Offshore law firm Appleby has appointed Gray Smith, a senior international funds lawyer, as a partner in the firm. 

Offshore law firm Appleby has appointed Gray Smith, a senior international funds lawyer, as a partner in the firm. 

Smith (pictured) joins the funds and investment services practice team and will be based in the Cayman Islands. 

Prior to joining Appleby, he was London managing partner at Ogier and then general counsel at a London-based asset management company.

Following the completion, on 1 October 2009, of its recently announced merger with Isle of Man law firm Dickinson Cruickshank, and the opening of its latest offices in the Seychelles and Bahrain, Appleby will be the world's largest offshore law firm by number of partners. The firm will have 74 partners and 200 lawyers, and a total of over 800 staff in 11 offices worldwide, including Bermuda, Bahrain, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Mauritius, Hong Kong, London, Seychelles, Zurich and the Isle of Man.

Smith has over 20 years of offshore and onshore legal experience with specific expertise in structuring offshore hedge, property and private equity funds. In addition he has significant corporate finance expertise having advised on the listing of a wide variety funds and other entities on stock exchanges in the Cayman Islands, Channel Islands and Ireland, as well as on the Nasdaq and Euronext. He is currently advising fund clients on redemptions, liquidations, takeovers, restructuring and refinancing as well as numerous litigation-related issues.

Smith is qualified to practice law in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong and England and Wales. He will be dividing his time between Cayman and London and will be advising clients on both Cayman and BVI structures.

Smith says: 'Appleby's global resources and broad choice of jurisdictions was compelling for me and is ideal for my client base. The firm's leading offshore position combined with their strength and depth across multiple jurisdictions was the deciding factor.'

Alex Erskine, Appleby's global head of the funds and investment services practice, adds: 'We are delighted Gray has chosen to join us. His appointment will provide our corporate, institutional and private clients with greater resources across the locations and time zones in which they do business and a broader choice of structures and jurisdictions. With his background and knowledge, Gray is ideally suited to assist us to further expand in this key area.'