Sophia joined the team as a paralegal in 2023, and qualified as a solicitor in 2026.
She works on a wide variety of matters for sponsoring employers and trustees of defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, both on a transaction basis, and in relation to day-to-day advice.
Sophia has particular experience of assisting with member communications, scheme wind-up, liaising with third parties including regulatory bodies, Pensions Ombudsman complaints and drafting scheme documentation, policies and managing "change-related" projects.
Experience
Examples of her experience include advising:
- Procter & Gamble in relation to its £2bn hybrid pension scheme including various mergers, implications of company disposals, Finance Act 2011 changes, auto-enrolment, implementation of salary sacrifice and treatment of members of the UK scheme whilst serving a period of Group Service outside the UK
- The Trustees of a DB scheme sponsored by a national residential property business in relation to benefit remediation ahead of going to market for a buy-in
- Various academy sponsors and local authorities around issues related to the arrangements for passing on, and funding, the past service deficits relating to staff who were members of the LGPS who would transfer to the academies when they opened
- An Insolvency Practitioner to secure the benefits of various former employees so that the scheme could be wound up and the company struck off. Sophia handles all of the day-to-day correspondence with the members and the insurers in relation to the with-profits policies.
