Stephenson Harwood

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

• ‘Stephenson Harwood have built an excellent relationship with us. The pensions team are responsive, contribute well to meetings, provide trusted advice, and bring in specialists when required from the wider team, for example on issues related to data protection.’
• ‘Naeem Noor, well supported by the wider team, provides excellent day-to-day support. Philip Goodchild is always available when strategic issues need to be addressed.’
• ‘Practical and sensible advice given, with a deep knowledge of the scheme.’
• ‘I have found Stephenson Harwood to be very adept at dealing with various scenarios the Sponsor has tabled. They have led us through some really complex times, and I have found that their flexibility and understanding of our position very refreshing.’
• ‘I have had a great deal of support from Stephen over the past year. He is always willing to explain complex matters in layman’s terms and ensures that our trustee board are aware of the pros and cons of decisions we have to take.’
• ‘Stephen Richards is one of the most pragmatic, commercial and thorough lawyers in the industry.’
• ‘There is always good experience and knowledge within the team that we deal with and they are always very good at problem solving challenges the scheme faces.’
• ‘I have worked with Stephen Richards and Chris Edwards Earl. Stephen is bright and thoughtful with excellent judgement and a good way with clients. Chris is hardworking and intelligent with a charming manner.’

Key clients

Work highlights

Lawyers

Leading partners

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

Mark Catchpole

Stephenson Harwood

Philip Goodchild

Stephenson Harwood

A pension law expert, Philip is well known for his work in a range of sectors, in particular corporate and not-for-profit. He advises trustees and employers on all manner of pension law issues. Philip heads up the advisory practice group at Stephenson Harwood. Philip’s experience in advising trustees and employers ranges from advising on liability reduction exercises such as ceasing accruals and pension increase exchange. After twenty five years in the industry there is virtually no area which Philip has not dealt with. His technical skills and knowledge of general pension issues is of an extremely high level allowing him to provide clients with practical commercial advice regarding their pension arrangements. Philip is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers and a regular commentator on legal issues affecting pension provision in the press and industry publications. He has sat on the legislation sub-committee of the Society of Pension Consultants and is a founder member of the Pension Lawyers Support Group. He regularly speaks at seminars and workshops on topical legal issues. Philip is an accredited CEDR mediator.

Next Generation Partners

Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Naeem Noor

Stephenson Harwood

Naeem is a pensions specialist with significant experience in advising employers and trustees on all aspects of this technical area. He has wide-ranging expertise covering the general advisory, transactional and contentious elements of the practice of pensions law. Naeem has advised clients across a full spectrum of issues; from complex scheme rule amendments and pensions taxation and investment issues; to High Court applications pertaining to construction and rectification of pension scheme rules; through to managing defined benefit pension risks on corporate transactions. His general advisory practice is broad and amongst other things he has advised clients on their contingent asset arrangements, on scheme mergers, closures to future accrual and the legal aspects of the diversification of pension schemes' investment portfolios. His litigation practice covers advising on non-adversarial applications to construe or rectify scheme rules as well as adversarial claims such as professional negligence actions against former pension scheme advisers. He also advises on the pensions aspects of corporate transactions including the management of employer debt that may be triggered and the application of the TUPE legislation in the pensions transactional context. Naeem is a regular contributor to various trade publications and has written on a number of topics including auto-enrolment, the statutory funding regime and the use of extrinsic contracts to vary pension rights.

Stephen Richards

Stephenson Harwood

A big scheme specialist, Stephen advises employers, trustees, and master trusts on all types of pensions issues. He has a commercial style on strategic issues and brings a responsive approach on day to day matters. With the ability to present complex ideas in a simple way, Stephen has helped a variety of clients with tricky pensions issues, from the trustees of global banks to UK manufacturers. Stephen joined Stephenson Harwood from Allen and Overy to complement our strong and growing pensions team. As a rising star in pensions law, Stephen further enhances the reputation of the firm's pension practice. He is an expert on pensions in the banking sector, large pension schemes, Pensions Regulator issues and master trusts. Stephen has experience on major strategic projects including advising on the acquisition of a major master trust provider and the largest company contribution made to a pension scheme to date. Stephen is also a trustee so he understands what trustees need from their advisers. Stephen established the Pensions Innovation Café, and likes to present advice in a modern, user friendly way. Stephen‘s recent experience includes advising on multiple transfers to DC master trusts and the trustees of several of the UK's major pension schemes on all day to day legal issues. He also gave strategic advice on major Pensions Regulatory issues for a FTSE 100 company as well as to a global telecoms company on world-wide pensions issues.