Expertise

Richard is a managing associate in the Leeds pensions team and rejoined Addleshaw Goddard in 2023 having originally qualified at the firm in 2011. He brings with him a broad range of experience in defined benefit advisory work, having acted for several household name corporates and large trustee clients at his previous firm.

He has been recognised as a key lawyer in The Legal 500 and has an approachable, collaborative style combined with an ability to explain technical issues in a straightforward manner.

His experience includes advising on scheme mergers, de-mergers, employer restructurings, closures to future accrual, risk settlement transactions, GMP equalisation and conversion projects, liability management exercises, asset backed contribution structures, complex drafting projects and ad-hoc Trustee queries. He also has experience advising on the pension aspects of corporate transactions.

Recent experience includes:

• Acted as lead adviser for the trustee of a £2bn+ defined benefit scheme in the aerospace/automotive sector on a four-way scheme demerger designed to align pension liabilities with the sponsoring group's business divisions.
• Advised trustee-side on a £513m full scheme buy-in transaction with Just, the insurer's largest DB de-risking transaction at the time.
• Advised a large state-owned public transport operator on the implementation of a revised funding package in connection with its defined benefit scheme, including the restructuring of the scheme's statutory employers, flexible apportionment arrangements and revised group guarantees.
• Advised the trustee of a large defined benefit scheme in the textile sector on the implementation of an asset-backed funding arrangement secured over specialist weaving equipment.
• Acted as day-to-day trustee adviser for a number of £1bn+ defined benefit schemes in the manufacturing sector, advising on a range of issues from the transfer of DC sections to master trust arrangements, member complaints, death benefit distributions, overpayment cases, GDPR compliance issues and GMP equalisation.