Helen Murphy

The master trust team currently advises approximately half of all authorised master trusts including major insurance-backed schemes, auto-enrolment schemes and NAME schemes. Helen's recent cutting edge projects included the first ever consolidation of two authorised master trusts. She advised throughout the project, acting as a sounding board on strategic and legal issues.

Helen also specialises in advising trustees of large (£1billion plus) defined benefit pension schemes and has a wide client base across a range of sectors including financial services, universities and manufacturing. Helen regularly advises on the resolution of member disputes (IDRPs) and manages Pensions Ombudsman claims as well as advising on key scheme projects including scheme mergers, scheme closures and buy-outs.

Helen also has extensive experience of advising employers on the pensions aspects of corporate and commercial transactions including the management of "Beckmann" rights and the apportionment of employer debts. She assisted a client in the insurance sector to complete a reorganisation and simplification of their defined benefit pension scheme liabilities through a series of flexible apportionment arrangements. She was also the lead UK pensions specialist acting on the successful purchase of a major cinema chain with a number of defined benefit pension arrangements, managing a team of international pensions specialists.