Three New Partners Join Thomas Cooper

by admin October 6, 2015

October 6, 2015 193 views

International law firm, Thomas Cooper, is pleased to announce the appointment of three new partners, Employment specialist, Nick Humphreys, Corporate Law expert Sharon Fryer and Shipping and Offshore specialist Steffen Pedersen.

Nick Humphreys and Sharon Fryer have both joined the London office, in our Employment and Corporate groups respectively. Nick Humphreys has wide employment law experience with a particular focus on Marine, Trade and Energy, acting for the travel sector, industrial conglomerates, hotels, media organisations and charities. His practice will cover document reviews, general employment advice, employment litigation (High Court and Employment Tribunal), industrial relations law advice for employers, advising on the employment law aspects of company sales and business transfers, private international law aspects of employment law and, advising on aviation and maritime employment law. Nick joins from Hill Dickinson where he was a partner.

Sharon Fryer is widely experienced in advising on all company law matters, including acquisitions and disposals of businesses and companies, investments by majority and minority stakeholders and management teams, and designing and implementing domestic and multinational corporate group structures. She also advises on corporate governance and compliance with directors’ statutory and fiduciary duties. Sharon speaks fluent French. She joins from PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal where she was a partner.

Steffen Pedersen joins our Singapore office as part of the Shipping and Energy team. His experience covers collisions, charterparties, cargo claims, construction contracts and financing projects. Steffen has handled both contentious and non-contentious cases with an emphasis on contentious work (arbitration, litigation and mediation) throughout the Far East and in London. Steffen has spent his entire career in Asia and has particular expertise in relation to China acting both for and against major Chinese yards, financing institutions and state-owned and private companies. He has developed a particular expertise in investigations and obtaining security against counterparties in the Far East and particularly China. Steffen speaks fluent Danish (mother tongue) and can also speak French and Mandarin. He joins from Wikborg Rein, Singapore where he was a partner.

The announcement comes as part of the continued expansion across our UK and international core sectors, having over the last year also announced internal partner promotions, including Shipping and International Commodity specialists, Lisa Hillary and Ceri Done and Insurance and Reinsurance expert Celso de Azevedo. Such expansion is in line with our long-term business strategic objectives.

Tim Kelleher, Thomas Cooper’s senior partner comments:

“We consistently review the market for opportunities to hire suitable specialists who bring additional opportunities and experience which will complement the firm’s development strategy. We identified Nick, Sharon and Steffen’s areas as ones which dovetail well with our practice and, in particular, our global strategy. This is a logical extension of the work we already undertake for clients and further expands our services. They are all high quality recruits with first class experience in their chosen fields and will all strengthen and complement our existing team very well.”