Walkers is pleased to announce it has received 44 individual lawyer rankings in the 2022 Legal 500 Caribbean directory and 50 rankings of "Leading Individual", "Next Generation Partner", and/or "Rising Star" in total, more than any other offshore firm.

The guide also ranked 18 practice areas from Walkers' offices in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, solidifying Walkers' reputation as the leading law firm in the Legal 500 Caribbean Guide.

Eight practice areas are ranked as Tier 1 practices, with Walkers' other 10 practice areas all ranking in Tier 2. The following practice areas achieved the top tier rating:

• Bermuda – Regulatory & Compliance

• British Virgin Islands - Dispute Resolution

• British Virgin Islands - Trusts / Private Client

• Cayman Islands - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets

• Cayman Islands - Dispute Resolution

• Cayman Islands - Investment Funds

• Cayman Islands – Regulatory & Compliance

• Cayman Islands - Trusts / Private Client

• Jonathan Betts - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets and Corporate & Commercial
• Kevin Taylor - Dispute Resolution
• Sarah Demerling – Insurance & Reinsurance
• Peter Dunlop – Insurance / Reinsurance

• Oliver Clifton - Dispute Resolution
• Rosalind Nicholson - Dispute Resolution

• James Burch - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
• Philip Paschalides - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
• Rob Jackson - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets and Corporate & Commercial
• David Collins - Corporate & Commercial
• Matthew Goucke – Dispute Resolution
• Neil Lupton – Dispute Resolution
• Shelley White – Dispute Resolution
• Colette Wilkins – Dispute Resolution
• Rolf Lindsay – Investment Funds
• Caroline Williams – Investment Funds
• Lucy Frew – Regulatory & Compliance
• David Pytches – Trusts / Private Client

• Adam Bathgate - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
• Natalie Neto – Corporate & Commercial

• Matthew Cowman - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets and Corporate & Commercial
• Omonike Robinson-Pickering – Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
• Murray Laing – Dispute Resolution
• Ian Tucker – Dispute Resolution

• Justin Hart – Corporate & Commercial
• Rupert Bell – Dispute Resolution
• Andrew Barker – Investment Funds
• Bicrom Das – Investment Funds
• Theo Lefkos – Investment Funds
• Tony de Quintal – Regulatory & Compliance
• Monique Bhullar – Trusts / Private Client

An additional 13 lawyers across Walkers' three Americas offices also received the "Rising Star" accolade:

Bermuda:

• Nathalie West - Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
• Rachel Nightingale – Corporate & Commercial
• Melanie Fullerton – Regulatory & Compliance

British Virgin Islands:

• Cate Barbour - Dispute Resolution
• Paul Waldron - Investment Funds

Cayman Islands:

• Sarah Humpleby – Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
• Paul Osborne – Banking, Finance & Capital Markets
• Niall Hanna – Dispute Resolution
• Fiona MacAdam – Dispute Resolution
• Christine Ballantyne-Drewe – Investment Funds
• Matt Bernardo – Investment Funds
• Andrew Howarth – Regulatory & Compliance
• Lucy Diggle - Trusts / Private Client

Today leading international financial services law firm Walkers is pleased to announce that Jonathan Sheehan has been appointed as Managing Partner of its Ireland office effective 1 January 2022. Jonathan will take over from Garry Ferguson who will complete his successful 9 year term as Managing Partner of Walkers Ireland LLP at the end of the year. Jonathan will remain client facing and continue in his role as Head of Tax.

"I would like to pay tribute to Garry's outstanding contribution as Managing Partner," Jonathan said. "It is an exciting time to be in the global legal business and we will continue to build on the growth that Garry has achieved since opening the Irish office with a staff of 2 in 2010. We now have over 140 staff in Dublin across our legal, listings and corporate services business – no other law firm in Ireland has had this level of growth in the same period."

"I am extremely proud to have served as Managing Partner of Walkers (Ireland) LLP over the last 9 years. In addition to our growth in Ireland, Walkers now has ten offices spanning across 3 continents worldwide, and I have also been very proud to have served as a member of the Global Management Committee of the firm. I look forward to assisting with the transition to a new generation of leadership in the Ireland office in the coming months," said Garry.

