Law firm Mourant Ozannes has advised 836 funds in Jersey with an overall value of USD302 billion, nearly triple the value of funds advised by its nearest competitor, according to independent annual research by Monterey Insight.
Mourant Ozannes leads the tables across all major categories, including largest legal advisers by total number of funds, and by fund assets.
Ben Robins (pictured), Jersey-based global head of funds at Mourant Ozannes, says: "This year's report evidences continued growth in our market share during a period of market volatility, indicating that Jersey's industry remains healthy and is capable of adapting quickly in uncertain times. Strong workflows from our existing clients and significant new client wins have resulted in an increase in the additional number of funds we advise, up from 817 to 836 funds, net growth greater than any competitor and leading to a further increase in our overall market share to 55 per cent.
"Monterey Insight provides a truly independent assessment of the advisers to Jersey's regulated fund industry. The research underlines the significance of Jersey's fund industry to the island's financial services sector as a whole, and as the leading legal adviser to this market we take our contribution to its success extremely seriously. It's really pleasing to yet again have this role independently verified by Monterey across so many categories in the report.
"The data clearly shows that our funds practice is unrivalled as Jersey's leading law firm for investment funds legal advice, a position that we are proud to have now held for 17 consecutive years."
In the last 12 months' Mourant Ozannes has recruited five new lawyers to its funds team in Jersey including partner Tim Morgan. This brings the team to a total of six specialist funds partners and 20 lawyers.
Last month the firm added another partner, Frances Watson, to the Guernsey team, following the arrival of Caroline Chan in 2015.
Robins adds: "Now more than ever our clients expect excellent levels of service, coupled with deep market insight and this is something that truly sets us apart. Having a large, expert team with a collegiate ethos allows us to work collaboratively in sharing insights, giving us unrivalled regulatory and market knowledge and the strongest client proposition. Once again, this has been endorsed in 2016 by the major legal directories, where, on the basis of independent client research, we are the only funds team in Jersey to be ranked as number one in each of Chambers, Legal 500 and IFLR.”
