Burges Salmon recruited 22 pensions lawyers between September 2024 and March 2026, expanding its practice to 65 specialists as demand for complex retirement scheme advice surged ahead of sweeping regulatory changes.
The numbers tell the story.
The independent law firm’s pensions team has doubled in size over three years, growing headcount by 50% in the past 18 months alone. That expansion enabled the practice to advise the Honda Group UK Pension Scheme Trustee on an £800 million buy-in transaction—one of the largest risk transfer deals in the British pensions market during that period.
The recruitment drive brought the total headcount to 65, including over 50 qualified lawyers, five trainees, an apprentice, and two practice development lawyers. Nine partners and six directors now lead the non-contentious practice, which operates across London, Edinburgh, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham and Newcastle. A separate disputes team adds another two partners, two directors and five lawyers.
The timing proved strategic.
Burges Salmon onboarded more than 50 new clients in the past year, including a mandate to advise the Pension Protection Fund. The firm’s public sector practice strengthened further when Gary Delderfield joined as partner from Eversheds in November. That practice now acts for four of the eight Local Government Pension Scheme investment pools—positioning Burges Salmon ahead of LGPS reforms expected to reshape how billions in local authority pensions are managed.
The team also advised on what it described as a landmark “connected covenant” transfer to Clara-Pensions, currently the UK’s only defined benefit superfund. Superfunds have emerged as consolidation vehicles for DB schemes seeking to offload liabilities without buying insurance—a model that remains relatively untested but is attracting regulatory attention as sponsors look for alternatives to traditional buyouts.
Richard Knight, partner and head of pensions at Burges Salmon, acknowledged the scale of recent growth. “The past 18 months have been a period of amazing growth for our Pensions team, as we’ve invested in talented people across all levels to meet growing client demand,” he explained. “With game-changing legal and regulatory reforms on the horizon, we’re ready to support trustees, employers and public bodies through this next phase of change and are looking forward to further growth in the future.”
Those reforms include changes to LGPS structures, ongoing debates about consolidation in the DB market, and increasing climate-related disclosure requirements for pension schemes. The firm’s climate work earned recognition at the PMI Pinnacle Awards, where the pensions team won the Impact on Climate Award for supporting clients navigating the transition to a low-carbon economy.
The practice’s reach extends across all three UK legal jurisdictions—England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland—giving the firm coverage that few competitors can match for cross-border pension arrangements. The team serves trustees, employers, funds and public sector bodies, with work spanning scheme consolidation, regulatory compliance, and complex transactions.
Industry observers noted the expansion reflects broader pressures on pension schemes. Trustees face mounting compliance burdens, employers are seeking exit strategies from legacy DB obligations, and public sector schemes are grappling with investment pooling requirements that demand specialist legal guidance. That confluence has created sustained demand for pensions lawyers at precisely the moment when regulatory change is accelerating.
The Honda buy-in demonstrated the team’s capacity to handle substantial transactions. Buy-ins involve insurers taking on scheme liabilities while assets remain with the trustee—a halfway house before full buyout. The £800 million deal represented months of negotiation, due diligence and documentation, requiring coordination across multiple specialist areas.
For Burges Salmon, the investment in pensions forms part of a broader strategy to compete at the top of the legal market while maintaining independence. The firm operates from three main offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and London, eschewing the global merger model pursued by many rivals. Instead, it works with a select network of independent firms internationally.
The pensions practice’s growth has been particularly concentrated in public sector work. The LGPS investment pool mandates give Burges Salmon a front-row seat as local authority pensions consolidate assets into eight regional pools—a process that has been slower than government anticipated but is now accelerating. With Delderfield’s arrival from Eversheds strengthening that capability, the firm claims the leading public sector pensions practice in the country.
Private sector work has expanded in parallel. The Clara-Pensions superfund transaction broke new ground in a market where regulatory frameworks remain under development. Superfunds offer an alternative to insurance buyouts for schemes that cannot afford conventional risk transfer, though regulators have proceeded cautiously in authorising such vehicles. Clara-Pensions launched as a pioneering model, and transactions of this type remain relatively rare.
The disputes team operates separately but provides complementary capability when pensions matters turn contentious. With two partners, two directors and five lawyers, that practice handles litigation arising from scheme governance, member claims, and employer covenant disputes—areas where the line between advisory and contentious work can blur.
Burges Salmon’s commitment to the practice extends beyond lawyer recruitment. The inclusion of trainees and an apprentice signals investment in developing talent internally rather than relying solely on lateral hires. Practice development lawyers focus on innovation, process improvement and knowledge management—roles that larger commercial practices have adopted to support client service.
What remains unclear is how long the expansion will continue. Knight’s reference to “further growth in the future” suggests the firm sees sustained demand, but hiring 22 lawyers in 18 months represents an unusually aggressive pace. The question for competitors is whether they can match that investment—or whether Burges Salmon’s early expansion gives it an advantage that will be difficult to overcome as regulatory changes create even more work.
By March 2026, the practice had reached a scale that few independent firms could match. Whether that scale translates to market dominance will depend on how effectively the enlarged team executes on major mandates and whether clients continue to instruct independent firms over global practices with deeper benches.
The climate award added external validation to the growth story. Pensions have become a focal point for environmental, social and governance considerations, with schemes facing pressure from members, regulators and civil society to align investments with climate goals. Legal advice on climate risk disclosure, stewardship obligations and investment strategy has become a distinct subspecialty within pensions law.
For now, Burges Salmon has built one of the largest non-contentious pensions practices in the UK. The 65 specialists represent a significant concentration of expertise—and a substantial overhead that will require sustained client demand to justify. The bet is that regulatory reform will keep that demand flowing for years to come.
