International law firm Maples and Calder, which advises on the laws of the Cayman Islands, Ireland and the British Virgin Islands, has announced the appointment of 12 new partners across its global offices.

The new partners in the Cayman Islands office include Greg Barwick, Philip Dickinson, Patrick Head, Andrew Keast and Patrick Rosenfeld. Ian Conlon, Stephen McLoughlin, Eimear O’Dwyer, Enda O’Keeffe and Ciara O’Leary were appointed as partners in the Dublin office. Manuela Belmontes and Harjit Kaur were elected in the Dubai and London offices, respectively.

Global Managing Partner, Henry Smith commented, “It is with great pleasure that we announce the elections of these talented and dedicated professionals, each of whom has demonstrated expertise in their practice areas and a commitment to providing excellent client service. With these appointments, Maples and Calder now has over 100 partners worldwide for the first time in the firm’s history.”
Additionally, the firm is pleased to announce the recent recruitment of aviation finance specialist, Donna Ager as a partner in Dublin.

Cayman Islands

Greg Barwick specialises in the creation and dynamic structuring of private equity funds. Greg also works closely with hedge fund managers and their onshore counsel, consulting on the creation of new fund structures and generating bespoke solutions to challenges and opportunities arising in the hedge funds space. He represents large US and international financial institutions and investment managers across the spectrum, from established drivers of private equity and hedge funds to boutique and start-up investment managers.

Philip Dickinson specialises in the structuring, formation and ongoing operation of Cayman Islands investment funds. He represents numerous hedge fund managers and private equity firms on the establishment of fund structures, seed capital arrangements, restructurings, acquisitions and disposals, shareholder arrangements, joint ventures, downstream transactions and fund investment realisations. He also advises on compliance matters for the funds and their operators and managers.

Patrick Head specialises in Cayman Islands investment funds. He has worked extensively with well-known sponsors of private equity and hedge funds, as well as start-up managers and their onshore counsel, advising on all aspects of the establishment, regulation and operation of Cayman Islands investment funds. Patrick also has extensive experience in fund financing, the restructuring of investment fund platforms, mergers and listings on worldwide exchanges.

Andrew Keast works with a broad range of prominent institutional and start-up private equity, venture capital and hedge fund clients. He advises on all aspects of investment fund work, as well as general corporate and commercial matters. Andrew also advises a number of the leading sponsors and onshore counsel in the Israeli venture capital space.

Patrick Rosenfeld specialises in the formation and restructuring of all types of investment funds and advises clients in the asset management industry. He also has extensive experience of international debt capital markets, structured finance and securitisation transactions.

Dubai

Manuela Belmontes’ main areas of practice are international capital markets and finance (principally aircraft finance, Islamic finance, structured finance and banking). She has worked on a number of notable sukuk transactions and other Islamic compliant financings, conventional debt offerings and debt issuance programmes as well as bespoke securitisations for clients based in the Middle East, Europe and North America. Manuela regularly advises on aircraft finance transactions for aircraft carriers and leasing companies in the Middle East. Manuela also has experience in the establishment and maintenance of a variety of Cayman Islands investment structures and funds, and advises on general corporate and commercial matters, including joint venture arrangements and reorganisations.

Dublin

Ian Conlon has extensive experience in the establishment, operation and regulation of all available fund vehicles in both the UCITS and AIFMD space, with particular focus on alternative investment funds, such as managed account platforms, hedge funds, fund of funds and master-feeder structures. He also has significant expertise advising in the areas of derivatives, prime brokerage and securities law.

Stephen McLoughlin advises on a wide range of capital markets and structured finance products and related issues, including CLO, RMBS and other securitisation structures, fund-linked structured products, repackagings and debt issuance programmes. He also advises on regulatory issues which impact structured finance vehicles.

Eimear O’Dwyer has extensive experience in the UCITS and AIFMD space advising UCITS management companies, AIFMs, asset managers and managed account platforms in the establishment, operation and regulation of all types of Irish investment fund structures.

Enda O’Keeffe specialises in advising upon large commercial disputes, both in litigation and in alternative dispute resolution. He has particular expertise in promoting and defending negligence claims against financial and technical professionals, and in construction-related disputes.

Ciara O’Leary has considerable experience in relation to advising all types of Irish investment funds, including UCITS and alternative investment funds. She has significant expertise in regard to exchange traded funds, structured UCITS and the use of derivatives and financial indices within both the AIFMD and UCITS space. Commencing as a trainee with the firm, Ciara joined the Investment Funds group upon qualifying.

Donna Ager joined Maples and Calder in January 2015. Heading up the aviation practice in Dublin, Donna advises on tax efficient leasing and financing structures. She has extensive industry and structuring knowledge in the aviation sector and her aviation expertise extends across general aircraft leasing and financing, to include structured products (securitisations, EETCs and general ABS), ECA and bank finance, aviation platform financings, manufacturer funding and support mechanisms.

London

Harjit Kaur specialises in the area of investment funds, in particular the establishment and maintenance of hedge funds in the Cayman Islands. She advises numerous leading European hedge fund managers and their onshore counsel on the formation, ongoing legal and regulatory compliance, restructuring and termination of different types of Cayman Islands investment vehicles. She also regularly advises clients on a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions, including shareholder arrangements.

Photo caption: Seated (L-R) – Patrick Rosenfeld, Greg Barwick, Andrew Keast
Standing (L-R) – Patrick Head, Philip Dickinson

About Maples and Calder

Maples and Calder is a leading international law firm advising financial, institutional, business and private clients around the world on the laws of the Cayman Islands, Ireland and the British Virgin Islands. Maples and Calder has offices in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, London and Singapore.

With a reputation as an innovative, entrepreneurial firm, Maples and Calder is known worldwide as a market leader with highly qualified lawyers who are specialists in their respective practice areas.

About MaplesFS

The firm’s affiliated organisation, MaplesFS, is a leading specialised fiduciary and fund services provider. MaplesFS has offices in Boston, the Cayman Islands, Delaware, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Montreal, New York and Singapore.

MaplesFS is led by a team of experienced professionals and is committed to providing a high level of service, tailored to specific client requirements.