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Mark Grant

Partner
Head of Pensions

Portrait of Mark Grant

Mark Grant

Partner
Head of Pensions

Contact
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English

Mark Grant is a partner who heads the CMS Pensions team. He joined the firm as a trainee in 1990 and specialised in pensions law since qualifying in 1992. He became a partner in 1999 and is now the Head of our Pensions Ombudsman Unit.

Mark is the author of The Pensions Ombudsman: Powers, Procedures and Decisions (Sweet & Maxwell). He was a member of the APL's Pensions Litigation Committee for 10 years and is now on the APL’s Main Committee. He chairs the Pensions Ombudsman Liaison Group.

He was assistant editor of the Occupational Pensions Law Reports and co-editor of the Journal of the International Pensions and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association (IPEBLA) for several years and an IPEBLA Steering Committee Member. 

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“an outstanding litigator with superb judgement and vast knowledge of the sector”

Chambers

“a stellar reputation…a standout practitioner”

Chambers

“a first-class lawyer who can make things happen”

Chambers

“recommended for his responsiveness and ability to give straightforward and well-balanced advice”

Chambers

“sharp incisive mind”

Chambers

“one of the top pensions litigators in the market”

Chambers

“he has a fountain of ideas to offer when trying to resolve contentious pensions matters”

Chambers

“Mark is described as ‘outstanding’ and as ‘highly experienced, innovative and client-friendly’”

Legal 500

“knows pensions law backwards”

Legal 500

“fizzes with ideas and is excellent to work with”

Legal 500

“he’s very experienced, imaginative, practical and commercial”

Legal 500

“unrivalled in any matter involving black-letter pensions legal knowledge and litigation strategy”

Legal 500

“an outstanding litigator with superb judgement and vast knowledge of the sector”

Chambers

“A ‘great pensions lawyer’”

Chambers

“a stellar reputation…a standout practitioner”

Chambers

“a first-class lawyer who can make things happen”

Chambers

“recommended for his responsiveness and ability to give straightforward and well-balanced advice”

Chambers

“sharp incisive mind”

Chambers

“one of the top pensions litigators in the market”

Chambers

“he has a fountain of ideas to offer when trying to resolve contentious pensions matters”

Chambers

“Mark is described as ‘outstanding’ and as ‘highly experienced, innovative and client-friendly’”

Legal 500

“knows pensions law backwards”

Legal 500

“fizzes with ideas and is excellent to work with”

Legal 500

“he’s very experienced, imaginative, practical and commercial”

Legal 500

“unrivalled in any matter involving black-letter pensions legal knowledge and litigation strategy”

Legal 500

Relevant experience

  • A wide variety of clients on all aspects of pensions law (contentious and non-contentious) and his clients include the trustees of the pension schemes of Heineken, Weetabix, Taylor Wimpey Plc and Northrop Grumman.
  • The trustees of Monarch Airlines pension scheme when entering into a Regulated Apportionment Arrangement to facilitate a rescue of the business.
  • Numerous court cases concerning pensions issues including:
    • Coloroll (1993) European Court of Justice and High Court – sex equality issues – for trustees
    • Ferranti Pension Scheme (1999) High Court – disputed pension entitlements – for trustees
    • Stone v Pensions Ombudsman (2000) High Court  – alleged investment duty breaches – for trustee
    • Moores (Wallisdown) v Pensions Ombudsman (2001) High Court – conversion of scheme from DB to DC – for scheme administrator
    • Britannic Asset Management (2002) Court of Appeal and High Court – Pensions Ombudsman’s jurisdiction – for Britannic
    • Petrochem pension scheme (2005) High Court – compromise of a deficit claim – for trustees
    • Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund (2005) High Court – trustee’s unilateral amendment power and scope to pursue employers for deficit – for around 30 employers
    • Royal Mail Pensions Trustees v Gosling (2007) High Court – part-timer’s pension rights – for trustees
    • BNP Paribas scheme (2008) High Court – rectification of pension increase rule – for scheme pensioners
    • Pilots National Pension Fund (2010) – trustee’s unilateral amendment power, deficit legislation–for scheme pensioners.
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Memberships & Roles

  • Main Committee member, Association of Pension Lawyers (APL)
  • Chair of Pensions Ombudsman Liaison Group
  • Member and past Steering Committee member, International Pensions and Employee Benefit Lawyers Association (IPEBLA)
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Publications

  • Contributor to the Pensions Law Handbook (15th Edition), Bloomsbury Professional.
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Education

