Gowling WLG has bolstered its corporate offering in London with the hire of a partner from Pinsent Masons.  

Corporate insurance and de-risking specialist Madhu Jain has joined the firm’s financial institutions and sector team after five years at Pinsents, where she was co-chair of one of its diversity networks. Before that she spent 17 years at Linklaters, where she trained and qualified. 

Jain brings extensive experience to her new firm advising UK and international insurers, reinsurers and intermediaries on corporate transactions, including M&A and reinsurance deals. 

Standout work at Pinsents included advising Swiss Re on a £3.7bn longevity transaction in respect of Fujitsu’s ICL Group Pension Plan using a Guernsey insurance cell; Gowling acted for the pension fund and the pension trustee. More recently she advised Zurich on a £1.7bn transaction insuring longevity risks relating to 15,000 members of the Balfour Beatty Pension Fund. 

Her de-risking expertise also bolsters Gowling’s pensions risk transfer (PRT) practice, with Jain saying the firm’s aim to grow the practice further had attracted her to join. She added that she had known Gowling for well over a decade and worked across from the firm on a number of complex transactions.  

“We always managed to close these in a pragmatic way where everyone was happy,” Jain said. “They have a fantastic pension risk transfer team with a strong set of clients and wider financial services practice. 

“There are clear synergies between my practice and the firm’s vision to strengthen its pensions risk transfer practice and corporate insurance offering. This is a natural step in my career, and I’m excited by the challenge.”

Stuart Young, Gowling’s head of corporate, finance and tax, said: “Madhu is an exceptional corporate lawyer who strengthens our firm across multiple practices and sectors, and we’re delighted to welcome her to the firm.” 

Her arrival follows Gowling bolstering its financial services sector team last November with the hire of structured finance partner Naina Patel, who brought a strong Magic Circle and consulting background. Last summer it also added Ireland and London-qualified private funds partner Katherine Rainwood to the team from Pemberton Asset Management.