Walkers — Guernsey

Aaron Sanders

Senior Associate · Private Client

Adam Cole

Advocate Adam Cole is a partner in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency & Dispute Resolution team, with wide commercial litigation experience and a particular interest in contentious insolvency matters, regulatory enforcement referrals and trust disputes. He has been practising for over a decade and has been admitted in Guernsey since 2014. Prior to that Adam worked with a major international firm in London, specialising in insurance-related litigation. Adam is a member of the Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Experts (ARIES) and was awarded a Distinction for the STEP Advanced Certificate in International Trusts Disputes. · Insolvency

Alex Wickens

Alex Wickens is a group partner* in the Guernsey Banking & Finance team specialising in real estate finance, fund finance and acquisition finance. Alex has over 12 years' experience advising lenders and borrowers on all aspects of Guernsey banking & finance law from lending, to non-contentious restructuring and security enforcement. He advises on financings to complex real estate holding structures, including property unit trust structures and structures established to be shariah law compliant. Alex advises sponsors, private credit and traditional lenders on a range of acquisition finance transactions, but predominantly in respect of mid-market acquisitions of infrastructure and financial services targets acquired through Guernsey acquisition stacks. He also advises on all aspects of fund finance, including subscription line, net asset value and hybrid facilities. *not admitted in Guernsey and not a member of Walkers (Guernsey) LLP · Real Estate Finance

Alison Antill

Advocate & Associate · Trust Litigation

Chris Hutley-Hurst

Chris Hutley-Hurst heads up the Walkers' Channel Islands Regulatory and Risk Advisory Group. Chris is a Guernsey Advocate, with more than 20 years' experience in private practice in Guernsey, London and New York. He specialises in financial services regulation, digital assets and corporate tax. Chris advises on Guernsey regulatory matters, covering fintech, digital assets, financial services, licensing regimes, consumer lending, data protection and GDPR, beneficial ownership and anti-money laundering. He advises various financial services businesses, including banks, payment providers, CSPs, fund administrators and asset managers. Having worked as a tax lawyer previously, he has a unique experience in international tax matters, including VAT and GST. He advises on Guernsey and Jersey corporate tax (including Pillar 2), economic substance requirements, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and the OECD's Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), together with other initiatives. Chris is the author of the Bloomberg Tax Guide Guernsey chapter. He is also a board member for the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce. · Financial Services Regulation

Craig Cordle

Craig Cordle is a Partner in Walkers' Guernsey Investment Funds & Corporate Practice Group specialising in all aspects of the structuring, restructuring, merger, sale, establishment and operation of listed and private investment funds, including private equity funds, real estate funds, single asset vehicles/SPACs and other collective investment arrangements. In addition, Craig advises on the merger and acquisition of private and listed companies, schemes of arrangement and regulatory and competition issues. Craig is an asset management lawyer with 14 years' experience in private practice, most of which was spent in the asset management, funds and capital markets teams of two leading international law firms in the City of London. Since moving to Guernsey in 2016, and re-qualifying as a Guernsey Advocate, he continues to work with a number of vehicles listed on exchanges in London and across Europe, including The International Stock Exchange (TISE). He has been consistently recognised for the quality of his advice by Chambers UK, Legal 500 and IFLR 1000. Admitted in: Guernsey – 2018 England & Wales - 2008 · Investment Funds

Danielle Brouard

Danielle Brouard is a Senior Counsel in the Walkers' Employment practice group and advises on all aspects of employment law, focusing in particular on discrimination and employment-related disputes. Danielle spent 14 years practising in the London office of a major international law firm, working across the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment law issues. Her core practice involves: drafting and negotiating employment documentation, including restrictive covenants assisting with HR processes and employee relations matters representing clients in employment tribunal litigation advising on employment aspects of transactions assisting with the relocation of employees into Guernsey advising on pension issues Danielle also has in-house experience, having undertaken a six-month client secondment with British Airways, advising on employee relations and trade union issues. · Employment Law

Grace Cummings

Associate · Private Client

Helena Lavin

Helena Lavin is a Partner in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency and Dispute Resolution Group, specialising in contentious trust and insolvency matters. She is a Guernsey Advocate and has been practising in Guernsey for around eleven years– prior to that she worked in the Middle East, and with a leading national law firm in England. Helena has broad expertise acting for and advising predominantly international clients in disputes often with a multi-jurisdictional element. She is a founder of the Channel Islands Chapter of the International Womens Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation and she has a particular interest in contentious insolvency and trust matters. Her cases have involved acting for trustees beneficiaries and other parties to trusts in seeking disclosure from trustees, obtaining injunctive relief pertaining to trust assets, applications to vary trusts and challenged Beddoe applications. She also has extensive experience acting for insolvency office holders, directors, shareholders and other stakeholders and corporate entities in a wide range of disputes covering breach of fiduciary duties, professional negligence, enforcement of judgments and contested winding up proceedings. · Contentious Trust

