Matthew Giles heads the Squire Sanders Birmingham pensions team.  He is a former finalist for Young Solicitor of the Year at the British Legal Awards, having built a profile “that would make many partners green with envy”. Chambers UK 2013 says he “has developed a highly regarded pensions practice and is held in high esteem by peers”.

Matthew specialises in advising on defined benefit pension plans, in recent times focussing on a range of deficit management strategies. He helps trustees and sponsors on all aspects of pension plan management and compliance, with a reputation for finding creative solutions and communicating very clearly and effectively.

Matthew also advises on pensions as part of broader employee incentivisation and remuneration packages, drawing in the expertise of our tax, employment and HR teams. In this guise, he helps clients build tax efficient reward programmes for high-ranking employees and the wider workforce.

Matthew is part of the advisory team supporting the Confederation of British Industry's pensions panel on matters of pensions law and policy.  He is a regular on the pensions conference and seminar circuit. Matthew has featured in BBC Radio 5Live’s “Wake up to Money” and been quoted in the Financial Times. He has held meetings with Treasury Ministers lobbying for changes to pensions policy on behalf of clients.

Representative Experience

• Leading a team comprising pensions, securitisation and water industry specialists to advise the trustee of the Veolia UK Pension Plan in respect of the sponsoring employer’s £1.236 billion disposal of its UK regulated water business, dealing with three bidding consortia and negotiating material mitigation for the pension plan. 
• Advising the trustee of a penions fund worth more than £1 billion on the pensions implications of a corporate re-organisation by its sponsoring employer, a leading automotive manufacturer.
• Advising Visteon Corporation on the global separation of its climate control business including the sectionalisation of its UK pension plan.