Walkers Starts 2008 on Growth Track

GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Walkers, the global offshore law firm of choice for investment banks, international law firms, collateral managers, and other financial institutions, has confirmed 2007 as the strongest single growth year ever for the Firm. Effective January 1, 2008, Walkers promoted nine associates to partner throughout its global offices to respond to this expansion, bringing the Firm's total number of partners to 46. The Firm has also added a Chief Operating Officer and a Group Compliance Director.

Despite the global credit crunch that continues to impact the structured finance market, and in contrast to regional trends in some international jurisdictions, Walkers saw a significant increase in business in 2007 in all of its offices throughout the Walkers network - Cayman, British Virgin Islands, London, Jersey, Hong Kong, and Dubai.

"The driving force for Walkers' growth has always been the needs of our clients," Grant Stein, Global Managing Partner for Walkers, said. "We continue to see increasingly complex work flow into our major practice areas across our global network of offices -- including hedge funds, private equity funds, insolvency, and structured finance -- and it is absolutely vital that we have the right professionals in place to service our clients' needs."

"All the indications are that 2008 will be another record-breaking year for Walkers, particularly for work in Asia and the Middle East," continued Mr. Stein. "We also expect to see further significant development of Cayman's hedge and private equity industries and a marked increase in our insolvency and re-structuring business."

Walkers' new partners collectively represent more than 100 years of legal experience all over the world, including France, Australia, London, and Vietnam. They are in the following Walkers' offices and practice areas:

    -- Finance - Anne Todd in Cayman, Andy Randall in Hong Kong, and Ian Gobin
       in London;

    -- Hedge Funds - Ingrid Pierce, Gwyneth Rees, and Jennifer Thomson in the
       Cayman, and Rob Duggan in London;

    -- Private Equity - Richard Addlestone in Cayman; and

    -- Trusts - Andrew Miller in Cayman

Growth for Walkers has not been limited its attorneys. Walkers has also added to its executive team:

    -- Gerard Milne is Walkers new Chief Operating Officer, joining the firm
       after successful careers at Clifford Chance and Allen & Gledhill. As
       the firm continues its remarkable growth, the executive team felt it
       was important to add a professional management infrastructure to help
       ensure smart growth. Bringing in a COO is seen as a critical step in
       allowing partners and attorneys to improve client service levels.

    -- Martin Harty joins Walkers as Group Compliance Director for the Walkers
       Group.  He has served in regulatory and compliance roles for financial
       institutions in Europe and North America, including Citibank and
       Fidelity. He also served as a main board director for Credit Lyonnais
       Capital Markets and Fidelity Brokerage and as an arbitrator for
       regulators in the UK. As U.S. and global companies find themselves
       faced with increasingly complex compliance regulations, Mr. Harty will
       help Walkers' clients, and regulators, navigate these complexities.

About The Walkers Group

From offices in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jersey, London, and Tokyo, the Walkers group provides legal and management services to leading FORTUNE 100 and FTSE 100 global corporations and financial institutions, capital markets participants, investment fund managers, and growth- and middle-market companies.

The Walkers group is comprised of leading offshore law firm, Walkers; fund services provider, Walkers Fund Services Limited; and SPV and corporate services providers, Walkers SPV Limited, Walkers (Jersey) Limited, and Walkers (BVI) Limited.

In 2006, Walkers was named as the Who's Who Legal Law Firm of the Year: Cayman Islands, the PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook Leading Cayman Islands Law Firm, The Lawyer's Offshore Law Firm of the Year, and was one of two firms honored as "Offshore Legal Team of the Year" by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

For more information on the Walkers group, visit us on the Web at www.walkersglobal.com or contact us by e-mail at info@walkersglobal.com. To contact Walkers by phone, call our Cayman Islands office at +345-949-0100.