By Annabel Tinson

Nov 24 - (The Insurer) - Willis Re's alleged "unlawful raid" on Guy Carpenter earlier this year, the subject of the latter's claim against the startup, resulted in 22 employees exiting the company. But court documents from the ongoing poaching trial in London also highlight who Willis Re did not manage to allegedly tempt away from Guy Carpenter.

After selling its reinsurance business to Arthur J Gallagher in 2021, WTW announced in late 2024 that it planned to return to the reinsurance market through a joint venture with Bain Capital. The startup business, it said, would operate under the brand Willis Re, and WTW would be a minority stakeholder.

As of August 2025, 22 Guy Carpenter employees from London and Bermuda had departed for Willis Re. Guy Carpenter called this an "unlawful team poaching operation」 and launched a claim against Willis Re and individuals it believed orchestrated the plan. The three-week trial commenced in the High Court of England and Wales on November 19. Two days into the proceedings, Guy Carpenter settled with two WTW UK legal entities, but continued its claim against the remaining defendants.

The broker alleges that Willis Re needed as many as 100 employees for its new business, 80 of whom it wanted to "lift" solely from Guy Carpenter. Guy Carpenter claims Willis Re had approached at least 43 employees by July 10, with 22 resigning by that date. The departing employees included three senior leaders, 10 managing directors, seven senior vice presidents and two assistant vice presidents.

Guy Carpenter's global specialties division provides broking services in four specialties: non-marine specialties $(NMS)$, marine, energy and technical lines $(METL)$, global aviation and aerospace (aviation), and credit, bond and political risk (credit risk). Guy Carpenter said its NMS and METL teams were the initial targets for the alleged raid but added in its particulars of claim that Willis Re "will also require teams of brokers with specialisms in aviation and credit risk".

Court documents from the case, made public last week, show detailed organisational charts of who Willis Re allegedly targeted outside of those who left, according to Guy Carpenter.

BERMUDA

Guy Carpenter alleges that Willis Re sought to "lift out" almost the entirety of the NMS team in Bermuda, including its Bermuda CEO and defendant in the claim, John Fletcher.

WTW’s president of risk and broking Lucy Clarke is a defendant in the claim and is the person accused of trying to lure Guy Carpenter employees to Willis Re. According to Guy Carpenter's skeleton argument, Clarke told her personal assistant she was travelling on a "secret mission" to Bermuda in April 2025. She also asked the head of WTW's Bermuda office, Kirsten Beasley, to cover for her while Clarke was in Bermuda. According to court documents, Clarke "joked" to Beasley that it was "great to have a partner in crime", to which Beasley responded, "Clandestine operations – who ever said re/insurance was boring?!"

According to Guy Carpenter's skeleton argument, it lost seven brokers from the Bermuda team. During his cross-examination on November 20, Guy Carpenter's incoming Bermuda head and long-standing global specialties managing director, Richard Morgan, said the loss of seven brokers in Bermuda was "nothing short of devastating".

The employees included Fletcher, as well as managing directors Chris Dart and Charlotte Hall, senior vice presidents Richard Keegan and Richard Hornett and assistant vice presidents Isabella Boonstra and Nina Wehmeyer. Dart had been identified by Guy Carpenter’s global specialties CEO James Boyce as a 「future successor of Fletcher」.

Junior brokers Boonstra and Wehmeyer were allegedly 「particularly close」 to Fletcher, who had described them as 「young promising talent」 to Clarke when the two met. The pair started at Willis Re in September, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Guy Carpenter further alleges that Boonstra has been seen meeting with Guy Carpenter clients, and that the broker has written to her about it, but her response has been 「unsatisfactory」.

Jonathan Bryan, a senior vice president in the sales and distribution team who was part of the METL business but based in Bermuda, also departed the company.

Bermuda employees who were allegedly approached to join Willis Re but did not depart included MDs Jenni Estis and Charles Withers-Clarke, as well as Robert Johnson and Peter Komposch. The Insurer could not confirm the latter two employees' titles at the company.

