Tapestry Compliance

Employee Share Schemes and Incentives

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.

2015 - date:   Tapestry Compliance

2008 - 2015:  Travers Smith LLP

2007 - 2008:  Charles Russell LLP

2004 - 2007:  Smith & Williamson

1999 - 2004:  Ernst & Young

2003 - Qualified, Ernst & Young

Member of, and regular speaker for, many equity incentive industry bodies including The Global Equity Organisation (GEO), ProShare, The Share Plan Lawyers Group and NASPP.

Law LLB, Sheffield University