Walkers expands into Guernsey with merger

Cayman Islands-headquartered law firm Walkers has increased its footprint by merging with a Guernsey-based law firm.

AO Hall will change its name to Walkers (Guernsey) LLP and will advise clients on Guernsey law, both on the island and in jurisdictions around the world under the Walkers brand, according to a statement from AO Hall.

Walkers advises investment funds, private equity, structured products and capital markets, providing legal, corporate and fiduciary services to global corporations and financial institutions.

The firm’s private equity clients include Blackstone, Stone Point Capital and Warburg Pincus, according to the firm’s website. Notable deals that Walkers' Cayman Islands office has advised on include Blackstone’s spin-out of its advisory operations and PJT Capital in October last year.

Following the merger, Walkers (Guernsey) will continue to be managed by Louise Hall, the managing partner at AO Hall, and the entire AO Hall 25-person team will remain in place.

“The decision to expand our reach into Guernsey was driven in the same way all of our international opening decisions are made, based on the needs of our clients. We have for some time had clients, particularly in Europe, asking us for Guernsey legal services and the opportunities presented in Guernsey make it the logical next step to providing seamless offshore legal services to clients across this region,” Ingrid Pierce, Walkers' global managing partner said in the statement.

Walkers currently has offices located in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. The merger adds to the firm’s existing offshore offices located in the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands.