CMS awarded European Pensions Law Firm of the Year

International law firm CMS has been named “European Pensions Law Firm of the Year” at the European Pensions Awards 2021. This recognition follows hot on the heels of the firm’s recent win at the Pensions Age Awards 2021 where it was named “Pensions Law Firm of the Year”.

Celebrating their 14th year, the European Pensions Awards recognise and honour the investment firms, consultancies and pension providers across Europe that have set the professional standards in order to best serve European pension funds over the past year.

CMS has been awarded this prestigious title in recognition of its standout advice to clients across Europe. The Pensions team is at the forefront of the de-risking arena and, in 2020 alone, advised on £18bn worth of buy-in and buy-out transactions – representing more than half of the total value of transactions carried out that year. Recent transactions include advising the trustee of Sanofi Pension Scheme on a £760m buy-in with Legal & General; advising Atos on the successful merger of three schemes into a new £1 billion pension scheme and an additional merger of a multi-billion pound scheme into the newly established scheme; and advising the Deutsche Bank UK Pension Scheme Trustees on a £570 million pensioner buy-in transaction with Legal & General Assurance Society Limited.

Mark Grant, Head of Pensions at CMS, comments: “We are delighted to be recognised as the leading pensions law firm across Europe and are proud of the significant advances we have made over the past 12 months. Our deep experience and global coverage allow us to provide innovative solutions and achieve results for our clients, as we help clients navigate the complex aspects of their significant transactions.”  

Along with these recent wins, CMS was awarded “Law Firm of the Year” at the UK Pension and Investment Provider Awards 2020 and “Pensions Lawyers of the Year” at the Professional Pensions UK Pensions Awards 2020. CMS was also named the top firm for Supporting Development at the Professional Pensions Rising Star Awards 2020, where the firm was commended for its well-rounded approach to the professional development of its lawyers.