Tapestry Compliance

Paul is a Senior Associate and has a broad range of experience supporting listed and private businesses on their executive and all-employee incentive arrangements, both in the UK and internationally. He advises in relation to the design, implementation and operation of incentives taking into account tax, legal and governance requirements. He has in-depth experience of supporting fast growth tech companies in relation to their incentive arrangements, including as they prepare for a sale or IPO. He has also provided detailed and practical support to clients in their executive hiring / departure negotiations. Paul trained and qualified with international law firm Pinsent Masons before spending 8 years working in the Reward practice of PwC. He was also on in-house secondment at a FTSE 100 company where he was involved in the grant and vesting of share plan awards to a global employee population. Although a newer member of our team, he has already made his mark leading on clients such as Drax and working with other key clients including Credit Suisse, Filtration Group and RELX.

Sally Blanchflower

Sally is a Senior Associate who advises on all aspects of global and UK share plans for leading global companies and banks. Through the top FTSE and global clients that she works for, Sally has particular experience in the market practice for executive and all-employee plans operating in a multitude of countries, and managing the legal and tax compliance of those plans. In particular, Sally has facilitated various design workshops to help her clients with the design, launch and implementation of new global plans from scratch, in a practical and effective way. Sally also works with clients on the corporate governance requirements for their executive remuneration and the reporting of incentive arrangements in their annual reports. Sally leads on many of Tapestry’s biggest clients including Unilever, AkzoNobel, Aviva, HSBC, International Airlines Group, Shopify and Dr. Martens. As well as regularly presenting at industry events, Sally sits on the Global Equity Organization (GEO) UK Chapter Committee, the ProShare Advisory Board and regularly leads the legal content for ProShare’s Global Focus Group. She leads our customised in-house client training sessions, global webinar programme and delivery of our incredibly well-received client roundtables. Sally also holds the role of employee trustee director of the Employee Ownership Trust for Tapestry.

Sarah is a Senior Associate with over 15 years of experience specialising in tax and share plans. Before joining Tapestry, she jointly headed the tax team at leading corporate firm Walker Morris. Sarah works with both UK and global clients on the implementation of UK and global incentive plans, and specialises in UK tax-advantaged share plans. She provides tax advice across a range of employment and corporate transactions and has particular experience advising privately-owned and PE/VC-backed businesses and in providing tax advice to management teams in the context of corporate transactions. Sarah’s clients include, Future, Leisure Resorts, eToro and Curvalux. Sarah joined Tapestry with a wealth of tax experience, having been previously ranked in the regional Chambers guide.

Suzannah Crookes

Suzannah is a Legal Director (Partner equivalent) at Tapestry. Suzannah has extensive experience advising UK and overseas companies on the introduction and ongoing operation of their share plans and other equity incentive arrangements, both at executive level and for the wider workforce. She supports companies in the design and implementation of plans to meet tax, legal and governance best practice requirements whilst maintaining focus on effective communication and alignment with commercial strategy. She works with companies to ensure compliant operation of plans both in a "business as usual" context as well as through any corporate actions. Suzannah’s clients include The Coca-Cola Company, Morgan Stanley, Getty Images and Volvo. Suzannah also leads the relationship with Asda and International Personal Finance plc, having worked with them in previous roles as well as with ITM Power, who followed Suzannah to Tapestry on her move to the firm. Suzannah is co-lead on the team running the Certificate in Employee Share Plans course, the only professional qualification in the UK in this industry, which is accredited by the CGI UK & Ireland. Tapestry provides the course content and teaching and Suzannah is responsible for all aspects of delivery, working closely with the CGI to organise the course and examinations. Suzannah has always been closely involved with Global Equity Organization (GEO), and works with the GEO UK Chapter, leading the North and Midlands regional committee. She is actively involved with ProShare, contributing to their Focus Groups, and sits on the Steering Committee of the Employee Share Ownership Centre, providing thought leadership on employee share ownership. Suzannah was previously ranked in both Legal Directories before her move to EY, when client feedback described her as “simultaneously inquisitive, a deep thinker and pragmatic.”

Chris is a Legal Director (Partner equivalent) and is Tapestry’s “UK Counsel”, both internally and externally. Chris has over 20 years of experience working with top-ranked legal and incentives teams delivering UK and global plan design and implementation. Chris is widely-recognised for his substantial expertise in incentive matters for all business types. He can draw upon a deep range of experience when providing practical and proactive, solution-driven advice on discretionary executive plans, corporate governance and remuneration disclosures, as well as advising on broader employment related tax issues. He also has significant expertise in dealing with Employee Benefit Trusts and private equity-owned businesses. Chris’s clients include London Stock Exchange Group, CMC Markets, Entain and Sage, as well as Vertical Aerospace and Spirax Sarco. Chris regularly presents at many industry events including those run by industry body ProShare, sharing his expert knowledge with the market, and is a member of the ProShare Advisory Board. He has also assisted ProShare with successfully lobbying HMRC and the government on various industry issues, including discussions around how the UK Government’s recent tax changes will impact share plans affecting the wider workforce. Chris has recently been invited by representatives of the Japanese Government to assist their awareness and understanding of the UK’s incentive framework and global practice to help improve the equivalent regulatory framework in Japan and increase the use and effectiveness of incentives in that country. Chris’s role as Tapestry Board Director for the Employee Ownership Trust gives him invaluable practical experience of structuring employee-focussed solutions, from within. Chris is severely sight impaired (blind) and is a member of The Society of Visually Impaired Lawyers.

