BeesMont Law Barristers and Attorneys

Bourn is a Senior Corporate Counsel in the corporate and commercial practice at BeesMont Law Limited.  He advises on a wide range of local and international corporate and regulatory matters, with experience in banking and finance, debt capital markets, trustee practice, trade finance, Islamic finance, investment funds, real estate finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments and structuring transactions.

Bourn’s practice has a particular emphasis on digital asset businesses and structures, including advising in relation to establishment and licensing of digital asset businesses in Bermuda.

Before joining BeesMont, Bourn gained experience working in several overseas jurisdictions including England and Wales, the Channel Islands and the Russian Federation.

Education

University of New South Wales (Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce)

College of Law, New South Wales (Diploma of Legal Practice)

College of Law, London (Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test)

Gretchen is a Bermuda and UK qualified barrister and a member of the Privacy, Security & Information Law and Regulatory & Compliance practice groups at BeesMont.

As a general civil litigator, Gretchen has advised and represented clients in personal injury, employment & tortious claims, estate and debt collection matters in Bermuda’s Magistrates Court, Supreme Court and Employment Tribunal. She has further represented clients in connection with human rights-related applications to public authorities.

She further advises both the private and public sector on non-contentious issues arising from employment in Bermuda including human rights, employee privacy, immigration and benefits claims.

Gretchen works closely with our Corporate attorneys to advise commercial organisations on transactional employment and privacy issues arising from mergers & acquisitions, business re-organisations and strategic planning as well as compliance with the soon to be fully in force, Personal Information Protection Act 2016 (PIPA). She regularly attends leading offshore conferences and summits in the UK and the United States covering global privacy regulation and enforcement, most notably data ethics and data security issues arising from the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Representative Legal Matters

Gretchen has been involved in a broad range of matters. In particular, she has:

• Drafted privacy policies and data protection agreements including intragroup agreements (IGA) and model clauses.
• Advised on data asset vulnerabilities and privacy breaches.
• Counselled on restrictive covenants drafting and enforcement and executive severance.
• Represented various corporate and individual executors in various applications in the Supreme Court concerning the removal of executors and trustees, debt enforcement and general estate management.
• Represented a corporate objector to a liquor licence application in Magistrates Court.
• Represented same sex couple in successful marriage licence application filed on the advent of the tabling of the Domestic Partnership Bill.
• Delivered generic and specialist training and awareness programs covering sexual harassment and discrimination, employment law and PIPA.

In January 2019, Gretchen received approval to establish a new Sub-Committee of the Bermuda Bar for the Advancement of Privacy Law and Appropriate Regulation of the Legal Industry (APLLI) and she is dedicated to the advancement of women’s equal representation in the corporate and legal community. She has contributed to articles circulated by IFLRIOOO, Mondaq, Bermuda Parent magazine and the Royal Gazette. Gretchen was also a monthly Columnist for the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce’s monthly e-newsletter, The Insider, from 2014 – 2016.

Gretchen actively supports the advancement of human rights in Bermuda through the Human Rights Act 1981 and fair employment practices and has provided pro bono representation before the Employment Tribunal in connection with a claim for the unpaid wages and benefits of low income, non-English speaking foreign nationals against a Bermuda employer.

Prior to joining BeesMont in January 2017, Gretchen was an Attorney at an international offshore law firm in Bermuda.

Admissions
The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, August 2011
Barrister, Bar of England & Wales, July 2013 (non-practising)
Barrister & Attorney, Bar of Bermuda, October 2013
Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators,(ACIArb), January 2015
Notary Public and Commissioner for Oaths, Bermuda

Education 
University of Buckingham (LLB, Bachelor of Laws)
University of Nottingham (LLM, International Commercial Law with Distinction)
City University London, The City Law School (Bar Professional Training Course)

Association Memberships
Member of Bermuda Human Resources Association
Founding Member of Bermuda Bar Sub-Committee for the Advancement of Privacy Law and Appropriate Regulation of the Legal Industry (APLLI)
Member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)
Former Council Member of the Architects Registration Council (2016-2018)

Peter is an active litigator before the Bermuda courts. He has appeared regularly before the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and specialist tribunals, and has also appeared before the Privy Council in London.

