David Heard Email & Phone Number

Chancery Lane, London

David works mainly remotely but attends as required in London, the South East and Paris. He specialises in advising businesses within the financial and insurance sectors on a range of transactional and BAU issues, including in particular as regards mutual societies. His work in these sectors encompasses FCA and PRA regulatory issues, finance and leasing, banking and security, derivatives, investment management and funds, long term and general insurance and reinsurance, mortgage funding, consumer credit and data protection. He also advises across a board range of business sectors on general corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions, business transfers, reorganisations and restructuring, joint ventures, shareholder agreements and various commercial contracts (particularly in relation to IT – outsourcing, software and platform licensing, cloud computing and SAAS).

London And Brighton, United Kingdom

David headed a legal department comprising a team of up to 6 lawyers and chartered company secretaries servicing the legal and corporate governance requirements of the UK's largest mutual friendly society and its various subsidiaries over a period of 4 years following the merger of Family Investments and Engage Mutual into OneFamily. During this time he handled the acquisition of a lifetime mortgage business, the disposal of a health insurance business, the acquisition of investment portfolios, the transfer of fund management activities, the creation of a regulated advisory business, the negotiation of hundreds of millions of pounds of mortgage funding, the establishment of outsourced product platforms and a range of administration, servicing, intermediation and advisory operations. He advised on contracts and related matters (including dispute resolution and insurance coverage) in respect of equity release mortgages, pensions, annuities, life policies, investment & savings products, trusts, succession, court of protection, funds, product distribution and IT (including cloud based and traditional servicing and software licensing). In particular, he dealt with GDPR compliance and contract remediation and managed the legal aspects of 3rd party data security breaches.

Plymouth & London, United Kingdom

David worked as a Corporate Partner undertaking a diverse range of business law matters but with specific focus in financial services and he managed the firm's Plymouth office. In addition to leading a number of significant transactions (typically in the £75m range) whilst at Ashfords, David led the structuring of a unique and trail-blazing equity crowd-funding model in the form of www.crowdcube.com.

London, United Kingdom

David introduced his previous firm, Warner Cranston, to Reed Smith and was closely involved in the 2000 merger of these two firms. As a senior corporate partner within the merged firm he headed the UK Financial Services Team.

London, United Kingdom

Upon arrival from New Zealand David joined Warner Cranston and was promoted to partner in 1989. He undertook a wide range of corporate legal work and was Head of Corporate for much of the late 1990s.

Wellington, New Zealand

David joined Izard Weston upon qualification in 1984 and was admitted as both a Barrister and a Solicitor early the following year. He worked as a general practitioner across the firm's business and private client practices doing both litigation (including advocacy) and non-contentious work.

Bachelor Of Laws (Ll.B.), Law, Hons

Diplome Des Etudes Francaises

Education record

Education record

Education record