ISOLAS has appointed Joey Garcia and Samantha Grimes as Partners with effect from February 2014
Samantha has largely practised in the area of employment law initially with O.H. Parsons (a Trade Union law firm) and thereafter with Lyons Davidson Solicitors in London before joining ISOLAS in 2003.
During her time at ISOLAS, Samantha has become one of the leaders in the practice of employment law in Gibraltar undertaking both contentious and non-contentious work acting mainly for employer clients ranging from small local companies to large private banks and gaming companies. She has also developed a thriving and expanding landlord and tenant practice and advises local property management companies in relation to both residential and commercial units in some of the largest developments in Gibraltar including Europort and Eurotowers.
In addition, Samantha handles probate matters for the firm, which include complex cross border estates, and has developed a busy Intellectual Property department. Samantha spends her leisure time pursuing her passion for horses and the great outdoors.
Joey joined the firm in 2005 and is acknowledged by Chambers & Partners as a highly acclaimed funds expert, who advises in this space across matters relating to hedge fund formations, financial services regulation, family office operations, venture finance and transactional work.
He is an acknowledged expert on the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive, and has also worked on a secondment basis within the FSC to assist with technical guidance on matters relating to AIFM. He is currently engaged on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange application, and will continue to develop and represent the Firms interest in the Gibraltar Insurance Linked Securities space in New York in early March as well as across a series of other innovative markets.
Joey authored the Gibraltar Chapter of the prestigious Thomson Reuters Reference Series on Hedge Funds earlier this year, edited by the Global Head of Hedge Funds at KPMG, Last year he was responsible for drafting GFIA’s code of conduct for Collective Investment Scheme Directors. Joey is the Chairman of GFIA’s Technical Committee and deals with legal and regulatory aspects. In addition to this Joey sits on the FSC Funds panel and the AIFMD FSC working group. He has represented the firm as a speaker on various Finance Centre, and Firm driven initiatives in Switzerland, the UK, and Germany, and will drive the firms involvement as one of the lead sponsors of the upcoming Voxia event in Gibraltar hosting in the region of 50 independent asset managers. In 2014 Joey also lead the Firm to its joint award as the Funddomiciles Gibraltar Fund law firm of the year, after having also won the previous edition of the Award.
Joey is also busy with private clients and philanthropy advising a number of private ultra-high net worth individuals, and is actively involved in the Kusuma Trust’s charitable work in Gibraltar as a Trustee. He is also one of the founding members of the Gibraltar Philanthropy Forum which hosted its inaugural event in 2013 with Sir John Major as its key note speaker. He continues to advise in the philanthropic and charitable space and leads the Firm’s drive to develop this practice area.
In his spare time he has competed on numerous Ironman Triathlon events, represented Gibraltar at the world championships in 2013 and Gibraltar’s International Rugby side.
Speaking on the occasion of the appointments, Peter Isola, Senior Partner at the firm said that ‘it is always a proud moment when we welcome new partners to the firm and this time is certainly no exception. We welcome Sam to the partnership after her many years as one of the firm’s most loyal and dedicated team members and, in Joey, we welcome the fifth generation of the Isola family to be a part of this firm’s long and distinguished history.
They have both demonstrated, time and again, that they have the dedication, tenacity and talent to help drive ISOLAS’ continued growth and development for many years to come. On a personal note, clearly it is a matter of great pride for the whole family, that Joey is now a partner at the firm.
Everyone at ISOLAS wishes Samantha and Joey well and is looking forward to working with them for many more years to come.
