partner advising trustee and employer clients on a wide range of pensions… | View Profile |
Staff Figures
Number of UK partners : 30 Number of other UK fee-earners : 36Languages
EnglishDiversity
Equality, diversity & inclusion
The nature of our work and client base call for diverse perspectives to deliver the best advice: we support trustees, employers and providers on an immense variety of work, right up to the knottiest, highest value and most technical matters in the industry. We believe passionately that our staff will be most successful when they bring their authentic selves to work.
Diversifying access to the profession
Research shows that socio-economic background affects progression to partner. 62% of our partners attended a state school – 15% more than the City firm average. However, we recognise that there is an underrepresentation of ethnic minority lawyers within our firm and more widely.
We seek to broaden access to the profession at all levels. Measures we take include:
- sponsorship of The Law Society’s Diversity Access scheme
- corporate membership of Black Lawyers Matter
- mentoring and work experience opportunities for students who have experienced barriers to entering the law
- sponsored apprenticeships in business services roles
- our fully paid Graduate Solicitor Apprentice programme
- participation in the Tower Hamlets Head to Head Interview Programme
- our partnership with educational charity Young Citizens through participation in their Experts in Law programme. Read about Emily’s experience of volunteering with Experts in Law here.
Gender and family positive
Our working environment allows women to progress. While the average across the industry is 33% female partners (dropping to 25% of equity partners), almost 60% of our partners and 65% of our fee earners are female.
We take active steps to maintain our positive approach to gender diversity and our family friendly culture, including a shared parental leave policy and access to mentoring and other resources to support our team.
LGBTQ+
We celebrate LGBTQ+ diversity among the Sackers team, and in the wider world. As one of the few openly gay firm heads in the legal sector, and one of the best known LGBTQ+ leaders in the pensions world, senior partner David Saunders is a role model in both.
We are members of inclusive organisations celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in our industry such as LGBT Great, and we mark Pride by inviting LGBTQ+ community members to speak to our team, promoting understanding and celebrating diversity throughout the population. Read David’s account of his personal journey to coming out here.
Mental health and wellbeing
Lawyers across the profession are increasingly speaking out about the pressure they face at work. Recognising this, we actively promote the mental health of all staff, and aim to ensure that work at Sackers is not another source of stress and anxiety. A range of proactive measures offering relevant services to our team help create a safety net in this critical area, and earlier this year four of our staff qualified as Mental Health First Aiders to provide additional support to staff. Naomi Brown, who is one our mental health first aiders, wrote this piece about the lack of awareness of mental health issues affecting those in the legal sector. You can also read about Amanda’s experience of managing her mental health here.
Work-life balance
Given the technical intricacy of much of our work, we are at our best when we enjoy a genuinely healthy work-life balance. We are supportive of staff working flexibly, and a high proportion of Sackers lawyers take advantage of flexible working arrangements.
Disability
We support employees with disabilities/medical conditions and make appropriate adjustments to support them in their roles. We have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme to support us in recruiting and retaining the best people and to make the most of the opportunities provided by employing disabled people.
- Employment > Pensions: dispute resolution
- Employment > Pensions (non-contentious)