About

I am Head of Share Incentives at Lewis Silkin and I specialise in advising private and listed companies on their employee share schemes and other share incentive arrangements.

From UK startups to FTSE100 multinationals, I assist a broad range of clients from all sectors with the legal and tax aspects of the structuring, launch and operation of their UK and global employee share plans. I also advise on the impact of corporate transactions on share incentives and broader employment taxation queries.

I am a member of the Share Plan Lawyers group, ifs ProShare and the Employee Share Ownership (ESOP) Centre. I have had the pleasure of speaking at a series of events focusing on employee share plans for listed companies and co-writing a series of articles for Lexis Nexis on LTIPs.

Experience

Implementing share incentive schemes

  • Implementing HMRC-backed Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) option plans, Company Share Option Plans (CSOPs) and UK tax advantaged all-employee share plans (SAYE/Sharesave Plans and Share Incentive Plans (SIPs))
  • Establishing an extensive range of unapproved share option plans, tax-efficient nil-paid shares, growth shares and joint share ownership plans, Long-Term Incentive Plans (LTIPs), performance share plans (PSPs) and Management Incentive Plans (MIPs), deferred share bonus plans, cash bonus plans and phantom equity arrangements
  • Assisting with establishing Employee Benefits Trusts (EBTs) to support companies' share plan arrangements, and queries regarding the administration and wind up of EBTs and other share plan specific trusts

Corporate & tax

  • Advising on the impact of corporate transactions on equity awards, including takeovers, company/business acquisitions, reorganisations, demergers, listings and re-domiciliations
  • Advising on the grant and settlement of share awards on recruitments and terminations, including the structuring of buy out awards
  • Advising on UK corporate governance requirements concerning executive remuneration for listed companies, including the Listing Rules, the Corporate Governance Code, the Directors' Remuneration Report Regulations and institutional investor guidelines
  • Advising on general UK employment taxation queries, including the UK tax implications for mobile employees

Services

Sectors