James Walmsley

Pensions

James has extensive experience in the pensions field, building on his financial and policy experience before joining the Bar. His expertise covers both regulatory (moral hazard powers, scheme funding, trustee appointments) and non-regulatory aspects, including construction, rectification and blessing claims, as well as professional liability actions. He is recommended in both Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500 for his pensions work and was featured as one of the 10 stars at the Bar (five years call and under) in the 2013 edition of Chambers & Partners.

Relevant experience includes:

• Acting for the Pensions Regulator before the Determinations Panel, Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal in connection with its pursuit of an FSD in relation to the Box Clever scheme.
• Acting for the Pensions Regulator in connection with the BHS Scheme, including in the Upper Tribunal in its action against Mr Dominic Chappell.
• Acting for the administrators of Lehman Brothers entities in three different proceedings (Nortel & Lehman v TPR in the Supreme Court, Storm Funding in the High Court, FSD proceedings in the Upper Tribunal) arising out of the Regulator’s pursuit of an FSD in relation to the Lehman Pension Scheme.
• Acting for the Trustee in the MNRPF litigation [2015] EWHC 448 (Ch).
• Acting for a group of employers in PNPF v Taylor (the “Pilots” litigation).
• Advising on a number of matters relating to the construction of pension scheme rules and rectification, including acting for the trustees of the MNOPF in a successful rectification claim in December 2013.
• Acting for targets, Trustees and the Pensions Regulator in connection with a number of high profile moral hazard investigations in addition to those referred to above.
• Acting for the Pensions Regulator in relation to a number of matters relating to the Regulator’s scheme funding powers under S 231. Also advising trustees and employers on the resolution of funding disputes.
• Acting for the Pensions Regulator in relation to matters concerned with trustee appointments (including one can where the appointment was challenged and the matter reviewed by the Upper Tribunal) and also sections 15-16 of the Pensions Act 2004.
• Advising on the employer-related investment regime.
• Advising in relation to DB Superfunds.
• Advising on and acting in a number of professional negligence claims arising out of pension schemes (both occupational and personal), including in connection with failures to equalise and failures in connection with the execution of scheme documents.
• Acting for the Financial Conduct Authority, the Pensions Regulator and others in matters related to pensions liberation.
• Advising in connection with the PPF risk-based levy.
• Acting in connection with Pensions Ombudsman and PPF Ombudsman disputes.
• Acting in a number of cases concerning SIPPs, commonly where the documentation has not catered for events that have arisen, and regularly involving property-related issues (enabling James to build on the experience in the property sector in earlier years of his practice).

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Professional liability

James has extensive experience in the field of professional liability, much, but not all of which, is connected to his pensions work and much, not all of which, is concerned with claims against solicitors.

He has in addition acted in claims concerning breach of director’s duty (including in connection with the misuse of confidential information), claims against trustees for breach of trust, and claims involving allegations of conflicts of interest against trustees and solicitors.

James is ranked in this area by The Legal 500 2023.

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

Many of James’ recent cases have a significant trust law element.

In addition to cases involving pension schemes, and commercial cases involving trust arguments, James’ experience in this area includes:

• Acting for an executor where an issue arose as to the proper interpretation of a self-dealing authorisation clause, as well as the proper interpretation and scope of an exoneration clause. The executor succeeded: Barnsley v Noble.
• Advising and acting as junior in a multi-faceted and multi-jurisdictional matrimonial dispute concerning inter alia the operation of family trust arrangements in Cyprus and the BVI.
• Advising on the proper interpretation of wills and trust documents.
• Acting for and against trustees in the context of alleged conflicts of interest.
• Acting on an application for court approval of an amendment to an employee benefit trust deed in the context of a £300m takeover of the employer, where the trustee was the major shareholder of the employer, and advising subsequently.

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International arbitration

James has experience both of arbitrations and of proceedings through which arbitrations awards are challenged. He is currently acting in a LCIA arbitration concerned with the funding under a shareholders agreement of a large pension scheme. By way of other examples, he has acted in a large multi-jurisdictional dispute involving a number of arbitrations, has acted on a £220m ICC arbitration concerned with the failed purchase of a large stake in an Indonesian power station, and has also acted in an ad hoc arbitration set up to deal with swiftly with payment disputes under a royalty agreement.

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