Areas of practice:

Louise trained as a solicitor at Wrigleys, qualifying in 2009.  She was promoted to partner in 2019 and is joint head of the Pensions team alongside Kate Buckham. 

Prior to qualifying as a solicitor, Louise worked in the pensions industry for a number of years in the areas of administration, consultancy and independent trusteeship.  She now advises trustees and sponsoring employers of occupational pension schemes on all aspects of pensions law.

She has extensive experience advising trustees in connection with buy-in and buy-out liability management exercises and the winding up of both solvent and insolvent pension schemes.

Louise is also responsible for the day-to-day management of the trusteeships held by our pensions trustee company, Wrigleys Pensions Trustees Limited (of which Louise is a director) and is a contributing author for LexisNexis.

Recent experience includes:

• working with a number of Schemes in relation to buy in and buy out liability exercises;
• advising on the implications of  the judgement in Hughes v PPF (and subsequent appeal decision) in relation to schemes which have exited PPF assessment periods and are winding up outside of the PPF on an underfunded basis.
• advising a number of schemes in relation to GMP equalisation, conversion and the impact of the latest Lloyds judgment in respect of historic transfers. A particular emphasis on helping trustees navigate these matters in the context of schemes in the final stages of wind up (on a deficit basis) or operating within a bulk annuity purchase contract with a view to moving to buy-out and wind up (on a solvent basis).
• generally advising on day to day defined benefit scheme matters, including trustee governance, addressing historical ineffective amendment exercises, contingent assets (parent company guarantees, charges over property and non-standard charges), valuation matters and complex member queries, e.g serious ill health commutation.

Testimonials:

‘Louise Edwards and Vicki Acomb work together as an integrated team, not only within the firm but also with us as client and other advisers. They can sort the wheat from the chaff quickly and follow that up with common sense advice and direction.’

The Legal 500 (2022).

Professional memberships:

• Association of Pension Lawyers
• Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute

Publications:

Leigh Holmes, Louise Edwards and Wills Crump co-author a Lexis NexisPSL practice note regarding the winding-up of DC schemes.