Withers-Clarke described the 「scale」 of Clarke’s plan in his witness statement. He said: 「It was all very cloak and dagger. She was tucked away in a corner of the Princess Hotel that I had never been to before. When I pointed that out, she said that she had made sure that she was the last person on the plane out of Heathrow so that she wasn’t seen.」

Withers-Clarke said when he met Clarke in the hotel, she told him that by 2026, Willis Re was looking to have around 100 employees, with 80 of them coming from Guy Carpenter. Fletcher also allegedly provided Clarke with remuneration details for Dart, Keegan, Boonstra, Hornett, Withers-Clarke and Estis.

Brokers who remain in Bermuda that Guy Carpenter does not have evidence to suggest were contacted include MDs James Mitchell and James Morris, and SVPs Deanna Williams, Thomas Doyle and Georgina Bell.

Guy Carpenter has managed to do some rebuilding in its Bermuda office, according to hires confirmed by Morgan during his cross-examination. These new hires include the Fidelis Partnership's head of U.S. treaty production, Kevin Adams, who will join the Bermuda office on March 1, 2026, to replace Dart.

The broker has also hired Vantage Risk Companies' SVP of property catastrophe Brian Steinhoff, who joined on November 3, and Ben Lines, formerly an underwriter at Banyan Risk, who joined on November 10 as assistant vice president. Morgan also said two new MDs were joining in Bermuda on December 1.

LONDON: THE METL TEAM

The London METL business saw 10 departures, including its deputy CEO of global specialties and global head of METL, James (Jim) Summers, who is also a defendant in the claim.

The firm’s head of marine retrocessional Graham Devlin, who was a direct report of Summers and had been identified by Boyce as a 「potential immediate successor」 to Summers in succession plans developed for the global specialties business, also resigned.

In addition, the broker’s head of marine, energy and composite, Robert Stocker, resigned, as well as MD Nicola McIntosh. McIntosh had also been identified by Boyce as a potential successor to Summers, and he believed she would be ready for the role within three years.

Other leavers included MDs Andrew Hitchings and Matthew Whyte and SVPs Jon Beer, Harrison Pepper, Freddie Vaughan and Paula Danes.

Both Beer and Pepper have since elected not to join Willis Re, several marine market sources told The Insurer. Beer has chosen to rejoin Guy Carpenter, while Pepper is set to join Gallagher Re.

Senior employees in the London METL team who were allegedly approached by Willis Re but did not depart include deputy head and sales lead Simon Liley, head of international Richard Hakes and head of global tech lines Amir Mirfenderesky.

Other employees who were approached in London METL and did not depart include MD Graham Wainwright-Brown, SVPs Jake Esser and Matt Smith, and AVP Harry Sanders.

According to the organisational charts in Guy Carpenter’s skeleton and market sources, the broker does not have evidence of Willis Re approaching 40 of its brokers in the London METL group, despite some of these names appearing on a list provided by Devlin to the then chief people officer at Willis Re, André Clark.

LONDON: THE NMS TEAM

Only four members of the London NMS team resigned, including MDs Simon Goddard, Jonathan Ogilvie and David Rothstein and SVP Marc Wagdin-Joannides. Both Goddard and Ogilvie had been identified as 「future successors」 to Morgan in one to three years. According to Guy Carpenter’s skeleton, Clarke allegedly asked Fletcher whether Ogilvie was 「happy」 at the company, and in response to the information she was given, she felt now was a 「good time to approach him」.

Guy Carpenter said that a further eight employees were allegedly targeted in this group, including Morgan, who was the first witness to be cross-examined in the trial by Fletcher’s barrister.

The other employees Guy Carpenter alleges were targeted in the NMS team include MDs Alex Edwards, Matthew Overall and Stephen Firmin, as well as Barry Law, Joshua O’Donoghue, Sandeep Nijjer and Karim Berkane. The Insurer could not confirm the latter four employees’ titles at the company.

Under 10 brokers were not approached in the London NMS team, or Guy Carpenter did not have evidence to suggest they had been, according to the organisational charts in its skeleton and market sources.

Outside of Bermuda and the London METL and NMS teams, two members of the Guy Carpenter aviation team were allegedly targeted, William (Bill) Morritt and Chris Eaton. The Insurer reported in September that the pair had resigned from the company after receiving offers from Willis Re but elected to remain at Guy Carpenter, for reasons this publication could not confirm.