The latest moves in wealth management across Europe and the Middle East.

Carey Olsen
Offshore law firm Carey Olsen has appointed Lauren Glynn to lead its family law team in Jersey. Glynn joined the firm in 2013 and left in 2017 to join a small specialist litigation practice. She returned to Carey Olsen in September and will take over as senior associate from Samantha McFadzean who recently became a Family Division registrar of the Royal Court in Jersey.  

Glynn advises on a range of family law issues, including pre- and post-nuptial agreements, divorce and civil partnership dissolution, and cohabitee disputes. She also specialises in contested financial disputes and contested proceedings relating to children.

She recently became the treasurer and a committee member of the Jersey Family Law Association.

"Lauren is a very accomplished and experienced family law specialist and has forged an excellent reputation for herself locally. She is adept at promoting alternative dispute resolution solutions wherever possible, but when litigation cannot be avoided she is able to call upon her considerable experience of appearing before the Royal Court of Jersey,” said Carey Olsen partner Marcus Pallot.

Gresham House
Alternative asset manager Gresham House has hired a global specialist to run its UK forestry interests as the asset class continues to deliver strong yields for investors.

Olly Hughes will lead Gresham’s forestry team, which currently manages over 110,000 hectares of forests on behalf of institutions, endowments, family offices and private investors. It is the UK’s largest commercial forestry manager, harvesting around 10 per cent of the UK’s total softwood annually, the group said.

Managing director Rupert Robinson said forestry in the UK has outperformed all other traditional and alternative asset classes over the past 10 years, producing an annual compound return of 15.7 per cent. “We expect this trend to continue” as the asset class grows in popularity, he said.

In May last year Gresham House bought Oxford-based alternative investments fund manager FIM Services that specialises in UK forestry, solar and onshore wind power.

FIM’s founder Richard Crosbie Dawson, now a director at Gresham House, said one of the original objectives of the acquisition was to ensure succession planning. “We have made good progress this year with the integration of our businesses and Olly’s appointment is another positive step in bringing our teams together under one leader,” Dawson said.

Hughes is a 20-year veteran of developing real assets strategies in the UK and internationally. He joins Gresham House after five years’ leading infrastructure management at Oxford Capital Partners, where he helped grow the infrastructure and real assets under management from around £20 million to over £300 million, the firm said.

Prior to Oxford Capital, Hughes was managing director and founder at private energy company Vigor Renewables. He also served five years as chief executive of an investment banking JV between Devonshire Capital and Kiatnakin Finance and Securities. He began his career with Baring Brothers then ING Barings where he spent over a decade in Asia developing asset-backed structures across multiple jurisdictions.

BMO Financial Group
BMO Real Estate Partners, part of BMO Financial Group, has named Emma Gullifer as an assistant fund manager, based in London.

In her new role at BMO REP, Gullifer will be responsible for the fund management of the flagship £550 million BMO UK Property Fund, reporting directly to the fund manager, Guy Glover. In addition to having oversight of the fund and reviewing new acquisitions, she will also be actively involved in client liaisons and the continuing marketing of the fund. The fund, which has steadily grown over the past eight years, comprises a diversified portfolio of over 50 assets spread throughout the UK.

Gullifer previously worked for four years at DTZ Investors where, in her most immediate role, she was an assistant portfolio manager. 

Withers
Withers has hired reputation and privacy lawyer Jo Sanders as the head of its London media and reputation team. Sanders joins the firm from Harbottle & Lewis.

Sanders has worked in media law for 15 years, and previously worked as a journalist and public relations consultant. She has acted for businesses and individuals in relation to press, broadcast and online content and advised of victims of the UK’s phone hacking scandal that eventually led to calls for reforms to the UK media.

As part of the changes, Amber Melville-Brown, who has led the London team since 2011, is re-qualifying to practise in New York State, and will head the firm's international media and reputation team. She will also develop the firm's US reputation management services.