Alasdair Smith

Alasdair has extensive experience of advising trustees, employers, lenders, insurers and insolvency professionals on a broad range of issues. This includes bespoke funding arrangements, scheme and corporate restructurings, liability management exercises, international cross-border corporate transactions and day-to-day pensions law issues.

Alasdair has advised many clients, including the trustees of the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme, RAC (2003) Pension Scheme and United Biscuits Pension Plan, CK Hutchison and Rothesay.

Alasdair firmly believes in ensuring that all members of Linklaters are treated fairly and are given the same opportunities to progress and succeed. Alasdair actively supports DEI initiatives across Linklaters and is a member of the Corporate Division's DEI Champions group. In this role he has helped to organise fun and educational events to promote DEI and ensure that all members of Linklaters feel welcome and supported.

Work highlights: 

• The trustee of the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme on multi-billion de-risking transactions.
• CK Hutchison on the high-profile creation of an independent joint venture between its UK business, Three UK and the UK business of Vodafone.
• A leading UK life insurer on four framework bulk purchase annuity contracts for four segregated sections of a pension scheme of a large multi-billion pound pension scheme.
• Arcadia/Taveta on the high-profile regulatory dispute regarding the BHS Pension Scheme, specifically designing the structure of the solution which kept BHS members out of the Pension Protection Fund and negotiating settlement.
• Eastman Kodak on a groundbreaking settlement arising from a £2bn deficit in its UK pension scheme, which entailed an RAA and setting up a new UK pension scheme with reduced benefits into which members could transfer.

Alasdair is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers.

Listed as a Next Generation lawyer in the Legal 500 in 2017 and 2018.