Cathryn Vanderspar joins the London tax team of Travers Smith
Travers Smith LLP has announced that Cathryn Vanderspar has joined the firm as a Consultant in its Tax Department.
Cathryn is a senior tax lawyer with over 30 years of experience. She specialises in real estate and funds taxation. Her extensive expertise covers unauthorised and authorised funds and listed vehicles (including REITs), across the various asset classes, including real estate, debt and private equity. Prior to joining Travers Smith, Cathryn was a Tax Partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner for over sixteen years and then, between 2014 and early 2019, she held the position of Head of London Tax at Eversheds Sutherland.
The work of Travers Smith’s Tax Department is focused on asset management and investment funds, corporate and transactional taxes and incentives and remuneration. The Department represents a broad range of clients across industry sectors, from established global brands to start-ups and entrepreneurs, including Bridgepoint, Peel Group, Exponent, Melrose Industries plc and The Carlyle Group, amongst others.
A particular feature of the practice is the excellence of its individual lawyers, marked by a combination of outstanding technical expertise and a keen awareness of clients’ commercial objectives. As a result, Travers Smith’s tax partners are regularly appointed to prestigious industry-related positions, allowing them to contribute to and influence the ever-evolving UK tax legislation and landscape.
Cathryn will work closely with the team focused on asset management and investment funds tax. The team, which is led by Partner Emily Clark, has a strong track record advising corporates, asset managers, pension funds, real estate funds and property investors on a wide variety of direct and indirect tax matters. Its particular feature is a strong focus on the real estate sector, which has been further enhanced with the recent promotion of Senior Counsel Jonathan Woodall, who specialises in real estate taxation, and the hire of Real Estate Partner Alex Millar, whose practice focuses on complex real estate investment and development transactions.
Cathryn’s real estate work, which includes both direct and indirect structuring across the sector (from development to joint ventures and inward investment), perfectly complements Travers Smith’s capability and will help create an unparalleled offering in the market.
Emily Clark commented: “We are delighted to welcome Cathryn to our team. We believe that she is a perfect fit for our practice and that our reputation in providing first-class asset management and investment funds tax advice will be further enhanced by a specialist of her expertise and calibre.”