A powerhouse when it comes to offshore law

Service-led jurisdictions are bolstered by the legal sector. Could you highlight why firms, such as Carey Olsen, are so important for a jurisdiction to remain globally competitive?

Investment capital and flows of money are highly fluid so clients and advisors will always look at the financial center that best suits their needs. When you have a global footprint, you can react far quicker to those needs as they rise and fall. For us, for example, we give Bermuda legal advice in Bermuda, but we also give Bermuda legal advice in London, Singapore and Hong Kong. That global presence helps to ensure that Bermuda is always considered as an option.

We have Carey Olsen lawyers on the island talking to clients about Bermuda and Bermuda structures, be it funds, companies or trust foundations, so information is available instantaneously and decisions are made on the spot. Bermuda has a slightly unique global position, because of our reinsurance and insurance market, which is an especially important market that gives us an undeniable edge thanks to its differential to other offshore jurisdictions.

“One of the advantages of being a small island is that we are incredibly adaptable, able to move very quickly with the times.”

Could you highlight what differentiates the Carey Olsen Corporate Services Bermuda offering in amongst the mature Bermuda ecosystem?

The Carey Olsen historic model has always been law firm first to be the lawyer’s lawyers. It did not have, like many other offshore law firms a global fiduciary business. There was much more of a focus on the law. What is different in Bermuda is with businesses incorporating they want a one-stop shop. Clients 
want more than just legal advice. 

We knew that in Bermuda we would have to change the model slightly. However, what we did not want is to be a corporate services-led business. What we wanted is for the corporate services team to very much focus on servicing the law firm and the law firm’s clients. We would rather provide real added value, highly personalized service, which is a differential to the local market. 

What services does Carey Olsen offer that can accommodate for highly mobile clients?

Nowadays, with the digital nomads, Fintech, cryptocurrencies and other developments, we are getting more new types of businesses. But ours, like many law firms are very geared towards dealing with various types of one-off queries. As a law firm dealing with, especially on the high-net-worth side, the family office side you must answer any question they have about the jurisdiction, not just about the legal side of things. This is a missed trick sometimes in our local market, because lawyers should be trusted advisors. When you are a trusted advisor you provide more than the legal advice. It is not necessarily a service line that we would call our concierge service but all our staff are cognizant of it, and it is naturally ingrained into the service. We have boots on the ground here. Unlike some other offshore jurisdictions, service providers are used to international executives walking around our island because of our insurance sector.

What is like to invest in Bermuda? What is the business climate like in Bermuda alongside the experience of living and working in the country?

One thing that people get wrong about Bermuda is they have a picture of a nice beach and a mojito. Even though we have the world’s best beaches and mojitos are lovely, the atmosphere you pick up on when you come to the island is that there is serious business here and great substance to our corporate identity. There are lots of reasons we have ended up in this place, but one of the fundamental reasons is, we have an extremely professional and highly regarded regulator in the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). International business has people on the ground who require that level of service, so the island is geared to it. You have this fantastic polar identity of a beautiful island with an extremely sophisticated infrastructure. It is hard to conceptualize it unless you come to the island and see it for yourself. One of the advantages of being a small island is that we are incredibly adaptable, able to move very quickly with the times. Bermuda is a place worth seeing. The feedback I always get whenever we have new clients on the island is the surprise about the sophistication of the jurisdiction.

What are some of the growth opportunities associated with cyber risks for today’s insurers and legal practices alike?

Cyber risks are evolving at such a rapid pace that it is extremely hard for everyone to adapt and change, particularly onshore. The BMA, our regulator, and the lawyers and service providers here are very used to a fluid market and the need for flexibility. That makes it one advantage, particularly in dealing with this issue.

What would be your final message for our readers of Newsweek?

I would like them to get Bermuda more on their radar and do some research into it. With the new, flexible world we are looking at over the next five years, this is the jurisdiction you really want to be sure you check out.

An original version of this article was first published in Newsweek, May 2021.