Tapestry Compliance

tapestrycompliance.com

Sector knowledge

Paul Abthorpe

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. Key Experience • Advising on a broad range of strategic and governance matters relating to remuneration and employee incentives. • Extensive experience in designing, structuring and implementing tax-beneficial share plans, including long-term incentives and bespoke arrangements. • In-depth experience of supporting fast growth tech companies in relation to their incentive arrangements, including as they prepare for a sale or IPO. • Specialises in work with clients in Japan, senior member of the internal Tapestry team in this area. • Drafting incentive plan documents including plan rules, award documentation, communications and governance materials. • Coordinating cross-border rollouts of equity incentive plans for multinational clients. Paul trained and qualified with international law firm Pinsent Masons before spending 8 years working in the Reward practice of PwC. He also spent several months on an in-house secondment to the share plans team of a FTSE 100 company.

Sally Blanchflower

Sally is a Senior Associate who advises on all aspects of global and UK share plans for leading global companies. Key Experience • Particular experience in the market practice for executive and all-employee plans operating in a multitude of countries • Extensive experience in designing and structuring tax-beneficial share plans. • Co-ordinating cross-border rollouts of equity incentive plans for multinational clients. • Managing the legal and tax compliance of plans implemented for clients. • Drafting plan rules, award documentation, and governance materials. • Facilitating design workshops to help with the design, launch and implementation of new global plans from scratch, in a practical and effective way. • Advising on the corporate governance requirements for executive remuneration and the reporting of incentive arrangements for annual report purposes. • Delivering tailored in-house training. As well as regularly presenting at industry events, Sally sits on the ProShare Advisory Board and regularly leads the legal content for ProShare’s Global Focus Group. She leads Tapestry’s global webinar programme and delivery of our client roundtables. Sally held the role of employee trustee director of the Employee Ownership Trust for Tapestry from 2021-2025.

Sarah Bruce

Sarah is a Senior Associate specialising in the design, documentation and disclosure of executive and employee share plans, advising large private company, FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 boards and managements. Key Experience • Extensive experience in designing and structuring tax-advantage share plans, including EMI, CSOP, LTIP, and bespoke arrangements. • Provides tax advice across a range of employment and corporate transactions and has particular experience advising privately-owned and PE/VC-backed businesses. • Providing tax advice to management teams in the context of corporate transactions. • Working closely with counsel in multiple jurisdictions, co-ordinating corporate, tax, employment and trust advice, as required, to ensure clients receive joined-up advisory and transactional advice. • Drafting plan rules, award documentation, and governance materials. • Coordinating cross-border rollouts of equity incentive plans for multinational clients. Sarah also teaches on Tapestry’s Certificate in Employee Share Plans course. She has co-written the modules on Contract law and Company law and also presents modules covering all-employee tax-advantaged plans, capital gains tax, and tax avoidance. She is a member of the Proshare SME focus group.

Chris Fallon

Chris is a Legal Director (equivalent of partner level) and is Tapestry’s “UK Counsel”, both internally and externally. Chris advises large listed and private clients in multiple jurisdictions, across a broad range of strategic and governance matters relating to remuneration and incentives. He can apply 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 tax issues. Key Experience • 25 years’ experience advising on all-employee and senior executive plans for large listed and privately owned businesses, with particular expertise in UK tax advantaged arrangements and employee benefit trusts. • Advising remuneration committees on governance, disclosure, and regulatory compliance. • Specialises in work with clients in Japan, leading the internal Tapestry team in this area, which is a developing part of Tapestry’s practice. Chris now regularly provides insights to the Japanese Government as it seeks to harness the opportunities provided by employee ownership structures. • Significant expertise in dealing with private equity-owned businesses and providing incentive and reward frameworks at senior and all employee levels to them. • Drafting all types of documentation, from advice notes for remuneration committees to plan rules to shareholder and participant facing terms, guidance notes and manuals. • Ensuring compliance with employment, tax, and securities regulations across multiple jurisdictions for rollouts of incentive plans for multinational clients. • Handling complex issues relating to changes in leadership , such as terminations and claw-back mechanisms. 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 Grayson

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, 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 and remains widely-respected by the industry for his wealth of knowledge and commercial approach, now focussing his efforts on Tapestry’s hugely successful target market in Japan.

Matthew Hunter

Matthew is a Senior Associate with broad experience in advising clients on all aspects of their global incentive arrangements. Key Experience • Advising leading multinational companies on the design, implementation and ongoing legal and tax compliance for their global executive and all-employee share, fund and cash-based incentives. • Particular expertise in advising companies subject to financial services remuneration regulations, leading Tapestry’s work in that sector. Matthew advises several of the world’s leading global banks and asset managers on their global remuneration structures. • Coordinating global rollouts of incentive plans, managing counsel in multiple jurisdictions and co-ordinating securities, corporate, tax and employment advice, as required, to ensure clients receive coherent and practical advice. • Leading client relationships across a broad range of sectors, with a focus on large listed multinationals, including several in each of the FTSE100 and S&P100. • Handling complex issues, including in relation to terminations, trusts, governance and malus and clawback. Matthew regularly presents at industry events across Europe and the US. Matthew co-chairs the ProShare Financial Services Focus Group and is co-secretary to the Share Plan Lawyers Corporate and Regulatory Committee.

