Leading offshore law firm Appleby has received top rankings in the 2021 Legal 500 Caribbean Guide. Legal 500, one of the leading international legal directories has been analysing the capabilities of law firms across the world in well over a hundred jurisdictions for over 40 years. The rankings are based on feedback from 250,000 in-house peers, client feedback and independent assessment of law firms’ deals and cases.

Appleby’s Bermuda office earned a Tier 1 ranking in five categories: Banking, Finance & Capital Markets; Corporate & Commercial; Insurance/Reinsurance; Regulatory & Compliance; Trusts/Private Client, and a Tier 2 ranking in Dispute Resolution.

Appleby is the only Bermuda firm ranked Tier 1 in Legal 500’s newly created Regulatory & Compliance category. Appleby has 23 lawyers recognised by Legal 500, with 17 specifically ranked in the ‘Leading Individuals’, ‘Next Generation Partners’ and ‘Rising Stars’ combined categories.

Tim Faries, Bermuda Managing Partner said, “Congratulations to our Bermuda team for continuing to be recognised so highly by Legal 500 and our many clients and referrers. We have one of the world’s largest offshore regulatory and compliance teams, comprised of experts who not only have first hand knowledge of local regulation, but who have in many cases, helped to shape it. Our Bermuda regulatory team is at the forefront of changes in the regulatory landscape and offers best in class advice on the regulatory issues facing businesses in Bermuda. For this reason, we are especially pleased with our regulatory practice Tier 1 ranking. We are also delighted that we continue to have the most women ranked in the ‘Leading Individuals’, ‘Next Generation Partners’ and ‘Rising Stars’ combined categories in Bermuda.

Testimonials from clients, referrers and peers include the below.

Banking, Finance & Capital Markets: The team is praised for their “Responsive, excellent communication and technical skills, practical and commercial outlook.” Client testimonials include: “I have worked with Appleby’s team for a few years now, I am incredibly happy with their straightforward answers, their availability and willingness to help. I mostly work with Tammy Richardson-Augustus, who is always available and open to assist us in any matter with top quality. They deliver in time, they are flexible and attend our needs in a professional manner.” Another source adds, “Tammy Richardson-Augustus is a top lawyer, not only technically but for the client attention she brings to the table. Gives practical and clear solutions and adapts easy to the needs of our structure.”

Corporate & Commercial: The corporate team is praised for “practical advise and being easy to reach.” The team has an enviable track record in large-scale M&A work, corporate restructurings, and joint ventures, regularly assisting FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies in the insurance, banking, technology, funds, transport, energy and natural resources sectors. Tim Faries leads the Bermuda corporate and insurance group, which also includes insurance and reinsurance expert Alan Bossin, corporate and commercial transactional specialist Clive Langley and Sally Penrose, who specialises in regulatory issues. Jerome Wilson and David Clark are other names of note.

Dispute Resolution: Praise for the team includes, “Appleby’s litigation team provides a first-rate service. The combination of their skills running heavyweight international litigation and their experience and knowledge of local courts makes the firm a force to be reckoned with.” John Wasty, Head of Dispute Resolution, and counsel Hannah Tildesley are praised as “an impressive team, equally at home acting as advocates or as attorneys conducting heavyweight international litigation”. A source said, “Appleby as a whole worked fantastically well. Appleby provided an extremely high level of service to us and (more importantly) to the client.” Additionally, “We worked with Steven White and Hannah Tildesley. They were both extremely impressive and well-versed in Bermuda law. Steven and Hannah provided clear, detailed answers to difficult questions in such a way that we were able to present them both as legal experts to the US court.”

Insurance/Reinsurance: The team which has a “Strong knowledge of the Bermuda regulatory system, the regulator, and the market” has a notable track record in assisting clients with the establishment of structured ILS products and the operation and regulatory compliance of life insurance and life assurance companies. The department is highly regarded locally for its non-contentious capabilities, which range from advising on catastrophe bonds and other insurance-linked securities to the structuring, establishment and winding down of entities. Reinforcing the group’s advisory and transactional practice is its strong contentious expertise, which is led by experienced litigator John Wasty, who has extensive experience acting in high-value arbitration, litigation and mediation matters for a variety of reinsurers, insurers, insureds, captives and brokers. Well known for handling insurance company capital raisings, M&A and public listings.

Regulatory and Compliance: “The team at Appleby are knowledgeable, practical in their approach to problem-solving and make themselves very available.” Appleby’s regulatory group provides clients with compliance, corporate governance, regulatory and risk advisory services, primarily on business and financial services regulation. Recently, the multi-disciplinary team, which is led by Sally Penrose, has been advising clients on economic substance compliance issues across a broad range of sectors. Other areas of focus include advising on the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regimes, as well as handling sanction compliance policies in connection with new regulatory license applications. The team also assists clients with regulatory licenses and issues arising under the Investment Business Act, the Insurance Act and the Investment Funds Act.

Trusts/Private Client: The team advises on a range of matters, including the establishment, administration, restructuring and termination of private, charitable, purpose and commercial trusts. The practice in Bermuda is led by Vanessa Schrum who has a global client roster of ultra-high-net-worth clients who she regularly advises on the use of Bermuda private and commercial trust structures, including purpose trusts, unit trusts, pension trusts, and trust restructurings. Additionally, the firm’s trust disputes team, which is led by Steven White and includes counsel Hannah Tildesley, regularly acts for trustees, settlors, protectors and beneficiaries in high-value trust litigation and court-approved restructurings. Caljonah Smith has particular expertise in applications for probate and reseal applications to the Supreme Court of Bermuda. At senior counsel and counsel level respectively, contentious trusts expert John Riihiluoma and wills and estates specialist Michael Mello QC are other practitioners to note.

Listed lawyers include:

Banking, Finance & Capital Markets:

Leading Individual: Clive Langley, Partner; Tammy Richardson-Augustus, Partner
Next Generation: Jerome Wilson, Partner
Rising Star: Tiffany Boys, Counsel
Recommended: David Clark, Partner

Corporate & Commercial:

Leading Individual: Tim Faries, Managing Partner
Next Generation: Matthew Ebbs-Brewer, Partner
Rising Star: Josephine Noddings, Senior Associate
Recommended: Alan Bossin, Partner; David Clark, Partner; Clive Langley, Partner; Sally Penrose, Partner; Tammy Richardson-Augustus, Partner; Jerome Wilson, Partner

Dispute Resolution:

Leading Individual: John Wasty, Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution
Next Generation Lawyer: Steven White, Partner
Rising Star: Hannah Tildesley, Counsel
Recommended: John Riihiluoma, Senior Counsel; Sam Riihiluoma, Senior Associate; Lalita Vaswani, Senior Associate

Insurance/Reinsurance:

Leading Individual: Tim Faries, Bermuda Managing Partner; Brad Adderley, Partner
Rising Star: Matthew Carr, Counsel
Recommended: Alan Bossin, Partner; John Wasty, Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution; Josephine Noddings, Senior Associate

Regulatory and Compliance:

Leading Individual: Sally Penrose, Partner

Trusts/Private Client:

Leading Individual: Vanessa Schrum, Partner
Rising Star: Caljonah Smith, Senior Associate
Recommended: John Riihiluoma, Senior Counsel; Michael Mello QC, Counsel; Hannah Tildesley, Counsel