Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner provides transactional and general advisory tax services for a broad range of clients, with experience advising on financings, restructurings, and M&A. Global head of tax Elizabeth Bradley leads the team, in addition to spearheading the private client and employee benefits teams. Alan Sinyor, who is a qualified barrister, solicitor, and chartered accountant, is a key name, and leads the VAT team. Andy West has aptitude in real estate tax. The team has seen notable growth in recent years, with additions including Simon Letherman, who moved from A&O Shearman during 2025.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Andy West - technically excellent, strives to find the right solution, great balance between being prudent and saying what the client wants to hear, really good guy to work with.’

  • ‘Very strong real estate tax team.’

  • 'The team were thorough, responsive and extremely collaborative.'

  • 'BCLP’s tax team provides clear and insightful tax advice, which is relayed in a manner that clients can really understand. Complex structures are broken down for clients in logical stages and are applied in ways that respect the commercial deal and will facilitate onward sales.'

  • 'I get a sense that BCLP’s tax team is immersed in the relevant markets and asset classes in which they operate and has a deep understanding of those markets. That is a clear differentiator for me, as it means that no "ivory tower" and therefore wholly unrealistic tax advice is given.'

  • 'Elizabeth Bradley is a really exceptional tax lawyer. She is able to explain complex tax structures in a way that clients can easily follow and break them down into logical sequences. Elizabeth also demonstrates an unusually broad understanding of all aspects of transactions, including their commercial and market contexts.'

  • 'Alan Sinyor is an absolute expert on all VAT matters and has an exceptional depth of knowledge. Andy West is a talented young tax partner. He provides clear tax advice and has a calm and measured manner.'

  • 'The team's collaborative approach in working with us and our other advisers created a well-oiled machine that proved its worth at the crunch stage of negotiations on the transaction.'

Key clients

  • Burstone
  • Grosvenor
  • Playtech
  • The Foschini Group
  • BGC Group
  • Aviva Investors
  • ESCO Technologies Inc
  • Pembroke Real Estate LLC
  • Northwood Investors and Platform
  • Blackstone
  • Société BIC S.A.
  • Henderson Park

Work highlights

Led on tax in advising Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed REIT Burstone on its key strategic partnership with Blackstone, the world's largest owner of commercial real estate.
Led on tax structuring in advising Grosvenor on the formation of a complicated joint venture with Norges Bank in respect of a portfolio of c175 properties located in and around Grosvenor Street and Mount Street in the west end of London, valued at c£1.2bn.
Advised Playtech on the sale of its subsidiary, Snaitech, to Flutter Entertainment Holdings Ireland Limited, a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment plc (“Flutter”), for a total enterprise value of EUR€2.3 billion in cash.

Lawyers

Leading partners

The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

Elizabeth Bradley

Other key lawyers

Alan Sinyor; Andy West; Simon Letherman