Jamie Bookless

Jamie Bookless is a Partner in Walkers' Guernsey office advising on disputes and regulatory matters involving regulated businesses and structures in Guernsey. He has been in private practice for 20 years and has been working offshore since 2015. Jamie's regulatory practice primarily focuses on advice to regulated and licensed businesses on a wide variety of matters including AML and CFT related issues, GFSC investigations and remediation programmes, data protection, SARs and sanctions. His disputes practice focuses on complex and high-value commercial disputes and insolvency matters, as well as disputes related to competition law and data protection. Jamie regularly acts for large commercial clients, corporate trustees, major accountancy firms and investment banks. Jamie works with both Walkers' global Insolvency & Dispute Resolution practice, and Walkers' global Regulatory & Risk Advisory practice. · Litigation

Jarrad Knoetze

Jarrad Knoetze is a senior associate in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency & Dispute Resolution practice group and advises on all aspects of corporate and commercial disputes, including insolvency and trust disputes. Jarrad also advises on contentious and non-contentious regulatory matters, with a focus on matters relating to data protection, AML and CFT related issues, GFSC investigations and remediation programmes and SARs. He has been practising in Guernsey since 2019, and works with clients including financial institutions, trust companies and onshore law firms. He spent more than three years in the dispute resolution team of a major South African law firm before moving offshore in 2019. · Corporate Disputes

Jessica Robinson

Jessica Robinson is a senior counsel based in Walkers' Guernsey office, specialising in advising on M&A transactions, corporate restructurings and corporate finance matters. Her experience includes M&A transactions involving regulated trust company service providers, as well as a major Middle East acquisition for Amazon.com Inc. Jessica has worked in Walkers' BVI, Guernsey and Jersey offices, and advises on BVI, Cayman and Guernsey law. Prior to moving offshore, she practised in the London office of a major international firm for five years, during which time she completed two secondments with major banking clients. Jessica also completed another secondment with a major international bank in Jersey, providing training and designing and implementing robust internal legal procedures. Jessica speaks French. · Corporate / M&A

Jordan Trebert

Jordan Trebert is an associate in Walkers' Insolvency and Dispute Resolution Practice Group in Guernsey. Jordan advises on all aspects of corporate and commercial disputes, including insolvency disputes and contentious trust matters. · Dispute Resolution

Kellie Sherwill

Kellie specialises in commercial disputes and trust litigation. She also has experience advising on regulatory and banking matters, including compliance, corporate governance, and financial crime. She has experience of acting for a variety of clients on complex and high value matters. Kellie is a Senior Associate in the Walkers' Insolvency and Dispute Resolution team. She specialises in trust litigation acting for trustees, beneficiaries and protectors as well as in respect of non-contentious court applications and alternative dispute resolution. She also has transactional experience and has advised banks, companies, governments and individuals in relation to complex regulatory and banking matters, including compliance, corporate governance and financial crime and civil forfeiture matters. Kellie has represented clients in a variety of tribunals, including the employment tribunal and the Child, Youth and Community Tribunal. · Trust Litigation

Lauren James

Associate · Employment

Laurent Thibeault

Laurent is a Guernsey Advocate and Partner in Walker's Guernsey Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Group. He specialises in trust, finance and insolvency, and corporate disputes and advises leading global law firms, fiduciaries and high net-worth clients across these areas. Laurent has significant experience acting for trustees, beneficiaries and protectors in contentious matters as well as in respect of non-contentious court applications and wider negotiations. Having worked in the London and Paris offices of a Magic Circle firm's structured finance team and, previously, in financial restructuring and distressed debt, Laurent has a wealth of transactional experience and is uniquely placed to act on complex, cross-border contentious matters. · Trust Disputes

Marcél Treurnicht

Marcél Treurnicht is a Senior Counsel in the Walkers' Private Capital & Trusts practice group and specialises in advising clients on the establishment and use of Guernsey companies, trusts and foundations for both traditional private wealth and digital assets purposes (crypto and blockchain). Marcél's practice spans a range of areas, including traditional private wealth structures, employee benefit trusts, unit trusts and innovative trust structure tailored for the digital economy (crypto and blockchain). With a strong international background, Marcél brings valuable experience gained during his years in Hong Kong, where he advised on private wealth structures to assist wealthy families with tax mitigation, asset protection and succession planning. His corporate trust experience includes advising listed companies on the formation and implementation of employee benefit schemes in preparation for initial public offerings and/or secondary listings. In the digital economy, Marcél has worked with several of the largest decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) to develop trust structures that bridge the gap between traditional and digital economies while preserving decentralised principles. He has extensive experience in designing new trusts specifically for holding cryptoassets and monetising intellectual property assets connected to the blockchain space, as well as amending existing trusts, where feasible, to accommodate crypto and other blockchain assets. His expertise includes the use of purpose trusts and mixed trusts (which serve both purposes and beneficiaries). Additionally, he provides advice on holding cryptoassets through various entities such as foundations, foundation companies and standalone companies. He offers guidance on structures and entities across multiple jurisdictions, including the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Guernsey. These structures invest in a wide range of cryptoassets, including cryptoasset funds, high-profile NFTs and even cryptoasset infrastructure, such as crypto exchanges. · Private Wealth

Martha Male

Martha is a senior associate in Walkers' Insolvency and Dispute Resolution Practice Group in Guernsey. She advises on a range of commercial, trust, insolvency, and regulatory disputes, and her clients include governments, banks, companies, trustees, families, and individuals. She has practised law in England, the British Virgin Islands, and most recently in Guernsey, and is dual qualified as a solicitor-advocate in England & Wales and the British Virgin Islands.