Global Managing Partner Ingrid Pierce commented, "Garry has been a huge contributor to the firm since he joined as partner in 2010 and we are extremely grateful for his many contributions as Managing Partner and head of our Irish Finance and Capital Markets group. We are delighted with Jonathan's appointment and look forward to supporting him in his new role. As part of the transition plan, I would also like to congratulate Noeleen Ruddy and Andrew Traynor who recently stepped into the role of co-head of the Finance and Capital Markets team on 11 October, which also marked the 11^th anniversary of the opening of the Irish office and the initial launch of this team."

Jonathan joined Walkers in 2015 as partner and Head of Tax in Dublin. Jonathan's practice encompasses the provision of tax and legal advice to clients on a wide range of areas including structured finance and capital markets, investment funds, financial services, corporate, banking and real estate.

Prior to joining Walkers, Jonathan was a partner in a large Irish law firm. Jonathan graduated from Trinity College Dublin and went on to do a Master of Laws at Cambridge. He is also a Chartered Tax Advisor with the Irish Tax Institute.

Praised by World Tax as "an impressive tax attorney", by Legal 500 as an "exceptional tax lawyer", and by Chambers Europe as being "technically excellent", Jonathan is highly recommended by all of the major legal directories for tax. A recognised expert in his field, Jonathan is highly sought after by major financial and business media to provide commentary on developments in the complex global tax sector.

Jonathan is a member of the tax committees of the Irish Debt Securities Association (IDSA) and of Irish Funds (IF) and is also the Vice Chair of the Irish Funds International Tax Working Group. Jonathan also serves on the firm's Global Partnership Committee.

Walkers is delighted to have been involved with six of the high profile award winning deals recognised across nine categories at the recent Ishka Global and Airline Economics awards events in New York. The transactions involved leading lawyers across Walkers' global asset finance and aviation group from its Cayman Islands, Dublin, Dubai and Asia offices.

The Ishka Deal of the Year Awards highlight the best aviation financing transactions of 2020, recognising financing transactions and M&A for airlines, lessors and investors:

• Best American Deal of the Year 2020 - Delta Air Lines SkyMiles $9bn financing
• Best MEA Deal of the Year 2020 - TAAG Dash 8-400 financing
• Most Innovative Deal of the Year 2020 - United Airlines $6.8bn Loyalty financing
• Best Restructuring Deal of the Year 2020 – Virgin Atlantic £1.2bn Recapitilisation plan

In its tenth year, Airline Economics Aviation 100 awards celebrate all of the very best companies, individuals and transactions in the aviation finance and leasing sector over the past year:

• Global Leaders Overall Deal of the Year 2020 - United Airlines MileagePlus $6.8bn secured bond and term loan
• Global & Americas M&A Deal of the Year 2020 - $7.4bn Marubeni/Mizuho Leasing Aircastle Acquisition
• Americas M&A Deal of the Year - Carlyle Aviation Partners acquisition of FLY Leasing
• Americas Editor’s Deal of the Year 2021 (YTD) - Carlyle Aviation Partners acquisition of FLY Leasing
• Americas Overall Deal of the Year 2021 (YTD) - American Airlines $10bn AAdavantage loyalty programme package

Cayman Islands aviation expert Sarah Humpleby commented, "It is fantastic to see market recognition for all the hard work our clients have put in over the past 12 months and we are proud to have partnered with them in what has been another challenging period for the aviation industry. I am delighted that the matters the Walkers global asset finance team have worked on have benefitted the strategy and operations of the businesses we represent.”

Walkers' Asset Finance practice is backed by an experienced bench of aviation and shipping specialists across our 10 global offices. Our global asset finance team provides Bermuda, BVI, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Irish and Jersey law advice in relation to a wide range of transactions. Through Walkers Professional Services and our dedicated asset finance director bench, we provide specialised corporate, fiduciary and administration services to special purpose vehicles that participate in all forms of asset finance transactions.