People Moves
Global Aspirations Drive Offshore Law Firm To Promote Eight to Partner

A record eight new partners have been made up at offshore law
firm Harney Westwood & Riegels. They are Tanya Cassie, Jacqueline
Daley-Aspinall, Rachel Graham,
Zac Lucas,
Leon Mao, Marco Martins, Andrew Thorp and Russell Willings.
Managing partner Richard Peters said the move comes at
a time when Harneys is seeking to transform its practice from one
focused solely on the
British Virgin Islands to a truly global one.
Ms Daley-Aspinall and Ms Graham are in the corporate and
commercial practice. The former has extensive experience in
corporate restructurings, mergers and acquisitions and with
matters involving partnerships and special purpose vehicles and
is located in the
British Virgin Islands. Ms Graham, who is at the firm's
London office, regularly advises on
AIM listings, corporate restructurings and joint ventures.
Tanya Cassie, Leon Mao and Russell Willings are the new banking
and finance partners. Ms Cassie specialises in aircraft and ship
finance and also advises on general corporate finance and banking
matters. Previously located in
Hong Kong, Ms Cassie is now at the firm's
BVI office. Mr Mao has practiced offshore law in
Hong Kong since 1996 and has an extensive client practice focused
on private and public offerings of debt and equity, corporate
restructures and takeovers, schemes of arrangement and banking
and finance. Mr Willings specialises in issues relating to
security, netting and collateral and the enforceability of
derivative arrangements, particularly in the context of BVI
insolvency proceedings.
Head of Harneys' trust practice Zac Lucas specialises in advising on trust products. He is located in the BVI office.
Andrew Thorp is a member of the firm's litigation practice as well as its distressed funds group. He has a wide range of experience in insolvency, contentious trust issues and shareholder disputes, as well as particular expertise in asset tracing and preservation.
Marco Martins is a member of the funds team and also head of
Harneys'
Latin America practice. Mr Martins' practice encompasses all
aspects of corporate, banking and finance related disciplines
with a particular focus on the establishment and restructuring of
investment funds.
The partner promotions come on the heels of the November
appointments of Jonathan Culshaw and Paul Lau as lateral-hire
partners in Cayman and
Hong Kong respectively. Harneys now has 22 partners worldwide.
The firm provides law firms, financial institutions and
corporates with legal services relating to
British Virgin Islands,
Cayman,
Cyprus and Anguillan law. The firm also provides company, trust
and fund formation and administration services through its
affiliated corporate and private wealth services business.