Matt Sanders

Matt is the Managing Partner of Walkers' Guernsey office, where he specialises in investment funds and corporate matters. He is a Group Partner* with more than a decade's experience offshore, and works as part of Walkers' Guernsey Investment Funds and corporate teams on a wide variety of matters relating to the structuring and restructuring of investment funds and high value transactions involving Guernsey company law. He has particular expertise in respect of Guernsey Private Fund structures, and M&A deals involving regulated corporate service providers and trust companies. Matt's work includes advising on complex issues relating to funds, including having acted on the first conversion and migration of the cells of a Guernsey protected cell company to Malta. *Admitted in England & Wales and New Zealand – not admitted in Guernsey · Investment Funds

Mutsa Dodzo

Senior Associate · Regulatory Compliance

Rebecca Hale

Rebecca Hale is an senior associate in Walkers' Insolvency and Dispute Resolution Practice Group in Guernsey. Rebecca advises on all aspects of corporate and commercial disputes including contentious trust matters, administrations and insolvencies, regulatory matters and general civil and commercial litigation. She has been practising in Guernsey since 2016, and works with a broad range of clients including financial institutions and trust companies on complex cross-border matters. · Corporate Disputes

Rupert Morris

Rupert heads Walkers' Private Capital & Trusts practice group and has over 15 years’ experience as a private wealth specialist focusing on private client advisory and structuring work. Since qualifying as a Guernsey Advocate, Rupert also has experience as a contentious practitioner, appearing before the Guernsey courts at all levels. He is recognised as one of the leading lawyers in his field in Guernsey, and sits on the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners’ (STEP) worldwide council and is a former Chair of their Guernsey branch. Rupert’s clients include leading trust companies, financial institutions, government departments and ultra-high net worth individuals. He helps them with all aspects of local and cross-border advisory and structuring work, impact investment, charitable structures, and regulatory matters including tax investigations and dawn raids. · Trusts & Estates

Sarah Ash

Sarah leads Walkers' Channel Islands Employment Law Group and is the head of our Employment team in Guernsey. She advises on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law. Sarah advises companies in sectors ranging from financial services, insurance and legal to media on: tribunal claims and procedure contracts of employment internal grievance and disciplinary matters managing sickness absence misconduct and capability issues dismissals discrimination employment policies and procedures redundancies aspects of mergers, acquisitions and disposals. She has been seconded to Employment Legal and HR teams, and has spent time in a major international bank where she gained experience of employment matters from a client’s perspective. · Employment Law

Sarah Ball

Sarah Ball is an associate in Walker's Guernsey Insolvency and Dispute Resolution Practice Group and advises on contentious trusts matters, insolvencies, and commercial litigation. Sarah has onshore and offshore experience in advising on a wide range of disputes, working with corporates and HNWIs, mainly on cross-border matters. · Dispute Resolution

Sarah Brehaut

Sarah is a partner in Walkers' Guernsey Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Group specialising in contentious insolvency and regulatory disputes. She is an experienced court-going Advocate who frequently represents liquidators in respect of contentious and non-contentious matters before Guernsey's Royal Court in relation to compulsory and voluntary winding-up, and holds the BPP Certificate of Proficiency in Corporate Insolvency (for which she received the highest exam result in the country). Sarah also advises and represents directors of regulated entities in respect of regulatory investigations and disputes. She has significant experience in all aspects of commercial dispute as well as considerable experience of appearing in the Magistrate’s Court, Royal Court and Court of Appeal. · Insolvency

Shumona Neswar

Senior Associate · Trusts

Victoria Pratt

Victoria is a Senior Counsel in Walkers' Channel Islands Employment Practice Group, supporting the team across Guernsey and Jersey. Her employment law practice includes specialisms in data protection, executive exits and team moves and employment connected with regulated financial services business. Victoria's data protection work focuses on staff data (including data subject access requests and cross-border data transfers), frequently in the context of regulated industries, mergers & acquisitions and litigation. Her practice relating to senior exits and team moves involves advising both employers and employees on contentious exits and enforcement of post termination restrictions as well as constructive and unfair dismissal. Having worked as a commercial and fiduciary lawyer in London and Guernsey, and attaining STEP qualifications prior to specialising in employment work, Victoria has relevant experience of working within a regulated environment. Victoria is a Guernsey Advocate and also advises on housing and immigration matters. · Employment

Zoë Hallam

Zoë Hallam is a Group Partner in the Banking & Finance team in Walkers' Guernsey office, having previously spent eight years in the firm's Cayman office. Zoë advises on a broad range of finance-related matters, with a specialised focus on Fund Finance, Real Estate Finance and Islamic Finance transactions. In the Fund Finance sector she has advised both borrowers and lender on subscription facilities, NAV facilities and GP financing and her clients include leading international banks, alternative lenders and fund managers. · Banking & Finance