Shortly after I started at Wilberforce Chambers, Robert Maxwell disappeared from his yacht and very soon pensions moved from the business pages to the front pages and has been there ever since. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to become involved in the consequent explosion of pensions litigation.
That it’s a dry and boring area of the law. Whilst it is indeed often technical, the huge sums at stake means that there is a premium on innovation, and the most interesting developments in trust law in recent years have come through pensions cases.
Current economic conditions mean that the recent trend for the buying in and out of benefits is likely to continue, attracting further scrutiny of the benefit specifications of pension schemes and revealing more mistakes which insurers, trustees and employers will wish to be corrected. The legal principles discussed in my book are therefore set to develop further over the next few years.
Unlike in some other areas of the law, pensions lawyers – even in litigation, where people can sometime be quite aggressive – are generally a friendly, respectful and collaborative group, which makes my job both easier and more enjoyable than it would otherwise be.
A journalist, preferably in the “good old days”, when considered analysis on interesting and important topics were more highly prized than the production of glorified press releases and banal clickbait!