  • 1990 - Solicitors finals, University of Northumbria, Newcastle Upon Tyne
  • 1989 – Law Degree, Hertford College, Oxford University, Oxford
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Expertise

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03/02/2023
Trust­ee Know­ledge Up­date – Novem­ber 2022 - Janu­ary 2023
Trust­ees of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion schemes have a stat­utory duty to en­sure that they have an ad­equate know­ledge and un­der­stand­ing of the leg­al is­sues rel­ev­ant to their scheme.  They must also en­sure that...
Law-Now Employment & Pensions
26/01/2023
Pen­sions Om­buds­man Up­date - Janu­ary 2023
Wel­come to the latest reg­u­lar Pen­sions Om­buds­man Up­date from the CMS Pen­sions Team. The Pen­sions Om­buds­man re­solves many cases every year which are not only im­port­ant for the parties con­cerned, but can...
Law-Now Employment & Pensions
10/11/2022
CMS in­tro­duces the Pen­sions Law Ap­praised App
CMS an­nounces today the launch of its new Pen­sions app, Pen­sions Law Ap­praised.The App, which will be avail­able via the App Store, aims to of­fer real-time guid­ance on the latest leg­al de­vel­op­ments af­fect­ing...
News
08/11/2022
Trust­ee Know­ledge Up­date – Au­gust-Oc­to­ber 2022
Trust­ees of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion schemes have a stat­utory duty to en­sure that they have an ad­equate know­ledge and un­der­stand­ing of the leg­al is­sues rel­ev­ant to their scheme. They must also en­sure that...
Law-Now Pensions
02/08/2022
Trust­ee Know­ledge up­date
Trust­ees of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion schemes have a stat­utory duty to en­sure that they have an ad­equate know­ledge and un­der­stand­ing of the leg­al is­sues rel­ev­ant to their scheme. They must also en­sure that...
Law-Now Pensions
26/07/2022
Pen­sions Om­buds­man Up­date - Ju­ly 2022
Wel­come to the latest reg­u­lar Pen­sions Om­buds­man Up­date from the CMS Pen­sions Team.The Pen­sions Om­buds­man re­solves many cases every year which are not only im­port­ant for the parties con­cerned, but can...
Law-Now Employment & Pensions
08/07/2022
CMS named European Pen­sions Law Firm of the Year for second year
In­ter­na­tion­al law firm CMS has been named “European Pen­sions Law Firm of the Year” at the European Pen­sions Awards 2022. This is the second con­sec­ut­ive year that CMS has been awar­ded this pres­ti­gi­ous...
Publication
06/07/2022
Trans­fer con­di­tions: Up­dated guid­ance on risk-based ap­proach for trust­ees
Fol­low­ing con­cerns raised both dir­ectly and in the press, the DWP and TPR have is­sued a joint state­ment (and TPR has amended its guid­ance) on the ap­plic­a­tion of the trans­fer con­di­tions reg­u­la­tions which...
Law-Now Employment & Pensions
10/05/2022
Trust­ee Know­ledge Up­date - Feb­ru­ary-April 2022
Trust­ees of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion schemes have a stat­utory duty to en­sure that they have an ad­equate know­ledge and un­der­stand­ing of the leg­al is­sues rel­ev­ant to their scheme. They must also en­sure that...
Law-Now Pensions
03/05/2022
Trust­ee Know­ledge Up­date - Feb­ru­ary-April 2022
Trust­ees of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion schemes have a stat­utory duty to en­sure that they have an ad­equate know­ledge and un­der­stand­ing of the leg­al is­sues rel­ev­ant to their scheme. They must also en­sure that...
Law-Now Pensions
01/02/2022
Trust­ee Know­ledge Up­date - Novem­ber 2021 - Janu­ary 2022
Trust­ees of oc­cu­pa­tion­al pen­sion schemes have a stat­utory duty to en­sure that they have an ad­equate know­ledge and un­der­stand­ing of the leg­al is­sues rel­ev­ant to their scheme. They must also en­sure that...
Law-Now Pensions
17/01/2022
Pen­sions Om­buds­man Up­date - Janu­ary 2022
Wel­come to the latest reg­u­lar Pen­sions Om­buds­man Up­date from the CMS Pen­sions Team.The Pen­sions Om­buds­man re­solves many cases every year which are not only im­port­ant for the parties con­cerned, but can...
Law-Now Employment & Pensions
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