Burges Salmon has been shortlisted in three categories at The Lawyer Awards 2023, including ‘Sustainability Initiative’, ‘Restructuring Team of the Year’ and ‘Funds Team of the Year’.
The Lawyer Awards set the industry standard for benchmarking and celebrate the best teams and best practice in innovation in the legal industry. The Awards judging panel includes industry experts from The Bar, Private Practice and in-house sectors.
Sustainability Initiative
The firm has been shortlisted in this category following the development (led by Pensions team director Kate Granville Smith) of The Burges Salmon Pension Schemes ESG Tool, making environmental, social, and governance (ESG) simpler for pension scheme trustees and sponsoring employers.
Knowing that pension scheme trustees are increasingly required to consider ESG factors, the team developed an interactive guide that helps improve clients’ understanding of current ESG requirements and best practice for UK pension schemes. The tool provides direction on the ESG requirements, while also helping users reflect on any potential knowledge gaps. The guide also enables the user to seamlessly navigate the law and guidance surrounding ESG and identify which issues may require further consideration.
A copy of the Burges Salmon Pension Schemes ESG Tool can be requested for free here.
Restructuring Team of the Year
The firm has received this shortlisting for advising the Wasps Rugby and Coventry Arena group and its joint administrators, Andrew Sheridan and Raj Mittal, partners at specialist business advisory firm FRP Advisory, on the pre-pack sales of the group’s businesses and assets, including the Coventry Building Society Arena (which, along with the associated business and assets was sold to certain entities controlled by Frasers Group Plc).
The deal helped to secure up to 1,000 jobs in Coventry and has ensured that the venue will continue to play a major role in the city’s economy as a world-class entertainment and hospitality venue and home for Coventry City Football Club.
The Burges Salmon team advising on the deal was led by head of corporate restructuring and insolvency, Andrew Eaton, alongside senior restructuring director Nick Middleton and partners James Sutherland and Colin Ligman.
Funds Team of the Year
The shortlisting in this category has been awarded for Burges Salmon’s Funds and Financial Regulation team advising the FCA on the introduction of the new Overseas Funds Regime, which was announced by HMT to enable non-UK UCITS that have equivalent regulatory protections to a UK UCITS to be marketed to retail investors in the UK. The team, led by partner Tom Dunn and director Anna Davis, helped the FCA develop questionnaires that could be sent to Regulators in other jurisdictions to determine whether those jurisdictions could be deemed equivalent for regulatory purposes.
This was a significant project that needed to be delivered to strict timelines. The work covered all of the UK regulatory requirements that are applicable to managers of UK UCITSs. This was of huge importance to the investment funds sector and a key regulatory development following Brexit.
Roger Bull, Burges Salmon’s Managing Partner, comments: “To be shortlisted in these three important categories reflects the excellent levels of service that our firm continues to deliver to clients across multiple teams. Very well done to all of my colleagues for deservedly making the shortlists for their exceptional work and I wish everyone the very best of luck on the night.”
The winners will be announced at The Lawyer Awards on 20 June 2023 in London.