Wednesday, June 25, 2008

BVI law firm Harney Westwood & Riegels announces merger with Cayman-based firm

The largest offshore law firm in the British Virgin Islands Harney Westwood & Riegels merges with C.S. Gill & Co, a firm based in the Cayman Islands. The office of the merged firm will open on September 1 in George Town, Grand Cayman. The head of investment funds sector of the BVI firm, Kieron O'Rourke, and fellow partner Tim Clipstone will relocate to Cayman from Harney’s BVI office and will head the cross-border commercial transactions of the merged firm, with particular focus on hedge funds and private equity, structured finance, asset and project finance and insolvency.

Firm’s managing partner Richard Peters commented on the merger saying that Harneys has been the BVI leading law firm for the past 40 years, its brand being “synonymous with dedication and quality”, and “the addition of a Cayman practice is all about providing a more complete service to our clients and enabling them to realise their commercial goals”.

Senior partner of the merged firm in Cayman, Casey Gill, noted that the commitment and resources of Harneys as a leading offshore law firm “will enhance the services offered from the Cayman Islands to clients throughout the globe and lead to increased economic benefits for the islands”.

Harneys has a network of offices in the Caribbean region, in Europe and Asia, which provides law firms, financial institutions and corporations with BVI, Anguilla and now Cayman law-related legal services. The firm also has an affiliated corporate services business, providing company formation and administration services in these jurisdictions.