Colin Kendon

I am a consultant here at Bird & Bird and I head our Employee Incentives & Benefits Group. I advise a wide range of clients from start-ups to multi-nationals on incentives issues and on the incentives aspects of corporate transactions.

One of the great things about being an incentives lawyer is I deal constantly with founders and key members of the management team. They are busy so I have to be concise but they are very interested because getting incentives right is at the heart of most businesses. I love the challenge.

I need to know about a wide range of things from valuations, tax, company law, employment law, bits of accounting, financial services regulation, investor guidelines and market practice to name just a few.

My team work with our colleagues in corporate, tax, employment, media, tech & comms, energy, retail and financial services across the globe to deliver cutting edge incentive arrangements for our clients. We also run cross-border incentives projects from London.

I have been at Bird & Bird since 2006 and I have specialised in incentives since 1990. I wrote the incentives section of 'Internet Business, Commerce and Tax' in 2012 and I speak at numerous conferences and seminars. I became head of the incentives team in 2008 and I have been ranked in the directories ever since.

• Advised the management team of insurance broker, Beach & Associates, on its acquisition by Acrisure. The deal was incentives heavy and comprised two-thirds of the project.
• Advised Just Eat on incentives for many years up to and including its IPO in 2014.
• Advised Playfish on its EMI plan - their exit was so successful the tax savings (of over $40 million in income tax alone) represented 1/4 of the annual cost of EMI to the Exchequer.

• Acted for the management team of insurance specialists Beach & Associates in connection with their sale to Acrisure.
• Acted for Strategy & Investment Partners (and many of their clients) for over 15 years.
• Acted for AIM listed fast payments provider Earthport plc in connection with incentive arrangements for many years.
• Acted for Cancer Partners UK in connection with their growth share plan.
• Acted for US listed Web.com in connection with incentive arrangements for many years.