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Matthew Giles leads our Pensions Group and is based across our Birmingham and London offices. He is a top-rated lawyer widely known and highly respected in the pensions industry. He features consistently in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for his long-standing involvement in market-leading work and was awarded Partner of the Year by the Birmingham Law Society Legal Awards 2025.
Matthew specialises in advising on defined benefit pension plans, focusing on a range of deficit management strategies. He helps trustees and sponsors on all aspects of pension plan management and compliance, with a reputation for finding creative solutions and communicating very clearly and effectively.
He is a PMI Accredited Professional Trustee and has a portfolio of pension scheme and charity trusteeships.
Matthew sits on the Council of the Society of Pensions Professionals (SPP) and leads SPP discussions in artificial intelligence (AI) in Pensions.
Matthew regularly provides training sessions and has been described as “a particularly engaging presenter, able to bring clarity and simplicity to complex legal subjects”.
Matthew has featured in BBC Radio 5Live’s “Wake up to Money” and been a contributor to the Financial Times. He has held meetings with Treasury Ministers lobbying for changes to pensions policy on behalf of clients.
- Leading a team comprising pensions, securitisation and water industry specialists to advise a pensions plan trustee in respect of the sponsoring employer’s £1 billion+ disposal of its UK regulated water business, dealing with three bidding consortia and negotiating material mitigation for the pension plan.
- Advising the trustee of three pension arrangements (combined assets £8 billion+) within the same corporate group on a change to future benefit accrual.
- Advising on the demerger of a £1 billion+ pension arrangement into separate arrangements, with a common investment fund and special purpose funding vehicle.
Education
- University of Law, L.P.C., 1996
- University of Hull, LL.B., Honors, 1995
Admissions
- England and Wales, 1998
- Recognised in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame as a practitioner at the very top of the profession
- Recommended in Chambers UK as a Notable Practitioner
- PMI Accredited Professional Trustee
- Former finalist at the British Legal Awards (Young Solicitor of the Year)