Areas of practice:

Helen has specialised in pensions law since 2001 and was part of Womble Bond Dickinson’s pensions team for many years prior to joining Wrigleys.

Helen has extensive experience in advising pension scheme trustees and sponsors on all aspects of pensions law. Helen’s client base has straddled many sectors including energy, manufacturing, retail, transport and the public sector. She has also acted for pension trustee boards operating within the charity sector (and is herself a chair of trustees of a North-east based charity, so understands issues facing charities and their governance requirements). The types of schemes Helen has advised on include occupational and personal pension plans, smaller sized funds to much larger ones and various benefit designs including final salary, CARE, defined contribution and hybrid schemes.

Some areas Helen has often provided advice on include:

• Pension scheme governance and compliance issues
• Wind ups and consolidation projects
• Liability management exercises, management of ‘exit’ debts and employer funding proposals
• Drafting and reviewing definitive scheme documentation and supplemental deeds
• Large projects such as scheme closures and mergers and buy-in and buy-out exercises
• Support on Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure and Pensions Ombudsman complaints

Professional memberships:

Helen is a full member of the Association of Pensions Lawyers and a member of the Pension Ombudsman’s Legal Forum