Hannah Needle

Hannah is a Legal Director (equivalent of partner level) at Tapestry, advising large private company, FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 clients on all aspects of employee share plans and executive incentive arrangements, delivering commercially practical and legally robust solutions. Key Experience • Advising on a broad range of strategic and governance matters relating to employee incentives. • In-depth experience in complex divestments and reorganisations and their impact on employee incentives. • Working closely with counsel in multiple jurisdictions, co-ordinating corporate, tax, employment and trust advice, as required, to ensure clients receive joined-up advisory and transactional advice. • Drafting and negotiating LTIP and bespoke incentive arrangements for senior executives. • Coordinating cross-border rollouts of equity incentive plans for multinational clients. • Advising companies on governance, disclosure, and regulatory compliance. • Handling complex issues relating to terminations and claw-back mechanisms. Hannah attends bi-weekly meetings of the Global Equity Organization’s Executive Committee (of the Board), as well as Chairing the Board’s new prestigious ‘Future Leaders of global equity’ program (see here). She also co-chairs quarterly meetings of the Share Plan Lawyers Corporate and Regulatory Committee, leading on integral projects regarding MAR (Market Abuse Regulation) and PISCES, including liaising with the FCA and HMT on UK guidance and legislation in this area. She serves as a Board Director at Tapestry under the firm's Employee Ownership Trust structure, managing and leading the firm, and has been shortlisted as a finalist at the Women and Diversity in Law Awards 2026 in the category of Law Firm Leader of the Year – Boutique Law Firm.

Emma Parker

Emma is a Senior Associate who advises some of Tapestry’s biggest clients on the design, establishment, communication and strategic operation of employee share plans, plan rule drafting, and reviewing the legal and tax aspects of plan awards. Key Experience • Advising on a broad range of strategic and governance matters relating to remuneration and employee incentives. • Extensive experience in designing and structuring tax-beneficial share plans, including long-term incentives and bespoke arrangements. • Working closely with counsel in multiple jurisdictions, co-ordinating corporate, tax, employment and trust advice, as required, to ensure clients receive joined-up advisory and transactional advice. • Drafting plan rules, award documentation, and governance materials. • Coordinating cross-border rollouts of equity incentive plans for multinational clients. Emma is one of the senior teachers on Tapestry’s accredited Cert. ESP course and regularly speaks at conferences and other industry events. Emma has also presented on ProShare’s Introduction to Employee Share Ownership course. Emma also holds the role of employee trustee director of the Employee Ownership Trust for Tapestry.

Tom Parker

Tom is a Managing Associate who advises on the legal, regulatory and tax aspects of implementing and operating incentive plans for executives and employees in the UK and around the world. Key Experience • Advising large listed companies on executive and all-employee share plans. • Set up and ongoing operation of employee benefit trusts. • Advising on the impact of corporate transactions on global employee share plans. • Commercial and pragmatic approach supported by deep technical and market knowledge. • Working closely with counsel in multiple jurisdictions, co-ordinating corporate, tax, employment and trust advice, as required, to ensure clients receive joined-up advisory and transactional advice. • Drafting plan rules, award documentation, and governance materials. Tom frequently presents at GEO conferences and is fundamental to our global webinar programme, regularly presenting on technical and market updates. Tom also teaches on Tapestry’s Certificate in Employee Share Plans Course, as well as ProShare’s Introduction to Employee Share Ownership course.

Lorna Parkin

Lorna is a Senior Associate at Tapestry, advising FTSE and NYSE listed clients, including a number of banking groups, on all aspects of employee share plans and executive incentive arrangements. Lorna has a broad corporate and commercial background and offers practical, commercial advice. Key Experience • Advising on a broad range of strategic and governance matters relating to remuneration and employee incentives. • Extensive experience in designing and structuring tax-beneficial share plans, including long-term incentives and bespoke arrangements. • Working closely with counsel in multiple jurisdictions, co-ordinating corporate, tax, employment and trust advice, as required, to ensure clients receive joined-up advisory and transactional advice. • Drafting plan rules, award documentation, and governance materials. • Coordinating cross-border rollouts of equity incentive plans for multinational clients. She regularly presents at many industry events and is a member of the ProShare Global Focus Group. 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.

Carla Walsham

Carla is a Senior Associate who specialises in supporting multinational organisations as they manage the challenges of creating, implementing, and operating global share plans. Key Experience • Advising large, listed companies on executive and all-employee share plans. • Advising on the impact of corporate transactions on global employee share plans. • Commercial and pragmatic approach supported by deep technical and market knowledge. • Working closely with counsel in multiple jurisdictions, co-ordinating corporate, tax, employment and trust advice, as required, to ensure clients receive joined-up advisory and transactional advice. • Drafting plan rules, award documentation, and governance materials. • Considering investor guidance on share plan requirements. Carla is a member of three ProShare Focus Groups (corporate governance, global and communications) and has been on the UK Global Equity Organisation Committee. Carla presented at these meetings on the most recent global developments. Carla presented at the UK Proshare Conference on share plans during periods of economic uncertainty alongside AstraZeneca and Pearson. Carla drafted recent newsletters and presented on recent updates to investor guidelines. Carla also teaches on Tapestry’s Certificate in Employee Share Plans course covering the design and legal modules.