Louise Howard
General Counsel, Pension Funds and Institutional Investors
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Areas of Expertise
Strengths
Decisive judgement, creative thinking and problem-solving
Values
Compassion, integrity and loyalty
Passions
Travel, padel, oil painting and food
Louise Howard joined Cleveland & Co in 2026 as General Counsel, Pension Funds and Institutional Investors. She brings over 25 years of legal experience in the pensions and asset owner sector, most recently as Chief Legal Officer at Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK’s largest private sector pension scheme.
Louise has held responsibility for all legal, regulatory and governance risk across both a fiduciary corporate trustee and an FCA-regulated investment management subsidiary. She is particularly known in the industry for leading boards through contentious valuations, sustained public and regulatory scrutiny, and the management of reputational risk. Her experience is extremely varied, ranging from building a large-scale DC hybrid scheme structure from scratch, with robust investment governance and clear member communication, to successfully defending litigation in the Court of Appeal.
Louise delivers pragmatic, commercially focused advice to boards and senior management on governance, regulatory, commercial, employment, data protection, pensions and investment matters, including fiduciary responsibilities, public and private investments, and dual regulation by the Pensions Regulator and the FCA.
Louise is especially sought out by senior leaders for her decisive judgement and her ability to find creative solutions to complex problems. Her personal interests are equally varied: she loves to travel, and in her free time enjoys oil painting and playing padel.
Leading Trustee Boards Through Contentious Valuations
Led a fiduciary trustee board through successive contentious pension scheme valuations and benefit changes, against a politicised sector backdrop involving industrial action and threatened Regulator sanction.
Building a Large-Scale DC Hybrid Scheme
Oversaw the creation and build of a DC hybrid scheme from scratch, including its investment options and default funds, and introduced private market and co-investment access for DC savers.
High-Profile Litigation and Crisis Response
Successfully defended directors against high-profile, crowdfunded litigation in the Court of Appeal. Also handled a critical data processor’s cyber-attack and the related complaints and litigation, and oversaw US securities litigation and anti-trust matters, assessing merits and potential action.
Regulatory Regime Implementation
Led the implementation of major regulatory change, including FCA Consumer Duty, the Master Trust regime for large DC asset owners and the introduction of SMCR.
Industry Voice on Fiduciary Duty and Responsible Investment
Active spokesperson on proposed changes to fiduciary duty for pension asset owners, the Mansion House reforms and proposed legislative investment mandation powers, with a strong focus on responsible investment, climate-related disclosure and the global litigation trends shaping ESG risk.
- Administration
- Anti-Bribery & Corruption
- Board Governance
- Civil Litigation
- Collective Investment Schemes
- Commercial and Corporate Restructuring
- Commercial Contracts
- Commercial Law
- Committee Structures
- Company Law
- Company Secretarial
- Competition Law
- Complaints
- Compliance
- Contract Drafting and Negotiation
- Contracts
- Corporate Agreements
- Corporate and Commercial
- Corporate and Commercial Contracts
- Corporate Governance
- Corporate Law
- Custody
- Data Protection
- Delegation
- Dispute Resolution
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Employment
- Employment Status (including IR35 advice to contractors)
- Enforcement Actions
- Fiduciary Duty
- Financial Services Legislation (including: Capital Adequacy, Consumer Duty, MiFID II, Remuneration Rules, SFDR)
- Financial Services Regulation
- GC Services
- General Commercial Contracts
- HR & Employment
- Impact Investing
- Infrastructure
- Institutional
- Intellectual Property
- Investment Governance
- Investment Management Agreements
- Investment Managers
- Legal Department Building
- Legal Strategy
- LPAs
- M&A
- NDAs
- Outsourcing
- Pension Funds
- Pensions Administration
- Perimeter Advice
- Political Risk
- Pooled Pension Funds
- Regulatory
- Regulatory & Compliance
- Regulatory Developments
- Regulatory Investigation
- Regulatory Obligations
- Service Agreements
- Trust Law
Qualifications & Courses
- Qualified as a Solicitor in England & Wales
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB Hons), Nottingham Trent University, 1996
- Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, 1998
Appointments & Memberships
- The Association of Pensions Lawyers (APL), UK
- The National Association of Public Pension Plan Attorneys (NAPPA), US
Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)
Chief Legal Officer, responsible for all legal, regulatory and governance risk across the fiduciary corporate trustee and the FCA-regulated investment management subsidiary.