Paul Feathers

I'm a partner in the Pensions team and advise trustees and corporate sponsors on all aspects of pensions law.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7664 0377

Email: paul_feathers@wragge.com

Best brains in...

Legal aspects of pension scheme investment and corporate restructuring, particularly with insolvency issues and potential public-private finance involvement.

Highlight of your career so far?

Being on the pitch team that won the appointment to act for the team's largest pension scheme trustee client, not least because we beat another firm's pitch team which included someone who is now one of our partners. I never tire of reminding him that we won!

Most challenging job you've ever done?

I advised the trustees of the MG Rover Pension Schemes following the high profile insolvency of most of the companies in the sponsoring group. The legislation creating the Pension Protection Fund was only two days old when the companies became insolvent, so our learning curve was steep to say the least. In addition to the challenge of interpreting and applying new legislation for the first time, we were also faced with the challenges posed by a legislative framework that didn't fit the situation the trustees faced. One court case later and the legislation had to be changed.

What about outside the UK?

I acted for a US law firm to provide UK pensions law advice for a South African client on a series of strategic multinational disposals. The timing was difficult because legislation that would determine whether the client incurred liabilities was in the process of change. Attempting to explain the legislation to clients who are unfamiliar with UK pensions is always challenging, let alone when you have to explain two versions, depending on which set of regulations is in force.

Dedication to client care? Prove it!

There are the usual stories about missing holidays when a client needs a job to be done or working through the night, but client care is about maintaining a strong ongoing relationship and not just dealing with the one-off events. For me, great client care is making the effort to understand each client's particular circumstances from the outset and ensuring you have considered the legal issues in the context of those circumstances every time you advise the client. It is also about delivering when you say you will.

Best example of a creative legal solution?

I advised a trustee client in relation to a change in investment strategy and the legal aspects of implementing the change. The sum of money involved was significant and it was imperative that the trustees had adequate protection. The situation was novel because, for legal reasons, the trustees could not obtain adequate legal protection through the 'usual' structure of separating and allocating the responsibility for advice and implementation to two separate parties. I proposed an alternative solution which involved a four-party agreement with the trustees, their sponsor, the investment consultant and the fund manager. This provided the protection that the trustees needed. It was the first time that I had used this approach and was told by the fund manager's lawyers that it was a first for them too.

How do you get under the skin of a client's business?

Talk to your clients. There's no better way to get information about what is important to them and to understand their goals, which is critical. Understanding the client's perspective helps us to tailor our advice. It also allows us to be proactive by keeping abreast of developments that are likely to be important to our clients and to propose solutions before a problem occurs rather than 'fire fighting' after the event.

What's your single greatest contribution to Wragge & Co's corporate responsibility?

I'm afraid that I haven't been as athletic as some of my partners who have run marathons and climbed mountains. I joined a group of people from the firm to help landscape a local school's gardens and outdoor areas which was very rewarding because you can see an immediate result and it's in the local community.

What's been written or said about you that you're most proud of?

The chairman of trustees for a large client once described my advice on a complicated and potentially emotive subject as 'masterly'. He was impressed by the fact that the advice was in plain English, cut through the legal complexities and gave a clear recommendation.

Another client told me that I had 'almost made pensions understandable,' in a situation where we were dealing with complex pensions law issues and tight time scales. The client started from a position of very little knowledge and I will aim to get rid of the 'almost' next time I work with him!