Listed companies’ plans

Our work with the employee incentives arrangements for listed entities often starts before listing, with designing and implementing all types of incentives, including all-employee tax-qualified plans and plans for senior management and executive directors. We also help established listed companies in setting up and operating such plans on an ongoing basis. This includes the impact on plans of transactions (see below), specific issues for executive directors’ incentives (see below), compliance with the Corporate Governance Code, the Listing Rules and the market abuse regime, and advising on tax, market practice, regulators’ and investors’ views.

Board pay

Remuneration for directors of quoted companies is a perennial hot topic under relentless political, media and public scrutiny. There is a plethora of rules affecting the design, implementation and disclosure of pay: legislation, guidance, market practice and investors’ expectations. We assist companies and remuneration committees aiming to reward directors appropriately for performance, on hires, terminations and on an ongoing basis. This includes board training and preparation and review of pay policies and the annual remuneration reports.

Pay in the financial services sector

Our market leading practice advises on all aspects of regulatory remuneration and governance in the financial service sector, across all market participants including global investment banks, UK listed banking groups, global asset managers and leading insurers. We steer our clients through the continuing developments in the regulatory landscape and the increase in complexity of operations across Europe since Brexit. We have close ties to the financial services industry, working closely with industry bodies, and have worked with regulators to clarify and influence the practical application of the rules. We also advise on remuneration issues in the context of regulatory investigations and crisis situations, including on performance adjustment, freezing of current year pay and applying malus and clawback.

Private and portfolio companies

Implementing effective management incentives in private companies often requires specific and bespoke arrangements. We advise on the design of new management incentive arrangements in a broad range of private companies and sectors, as well as in private equity portfolio companies. We advise on the wide variety of structures used by private companies, including tax-optimised arrangements, and the establishment of plans for management teams globally. We assist clients with all aspects of the operation of the arrangements, and related matters such as establishing employee trusts to facilitate holding of shares and leaver arrangements.

Corporate transactions

Remuneration, and share incentives in particular, are often among the most critical and high profile issues on transactions. We assist companies and their remuneration committees to navigate and balance conflicting interests, regulatory requirements, reputational issues and investor concerns. As well as advising on the key legal issues for employee incentives on IPOs, we advise on the effects of corporate transactions, including capital raisings, private mergers and acquisitions, demergers and public takeovers, on our clients’ incentive plans. This includes liaising with tax authorities, regulators and investment bankers, carrying out due diligence and plan changes, and project managing employee communications.

Global share plans

We advise on the implementation and launches of global share plans for multinational companies. We can assist with the design, drafting, implementation and project management of all types of global incentive arrangements, including local tax-qualified plans. We advise on the legal issues with using global nominee arrangements and online share plan administration platforms, and help companies to formulate a global approach to data privacy compliance for their plans.

“They offer incredibly commercial advice and faultless technical detail.” 

^{(Chambers, 2025)}

“The lawyers are approachable and down-to-earth as well as being strong technically and commercially. They are good at working at pace where required. They provide regular progress updates and communicate well.” 

^{(Legal 500, 2025)}

"It is an excellent team. The lawyers are very human in their approach and are always available."

^{(Chambers, 2021)}

"The team is personable, commercial, responsive and excellent at communicating." 

^{(Chambers, 2021)}

"They have excellent analytical and compliance skills and provide excellent insights."

^{(Chambers, 2025)}

"The team has a complete grasp of the complex EMEA remuneration regulatory environment."

^{(Chambers, 2025)}

“A high level of technical skill, coupled with a pragmatic approach to implementation. Able to address complex issues across multiple jurisdictions.”." 

^{(Legal 500, 2025)}

“The Linklaters team are pragmatic and creative in solutions." 

^{(Chambers 2024)}

"We have worked with Linklaters for a long time and view them as a trusted partner. Whilst they are clearly legal experts, we really value the pragmatism that they apply to our issues. They are very responsive and deliver to a very high standard in terms of guidance and documentation."

^{(Legal 500, 2025)}

"Linklaters are so easy to deal with and always deliver. Nothing is too much trouble, and they are incredibly responsive and able to react when needed on short notice."

^{(Chambers, 2024)}

"Working in partnership with the business. Mutual respect."

^{(Legal 500, 2023)}

“The Linklaters team invested time in understanding our business requirements in order to advise how new regulations would impact us.” 

^{(Legal 500, 2022)}

“They are an incredibly strong team who are just as personable as they are knowledgeable.” 

^{(Chambers, 2025)}

“They anticipate client needs, nothing is too small or too large for them to handle and they get to know their client.” 

^{(Chambers, 2022)}

“The team at Linklaters are able to break down legal issues and explain them to all levels in the organisation in an incredibly clear and concise way. Their knowledge and work ethic is second to none. Having just gone through a very complex merger with a large number of legal challenges, their ability to break down complex legal issues and explain them to the reward team was very useful. We are very confident in this team and putting them in front of senior executives is never a risk, they always excel and are spoken highly of across the organisation.” 

^{(Legal 500, 2021)}

"The excellent department is noted for its global share plans expertise." 

^{(Legal 500)}

“Linklaters demonstrated good knowledge of new regulations and collaborated very well to address our questions and provide solutions.” 

^{(Legal 500, 2023)}