Partner

Giles Bywater

Pensions Litigation, Pensions, Litigation & Dispute Resolution

"Giles Bywater is a pleasure to work with. His advice is considered, thorough and collaborative. He is good at problem solving and thinking ahead to next steps and implications."
Legal 500

Overview

Giles Bywater advises trustees and sponsoring employers of occupational pension schemes on both contentious and non-contentious matters – including scheme documentation and funding issues, liability management exercises, and scheme mergers and wind-ups. He is experienced in pensions litigation, having acted in the landmark Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund case, for which the Mayer Brown team was shortlisted for the Litigation Team of the Year Award by The Lawyer and commended in the FT Europe Innovative Lawyers report. He also has considerable experience of advising trustees on the purchase of bulk annuity policies.

Experience

As well as day to day pensions advice, Giles’ recent experience includes the following:

Scheme documentation

  • Acted for the trustees on a full re-write of the Trust Deed & Rules for a defined benefit scheme.
  • Acted for the trustees on a consolidation and legislative update of the Trust Deed & Rules for a defined benefit scheme and a defined contribution scheme.
  • Acted for the trustee on the implementation of the outcomes of a scheme governance review, including revision of the Trustee Company Articles of Association and the Trust Deed & Rules.

Recognition

  • Listed as a key lawyer for Pensions, "Giles Bywater is a pleasure to work with. His advice is considered, thorough and collaborative. He is good at problem solving and thinking ahead to next steps and implications." He "provides advice that is well considered and practical." Legal 500

Admissions

  • England and Wales

Languages

  • English

Professional & Community Involvement

  • Giles is an Associate of the Pensions Management Institute (PMI). He sits on the Committee of the PMI London Group as the Education Secretary. He is also a Senior Examiner for the PMI.
  • Giles is a full member of the Association of Pension Lawyers.
  • Giles is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on various aspects of pensions law and practice.
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