CMS Financial Services continues growth with key double partner hire

CMS is pleased to announce the addition of Jason Brooks and Thomas Lockley as partners to the firm’s Financial Services & Products Team in London.

Both Jason and Thomas were formerly senior lawyers in Clifford Chance’s Derivatives & Structured Finance Team.

Jason has extensive experience in over-the-counter derivatives and structured finance transactions, including credit and equity derivatives, derivative-linked securities, repackagings, synthetic securitisations, repos and securities lending. He regularly advises on credit risk management, collateral and netting issues and derivatives regulatory issues. His clients include various corporates, banks and other financial institutions in London and Europe as well as the CIS and other emerging markets.

Thomas, in addition to his wide-ranging structured finance and derivatives expertise, has developed a particular specialism in longevity risk transfer, having worked on many of the largest longevity transactions in the market to date, including longevity derivatives, large-scale collateralised buy-ins and embedded value transactions. He also has recent experience in Solvency II driven capital transactions for insurers.

Paul Edmondson, the Head of the CMS Financial Services and Products group, commented: “Our group includes two highly rated sub-teams: the Capital Markets & Derivatives team and the Life, Pensions & Longevity Risk Transfer team. Jason and Thomas are exciting additions to both of these, strengthening and broadening the current resources and capabilities within Financial Services & Products. We are delighted to welcome them to CMS.”

Commenting on his appointment, Jason said: "CMS offers an excellent international platform from which to continue to grow my practice. I’m very much looking forward to joining CMS' highly regarded capital markets and derivatives team."

Thomas added: “It is a fascinating time for the insurance, reinsurance and pensions markets as capital requirements and de-risking objectives drive the increasing use of structured finance techniques to transfer and manage risk in these markets. The Life, Pensions & Longevity Risk Transfer team are at the forefront of these developments and I look forward to being part of CMS’ cross-practice offering.”

This is the fourth lateral hire for the London office this month, following the appointments of Competition partner Satyen Dhana and Counsel Susann Altkemper who has also joined the Financial Services & Products group.