Across from the crystal clear waters and white sandy beaches, a group of lawyers congregate for drinks on a beautiful March evening and share stories whilst watching the sun set. This is not an uncommon scene in Grand Cayman, but the unique feature of this particular gathering is the reminiscing about the equivalent setting in Corney & Barrow in Exchange Square as the attendees all share one quality: alumni of Herbert Smith Freehills (or at least of the legacy firms pre-merger).
The latest gathering of Cayman’s every growing HSF Alumni took place on Wednesday 27th March at Bar Crudo in George Town. The path into the offshore world is now well-trodden and over the past 3 years, Cayman’s HSF Alumni network has doubled in size with a number of arrivals from both London and Australia. Cayman’s thriving financial services industry has benefited from the influx and alumni are scattered across most of the more prominent offshore firms, with attendees on this occasion from contentious and transactional teams at Maples, Ogier, Carey Olsen, Appleby, and Travers Thorp Alberga (who also kindly sponsored the event). There are alumni at a number of other firms who were unable to attend on this occasion.
Louise Freestone, a corporate funds partner at Travers Thorp Alberga, has been on island for over 4 years and noticed the increase in alumni first hand: “Cayman’s funds industry requires highly educated and trained lawyers due to the complex nature of many of the funds matters we work on, and firms will therefore always seek to hire lawyers who have experience at the best onshore firms. HSF has always been a leading international law firm and the quality of lawyers who have worked and/or trained there will always attract Cayman firms. Having an ever-growing alumni network is great for the island and it also gives people who move to a new country and who may not necessarily know many people there another avenue through which they can expand their own network. We have all shared in the HSF experience at one time or another, and whilst HSF has grown over the past 10-15 years, the values of the firm were instilled in each of us and it is great to be able to catch up with other alumni and reminisce about our time in the different HSF offices.”
The network aims to get together twice a year and is open to all Cayman HSF Alumni (including non-fee earners). Anyone passing through Cayman or relocating to the Island can contact Bhavesh Patel at [email protected] for further information.