Ron Burgess
London
Partner, Pensions
T+44 20 7759 6585
Email RonAdd Ron to my contactsProfessionalLawrence Graham LLP, Partner, 2008 to date
Allen & Overy LLP, Senior Lawyer, 2005 to 2008 (including secondment to the Pensions Regulator)
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lawyer and Senior Lawyer, 2000 to 2005
Webber Wentzel Bowens (South Africa), Attorney, 1998 to 2000
Van Hulsteyns Attorneys (South Africa), Candidate Attorney and Attorney, 1996 to 1998
ExpertiseRon advises employers, trustees and (where appropriate) insolvency practitioners, on:
- All legal issues relating to occupational pension schemes arising out of corporate insolvencies and/or restructuring of companies which are in distressed financial circumstances, including negotiations with the Pension Protection Fund and the Pensions Regulator
- Managing the pension implications of domestic and multi-jurisdictional mergers, demergers, joint ventures, acquisitions and disposals and the pension issues arising out of other corporate activity which may affect the strength of an employer's funding covenant, including pragmatic advice in relation to the moral hazard powers of the Pensions Regulator
- The pension issues arising out of PFI and PPP projects and pension issues that arise on IPOs
- The legal aspects of funding of occupational pension schemes, including contingent assets
- All legal issues of occupational and personal pension schemes including establishment, administration, taxation, amendments, structural reviews and winding up
- The merger of occupational pension schemes; and
- The pension implications of termination of employment
ExperienceIn addition to advising companies and trustees on general issues relating to pensions, Ron has also specialised in advising on the pension related aspects of numerous corporate transactions and insolvencies. He has been involved in and in some cases, run, the pension aspects of a number of high profile transactions in which pensions were a central element. These transactions have included the (then) largest hospital PFI project in the UK, a merger of two leading high street chemists and wholesalers, acting for a financially distressed group of companies that divested themselves of their pension scheme (which had a substantial deficit) and acting for the administrators in a large and well known insolvency.
Ron has also spent six months on secondment at the Pensions Regulator where he worked in both the corporate risk management and scheme specific funding teams. He has extensive experience in dealing with the Pensions Regulator and has also dealt with the Pension Protection Fund on several occasions.
Publications and speaking engagements
Ron has spoken at client seminars on various matters including conflicts of interest, the latest Guidance on Clearance, the (then) DWP proposals in relation to the Employer Debt Regulations and the various options available in relation to employers' pension liabilities under the finalised Regulations.
Ron has also provided trustee training, including in relation to the trustee knowledge and understanding requirements. He has a particular interest in training junior solicitors and has run several seminars and training sessions for them.