He adds value for clients through a dynamic approach of finding angles that others may have missed, an in-depth understanding of the sometimes obscure sources underpinning Bermuda’s laws, and a strategic focus on procedural rules and costs mitigation. With this approach, he has been able to build a client base across various areas of law, and has been involved with landmark precedents for the interpretation of the law, as reported in international publications such as Law Reports of the Commonwealth and West Indian Reports.

Peter has been appointed as an arbitrator or mediator in various matters. He has sat on a panel tasked to hear a major dispute between the Government of Bermuda and unions for the entire public service. He has also been instructed to provide expert evidence of Bermuda law for foreign proceedings.

Education:

Bar Vocational Course (Very Competent) – BPP Law School, UK

Graduate Diploma in Law – BPP Law School, UK

BA (1st) – University of York, UK

Peter was called to the Bermuda Bar in 2011

Simon’s practice covers all areas of local residential and commercial property law, including in particular: residential and commercial sales and purchases (both freehold and leasehold); residential and commercial leases; mortgages and structured lending; and condominium development.

In Bermuda, Simon’s previous experience includes working as a Senior Associate at another Bermuda law firm, in the property, trusts and estates team. Prior to moving to Bermuda in 2005, Simon worked as a real estate solicitor in the UK, covering an equally wide range of property work.

Simon was enrolled as a Barrister and Attorney in the Supreme Court of Bermuda in 2008. He was admitted as a Solicitor (not currently practising) of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1999 and is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales.

Outside work, Simon’s passions include rebuilding classic cars, property development and riding his cherished Harley Davidson.

Education
Diploma in Legal Practice (Commendation) – University of Bristol, England
LLB (Hons) – Coventry University, England

Sharon is the founder of the BeesMont Group and CEO of BeesMont Law Limited. She practices in all areas of corporate and commercial law with particular expertise in investment funds, structured finance, joint venture structures and mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to establishing the BeesMont Group, Sharon spent the first eight years of her professional practice with Linklaters (in London & Hong Kong) where she worked primarily in the fields of commercial property, banking and capital market and banking transactions; after a sabbatical involving cycling from England to the Near East, she worked with Denys Reitz in South Africa, advising on corporate cross-border transactions. Sharon then moved to Bermuda where she was the head of banking at one of the then leading Bermuda law firms. In 1997 she co-founded the original ISIS Group which included the ISIS Foundation now known as Adara Foundation, an international non-profit, which seeks to improve the lives of children and their families in Nepal and Uganda. Sharon was also one of the founders of IKONIC Fund Services Ltd., a licensed Bermuda fund administrator, now owned by the Horseshoe Group.

Since 1992, when Sharon commenced her law practice in Bermuda, she has developed a recognised investment fund practice, particularly with respect to infrastructure and alternative fund strategies. She has also advised on a wide range of corporate and commercial transactions including domestic and international M&A and joint ventures, and general corporate governance issues.

Sharon is a former Director of the Board of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, a member of the Asset Management Group, a committee of the Bermuda Business Development Agency (having previously chaired a Bermuda investment funds industry committee), a member of the AIMA chapter in Bermuda and has served on numerous other voluntary business groups in Bermuda. Sharon is also a member of the BSX Listing Committee. She has additionally written numerous articles and participated in a variety of conference panels both in Bermuda and overseas.

Sharon is a director of the publicly listed Enstar Group Limited and The China ‘A’ Fund Limited and a number of privately owned companies.

Education
LLM (2:1) – Cambridge University
BA (2:1) (Hons) – University of Westminster

Sharon was admitted as a Solicitor in England and Wales and Hong Kong and was called to the Bermuda Bar in 1993.