UK law firm Bircham Dyson Bell has hired Nick Holland as head of contentious trusts and estates. He joins on 8 November 2010 from Cayman Islands firm Solomon Harris, where he held a similar role.

Holland works for a number of trust companies primarily based in Switzerland and has been instructed by other international law firms to act on complex trust matters for clients. Most recently he has acted for institutional trustees in multi-jurisdictional trust disputes related to or arising from the administration of discretionary trusts with assets located in various other jurisdictions. He also has experience of advising clients on asset tracing, hedge fund and captive insurance disputes.

“The market for contentious trusts and estate advice has grown significantly as a result of the financial crisis and Nicholas’s expertise will enhance our ability to advise both institutional trustees and financial institutions in this area,” said Bircham managing partner Guy Vincent.

Holland added: “I look forward to drawing on my Cayman Islands’ experience in order to represent clients who have made heavy losses as a result of investing in the many hedge funds based there.”