Pinsent Masons Expands International Tax Team

Franck Lagorce joins the firm's Paris office from Winston & Strawn, where he was a partner. He has nearly 30 years' experience advising institutional investors, pension funds, investment funds and multinational corporations on a broad range of corporate tax matters. He has provided general tax advice on both direct and indirect tax matters and has a particular specialism relating to international taxation and the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) programme for change, in addition to extensive experience in the Real Estate investment arena. His arrival follows the appointment of fellow tax-specialist Eugenie Berthet, who specialises in advising Ultra High Net Worth and business owners, as partner to Pinsent Masons Paris office in 2013. 

Further, Pinsent Masons has brought in Ian Anderson into its Doha office as a senior consultant. He will launch the firm's Tax practice in the Middle East, focusing on multinationals with a tax presence in the region and FATCA-related services in light of Qatar and the UAE having agreed to join the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard from 2017.  Ian joins from the Qatar Financial Centre where he has been Director of Tax since 2006 and was responsible for developing the tax system for the Centre.* Prior to that role, Ian was Director of Tax and Treasury at Airtours, with a particular emphasis on tax structuring and cross-border leasing. He also previously held senior roles at one of PwC's legacy firms.  

Jason Collins, Head of Tax at Pinsent Masons, says: 

"We are delighted to add Franck and Ian to the team. Both bring different skillsets which will be integral to our strategy to grow a global tax team. We have made good progress in this regard, adding Fiona Fernie in London and Werner Geisselmeier in Munich over the past 18 months, and significant capability in Asia prior to that. Recruiting in Doha means that, in addition to having the leading Tax team of any law firm in the UK, we now have outstanding individuals across Europe, The Middle East and Asia Pacific. Having a well-developed international offering is integral to the needs of clients across the global sectors in which Pinsent Masons operates, particularly given the increasingly complex and coordinated way in which tax authorities across a number of countries are scrutinising tax arrangements, with the changes that BEPS will bring about in particular." 

David Ryan, Managing Partner at Pinsent Masons, says:

“I am very pleased to welcome Franck and Ian to the firm. Both come with standout reputations and fit in with our strategy to broaden the range of skillsets available to clients in our chosen sectors across a greater number of geographies. This is something that I would anticipate more of over the coming year as we seek to further develop our international offering to clients in the energy, infrastructure, financial services and advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.”

Arthur Lovitt, a Partner and Head of the Real Estate sector at Pinsent Masons, adds:

"We are particularly glad to add Franck to the team. Tax structuring is critical to Funds investing in Real Estate. We have made significant headway in developing our credentials for real estate finance and structuring work across Pinsent Masons international network over the past 12 months, not least following the addition of Mark Leonard to our team in Munich as a partner towards the end of 2014."