Contributors
WBD has appointed Simon Beckwith and Mark Ratcliff as partners in the firm's London office, joining WBD's growing national insurance claims team.
Simon and Mark both join from London insurance firm Plexus Law, where they were both partners.
Simon is a qualified barrister and has over 20 years’ experience as an insurance, professional indemnity, financial services and pensions specialist, acting for a large number of insurers and professional firms. He has a strong track record of advising on claims against financial and mortgage advisers, private and overseas banks, pension and investment professionals, insurance brokers and stockbrokers. He also has wide experience of dealing with claims referred to the Financial Ombudsman and Pensions Ombudsman Services; FCA investigations and enforcement proceedings; defending recovery claims pursued against firms and their insurers by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme; and claims concerning occupational pension schemes.
Mark Ratcliff, is a qualified barrister and also has over 20 years' experience of acting for professional indemnity insurers in the defence of civil and regulatory claims for a wide range of professionals including accountants, auditors, insurance brokers, investment managers, architects and solicitors. Mark also has a strong track record in dealing with management liability claims in a wide range of UK and international disputes including regulatory investigations and civil and criminal proceedings involving a range of entities to include chartered institutions, charities, unincorporated associations and companies.
These appointments follow a wider recruitment drive in WBD's London office which saw three new partners joining the insurance group (Tim Barr) and immigration (Andrew Tingley) and banking (Matthew Williams) teams in the past few weeks.
Jonathan Blair, UK Managing Partner and Head of the London office at WBD, said:
"We're delighted to welcome Simon and Mark to the Partnership and to our growing London office. They both join the firm with a huge amount of expertise in the insurance and claims sector. Their experience as well as their specialist industry knowledge will play an important role in refining and bolstering our city and national insurance practice, which is pivotal to the firm.
"Our London office has been growing from strength to strength in the past few months and we look forward to welcoming more new joiners and partners in the new year."
Simon commented: "WBD has strong credentials in the insurance sector with an impressive client portfolio."
Mark added: "WBD’s insurance team is well regarded in the London Market. I look forward to working with the team here in London, nationally and in the US."
WBD was recommended in this year's Legal 500, a leading annual guide to law firms in the UK, ranking as a top tier law firm across 33 practice areas and in Chambers UK in 74 of its practice areas. Simon Beckwith was ranked as a leading lawyer in Professional Negligence in London and described as "strong on IFA professional indemnity defence work and coverage issues".
Ranking in the UK's top 20 law firms, WBD provides legal expertise across a range of sectors including Insurance, Public & Government Services, Energy & Natural Resources, Financial Institutions, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Real Estate, Retail & Consumer, Transport, Logistics & Infrastructure, Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences, Technology and Private Wealth.
