Employment, pensions and incentives

Head of department | Peter Frost

Main areas covered | corporate, advisory and litigation aspects relating to employment, pensions, and employee incentives

Key clients include | British American Tobacco | Citi | PwC | TimeWarner | TUI Travel

Sector expertise includes | accountancy, professional and business services | government and public sector | financial institutions | insurance and reinsurance | TMT

  • Blackstone Group on the global employment aspects of its US$3 billion acquisition of Cardinal Health
  • First Choice Holidays on the employment, pensions and incentives aspects of its merger with part of the business of TUI AG to form TUI Travel
  • Moneysupermarket.com on the pre-flotation corporate reorganisation of the group, including the impact of the reorganisation on the existing employee share scheme arrangements
  • Resolution on the employment, pensions and employee incentives aspects of the various merger proposals made successively by Friends Provident, Standard Life and ultimately Pearl Group
  • Stagecoach on the pensions issues arising out of the sale of their London Bus divisions to Macquarie Bank, and on a £700 million return of capital and consequent negotiations with the trustees of its £10 billion pension scheme
  • Transport for London on employment and pensions issues arising from the special PPP administration of Metronet

Client case study
Herbert Smith recently advised UBS on its successful High Court application for a temporary restraining order preventing Vestra Wealth, a wealth manager, from acting for certain clients of
UBS Wealth Management until trial, (so-called “springboard relief”).

Vestra was set up in 2007 by a former head of the division. In addition four senior employees of the bank’s wealth management division, who had resigned to join Vestra, conceded that they should not approach any UBS wealth management clients or recruit further UBS staff, until trial.

Granting this restraining order on 4 August 2008, Mr Justice Openshaw said that UBS had presented a “formidable case” that there was an unlawful plan to poach staff and clients which had been formulated and actively managed by former senior employees. A full hearing of the case was set to take place in October 2008, however UBS reached a settlement with Vestra prior to trial.

John Farr led the Herbert Smith team advising UBS Wealth Management: “The judgment completely vindicated UBS’s decision to defend its legitimate business interests through legal action, by preventing the defendants from taking unfair advantage of this head start.

“The judgment also had broader market significance because it confirmed companies can secure springboard injunctions on the basis of breaches of fiduciary duty and contractual obligations, and not just misuse of confidential information.”