Bob has spent his career advising on the global aspects of employee incentive arrangements. His work has included plan rule drafting, communications materials, trust and hedging arrangements, nominee arrangements and all other legal aspects of incentive plans from initial design to post-vesting dealing arrangements. As a leading expert on global compliance for incentives, first at Linklaters, then in-house at Shell, he brings immense practical experience in dealing with the legal documents and global compliance issues from a business perspective. Since transitioning his shares in Tapestry to the Employee Ownership Trust, Bob continues to work closely with the team as a consultant (Partner equivalent) and remains widely-respected by the industry for his wealth of knowledge and commercial approach, particularly in unique markets that Tapestry operates in, such as Japan.

Matthew is a Managing Associate with broad experience in advising clients on all aspects of global incentive arrangements. Matthew has a particular focus on the financial services sector and leads Tapestry’s work in that sector. He advises a number of the world’s leading global banks, insurers and asset managers in relation to the structure of their incentive plans and their compliance with EU and global remuneration regulations, including, Morgan Stanley, Apollo Global Management, Rothschild & Co and Australia & New Zealand Bank. Matthew also advises multinational companies in other sectors on their executive and all-employee incentive arrangements, including Comcast Corporation, Lucid Motors and Weber. Matthew regularly presents at industry events in Europe and the US. Matthew co-chairs the ProShare Financial Services Focus Group, is co-secretary to the Share Plan Lawyers Corporate and Regulatory Committee and is a trustee director of the Employee Ownership Trust for Tapestry.

Hannah is a Legal Director (Partner equivalent) and advises many leading global companies on the implementation and operation of all forms of global executive and employee share and incentive plans, including the design and establishment of new plans, global compliance, managing grants and maturities under existing plans and on technical tax and legal matters. She also advises on the impact of corporate transactions that may affect a company's global incentive arrangements. In recent years, Hannah has been instrumental in liaising with the UK’s tax authority (HMRC) regarding various important clearances which have enabled clients to deliver significant tax efficiencies. She leads on the work we do for clients such as The Coca Cola Company, Tesco, Rentokil Initial, Rolls Royce and Schroders. Hannah has recently been recognised as a ‘Best Lawyer in the UK’ for Employee Share Schemes. Inclusion in ‘Best Lawyers’ is based on a rigorous peer review and symbolises excellence in practice (see here). Hannah has been appointed to the Practical Law Share Schemes & Incentives Consultation Board, which brings thought leadership to Practical Law's offering in this area. Hannah is closely involved in the Global Equity Organization (GEO). She holds fellowship status, which recognises her as an industry-leading professional, and serves on GEO's Board of Directors. Hannah is the Co-Chair of the Share Plan Lawyers’ Corporate and Regulatory Committee and leads a number of the Committee’s working groups, including leading the industry discussions with the FCA and HM Treasury on changes to the market abuse regulations in the UK, post-Brexit. Hannah sits on Tapestry’s Board of Directors under the Employee Ownership Trust structure.

Emma is a Senior Associate who leads on a broad range of matters and has particular expertise in UK and global tax-advantaged plans. Emma advises some of Tapestry’s biggest clients on the establishment of employee share plans, plan rule drafting, and reviewing the legal and tax aspects of plan awards. Emma’s clients include Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Costa, Howdens and Hays Group. Emma co-leads on the Certificate in Employee Share Plans course, the only professional qualification in the UK in this industry, which is accredited by the CGI UK & Ireland. Tapestry provides the course content and teaching and Emma is responsible for co-ordinating the delivery of the course. Emma led the team when the course was adapted and successfully delivered virtually, and globally, during the Covid pandemic, which resulted in record take-up and has changed the format of the course ever since.

Tom is a Managing Associate who advises on the legal, regulatory and tax aspects of implementing and operating incentive plans for executives and employees around the world. This includes tax-advantaged arrangements, global plans, corporate governance and reporting considerations, and the set up and ongoing operation of employee benefit trusts. Tom works with a number of UK-listed clients as well as global financial institutions and leads on the work we do for our flagship client Credit Suisse. Tom is fundamental to our global webinar programme, regularly presenting on technical and market updates, and teaches on Tapestry’s Certificate in Employee Share Plans Course, as well as ProShare’s Introduction to Employee Share Ownership course.

Lorna is a Senior Associate with particular expertise in advising global companies and banks, and has experience in advising on all aspects of executive and employee incentive matters. This includes global and UK employee share plans and executive remuneration. Lorna has a broad corporate and commercial background and offers practical, commercial advice. Lorna is a lead on a number of our large global clients such as Rolls-Royce, Cooper Companies, Dell and TripAdvisor and plays a key role in client relationships with Volvo and Morgan Stanley. Lorna is recognised as a Recommended Lawyer by Legal 500 and regularly presents at many industry events. Lorna is a member of the ProShare Global Focus Group. She teaches annually on Tapestry’s Certificate in Employee Share Plans course as well as managing the content for, and development of, Tapestry’s online leading global database OnTap, which contains legal and tax information in over 150 countries. Lorna also sits on the Board of Directors of Tapestry under the Employee Ownership Trust structure, using her wealth of experience for the benefit of the firm.

Steve is a Managing Associate who advises companies on tax-qualified employee share plans as well as global executive plans, global due diligence and securities filings, share plan design and drafting plan documents. He has particular expertise in dealing with UK tax-qualified plans and offshore trust arrangements as well as the technical, tax aspects of share plans. Steve concentrates much of his time developing Tapestry's business in Japan and his key clients include Sega, Toyota and Renesas. Steve has been instrumental in helping to expand the offering of a specific Japanese all-employee share purchase plan granted by Japanese listed companies to their employees outside of Japan. This is an important piece of work and we believe our client is the first Japanese company to offer this to employees outside of Japan.