Jennifer Colegate and Tara Liao
Offshore law firm Baker & Partners has welcomed Jennifer Colegate as partner in the Cayman Islands. Meanwhile, Tara Liao has joined the firm’s London office to support clients in cross-border disputes.
Colegate is a commercial litigator specialising in cross-border insolvency and restructuring. Her expertise encompasses contentious workouts and distressed debt situations as well as investigations, asset tracing and enforcement and recovery work.
She is the third partner appointment in the firm’s Cayman Islands office. The continued growth of the office is a result of continued client demand and complex offshore instructions covering restructuring, insolvency and commercial litigation matters, the firm said in a press release.
Liao is joining Baker & Partners as counsel while maintaining her practice as a barrister in the UK and Hong Kong. She is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin and is dual qualified in the UK and in Hong Kong. She sat as a Deputy District Judge in Hong Kong in 2021 and 2023 and is ranked as a leading junior in the Commercial Disputes category by Legal 500 Asia-Pacific from 2021 to 2024.
This year marks the firm’s 20th anniversary celebrations. Since its inception by Jersey Advocate Stephen Baker, Baker & Partners has expanded from Jersey into the Cayman Islands, London and BVI and now employs more than 50 people.
Baker, managing partner at the firm, said: “This is an exciting time for the firm as we continue to grow our offices globally. Jennifer has been involved in cases of significant Cayman and international interest spanning a number of industries from investments funds and banking and finance to petrochemicals and commercial real estate. I’m delighted she has made the move to Baker & Partners. Tara is an accomplished lawyer with invaluable expertise, and I look forward to working with her. It has been a great year to celebrate and reflect on our achievements over the past 20 years, and to build the firm to be ready for the next 20. I have no doubt that Jennifer and Tara will play a key role in our continued success for clients.”
