Maples and Calder boosts London presence with new associates

Cayman Island-based Maples says that with the increase in the total number of fee-earners in its London office to 18, the firm now has the largest presence in the City of any offshore law firm, and promises to continue its aggressive recruitment drive throughout this year.

Overholt joined the capital markets practice of Maples and Calder in the Cayman in 2000 and joined the London office last year. She has wide-ranging experience in all aspects of structured finance and capital markets transactions including CDOs, securitisations and repackagings, and works closely with the London head of capital markets, Shaun Denton, in advising clients globally on structured finance transactions.

The new associates are former Ogier funds lawyer Oliver Godwin, Nabarro corporate lawyer Jack Marriott, Conyers Dill & Pearman trusts lawyer Robert Drysdale, banking and finance lawyers Sarah MacLachlan and Jessica Stock from New Zealand firm Buddle Findlay, and Kensington Swan corporate lawyer Mathew Bishop.

‘London’s pre-eminence as a global financial centre makes it one of the firm’s key markets,’ says the office’s managing partner, Charles Jennings. ‘The office has grown steadily since it opened a decade ago, but in the last 12 months we have seen a significant surge in demand and have responded to meet our clients’ needs.

‘Stacey’s promotion and the new associate hires are a crucial part of our future growth strategy in London. Stacey’s expertise and the high calibre of the associates will ensure that the London office is fully resourced to meet our client’s demands for global offshore legal services.’

Godwin, who joins from the investment funds practice of Ogier in the Cayman Islands, previously worked in London in the funds group at Lovells, Garretts and Nicholson Graham & Jones, where he trained and qualified in 1999. He specialises in offshore investment funds, specifically the structuring and establishment of all types of hedge funds, and has advised on listing funds in Dublin, Cayman and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange.

Marriott joins from the commercial and corporate department of Nabarro, where he was a senior associate, and has a broad range of experience of in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, capital reorganisations, joint ventures, investment funds and commercial. Drysdale, who joins from the trusts practice of Conyers in Bermuda, specialises in advising on the formation of Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda trusts.

Stock, who joins from the banking and finance team of Nabarro in London, previously was a solicitor with Buddle Findlay in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she qualified in 2002. She has extensive experience of property acquisition finance transactions and has acted for a variety of major international banks and financial institutions.

Bishop, who has particular expertise of British Virgin Islands corporate and commercial law, joins from the corporate and commercial department of Kensington Swan in New Zealand, where he qualified in 2005. MacLachlan, who joins from the banking and finance team of Buddle Findlay in Christchurch and previously worked at Cavell Leitch Pringle & Boyle, has a broad range of experience in international banking and finance law as well as property finance.

Maples and Calder is the world’s largest offshore law firm with more than 550 lawyers and staff in the BVI, Cayman, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Jersey and London, and is the largest law firm in Cayman. The firm advises on Cayman, BVI, Jersey and Irish law and specialises in banking, corporate, capital markets, structured debt, securitisation, asset financing, captive insurance, international equity offerings and listings, mutual and hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, commercial and private trusts and commercial and trust litigation.