Ogier has completed its merger with WSmiths to create a new offshore group providing legal and fiduciary services in nine financial centres around the world, employing over 600 professional and support staff.
Ogier now has a presence in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jersey, London, Montevideo and New Zealand.
One of the key benefits of the merger is that the group is able to offer clients advice on all aspects of BVI, Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey law plus associated fiduciary services; through an extended network of offices covering all time zones and key financial markets including the rapidly growing Asian and Chinese markets.
Ogier pioneered offshore multi-jurisdictional growth when it combined with Boxalls in Cayman in 2003, to produce the first transatlantic merger of offshore firms.
The merger is significant to Ogier Cayman as it allows us to further promote Cayman vehicles to the wider Asian and Latin American markets, which is important to the continued growth of the Cayman financial services sector said Ogier managing partner James Bergstrom.
Duncan Smith one of the founding partners of WSmiths and now Managing Partner of Ogier s office in Hong Kong added "We are delighted by how well the merger has gone, feedback from our clients has been very positive as they see the opportunities arising from working with a truly multi jurisdictional group."
Ogier continues to establish itself as a pre-eminent provider of offshore legal and fiduciary services as is evidenced by the awards bestowed upon the group in 2006, including "Top Offshore Law Firm" at the Alpha Awards in New York; "Offshore Legal Team of the Year" at the inaugural Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners' Private Client Awards, "Offshore Law Firm of the Year" at the Chambers Global Awards and "Niche Firm of the Year" at the Legal Week Awards all three of which were in London.