Our Team   |    Anna Copestake

Anna Copestake

Partner

Anna is an experienced pensions lawyer who has spent many years advising trustees and employers of workplace pensions. She has also acted for investment, administration and consultancy service providers giving her a valuable breadth of knowledge.

Anna advises trustees and sponsors on all aspects of DB and DC arrangements, including scheme governance, scheme funding, benefit redesign, liability management exercises, and scheme closures. This includes dealings with the Pensions Regulator and compliance issues.

She advises on legal risks associated with scheme investments, including pooled fund documentation, custody agreements, investment management agreements, buy in/buy out contracts and investment platform provider policies. Recently she has been heavily involved in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Stewardship considerations, and was an expert member of the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association’s 2019 ESG and Stewardship Taskforce and 2020 Implementation Statement Working Group.

Anna has expertise in relation to DC arrangements, advising on the specific governance and compliance requirements that apply in the DC world and on the closure of DC schemes and sections. She also has wide-ranging experience of advising trustees and funders of DC master trusts through establishment, growth and wind-up phases of the scheme’s journey. Most recently she advised the trustees of the first DC master trust to complete a market exit under the new master trust legislation.

Anna has spent time on secondment at both The Pensions Regulator and The Pension and Lifetime Savings Association and sits on a number of industry working groups. She is a regular speaker and panellist.

Anna is the former Chair of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s Legal Panel and sits on the Investment and DC Committee of the Association of Pension Lawyers.

She was named as Lawyer of the Year at the Professional Pensions Women In Pensions Awards 2019, and is ranked as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ in the UK Legal 500 (2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 editions). She is also ranked as ‘Up and Coming’ in Chambers UK 2023.

“She is adept at spotting things that makes the client’s life easier and has an interest in the client being satisfied.”

The Legal 500 2023

“She not only has extensive pensions expertise, but is active externally with other players in the industry.”

The Legal 500 2023

“She is thoroughly professional but maintains a personal touch.”

Chambers UK 2023

“Anna Copestake is extremely knowledgeable and is particularly adept at distilling complex legal matters into manageable chunks.”

Chambers UK 2023

“Anna Copestake is technically superb whilst retaining a sense of humour and availability. She is definitely one of the future stars of pensions law (if not already).”

The Legal 500 UK 2022

Anna Copestake is in the top decile of the industry”.   

The Legal 500 UK 2021

“Anna Copestake and Abigail Cohen make an outstanding team – professional, easy to work with and clear in their advice, especially in a fast-moving situation. Advice provides what you need to know – no fluff – but balanced with raising important risk considerations at the right moment”.

The Legal 500 UK 2021

“I have two mutual master trust clients with Anna Copestake. I would place her comfortably in the top decile of the industry”.

The Legal 500 UK 2021

“Her knowledge of pensions legislation is unrivalled”.

The Legal 500 UK 2021

Anna Copestake is “an excellent communicator, explaining complex issues with ease, but also in a way which is empathetic to challenges legislation might present, and without the ego or stuffiness lawyers can sometimes bring”.

The Legal 500 UK 2021

Anna Copestake’s “pragmatism and general demeanour” makes “her a pleasure to work with. I also find Anna’s work on D&I to be inspirational – particularly her work around the promotion of young trustees”.

The Legal 500 UK 2021

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