Estella Bogira
Partner
Estella Bogira is an established pensions lawyer, valued by her clients for her personable manner and her focus on delivering solutions that align with their strategic goals.
Partner
Estella Bogira is an established pensions lawyer, valued by her clients for her personable manner and her focus on delivering solutions that align with their strategic goals.
Languages - English
Jurisdiction - England & Wales
Estella's practice is uniquely varied; her clients include trustees of multi-billion pound pension schemes, a large DB master trust, high profile charities, offshore pension trustee companies, and senior executives. Her clients and their pension arrangements are truly global, spanning the Channel Islands, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the US. Estella leads the Stephenson Harwood International Pensions offering.
Estella has a strong occupational practice advising employers and trustees on all aspects of work-related pension provision. Clients choose Estella for advice on complex projects, technical queries and knotty issues, and for business as usual support. Estella also advises high net worth individuals on personal pension matters, including tax and estate planning.
Occupational clients benefit from Estella's broad understanding of the UK pensions and pensions tax system, and her firsthand experience of dealing with matters from a member perspective. Estella's international clients benefit from her deep understanding of the UK tax treatment of overseas pension schemes and her ability to address the unique challenges faced by clients with cross-border interests.
Estella's clients appreciate her ability to communicate highly technical legal concepts in an understandable way, her focus on providing commercial, practical advice, and her friendly, calm and direct approach. She was named as a Next Generation Partner and Recommended Lawyer by the 2026 Legal 500 directory, and ranked as an Up and Coming practitioner by Chambers UK 2026.
The Mercer DB Master Trust
Lead partner advising the trustees of this £300m DB master trust that provides "ordinary" DB benefits and benefits that are broadly comparable to the public sector. Ongoing support with multiple projects including multiple section buy-ins, renegotiating the administration contract, onboarding new employers, and business as usual advice.Santander UK Group Pension Scheme
Supported the trustees of this £10bn sectionalised scheme on the transition of administration services to a new provider, including negotiation of exit terms and the new contract, and the parallel production of benefit specifications for all 7 sections of the scheme.Charity and not-for-profit
Extensive experience of advising employers and trustees in this sector, including in respect of NHSPS and LGPS accrual and exits, correction of complex, historic issues, benefit design changes, and security over assets.Unregistered pension schemes
Multiple appointments in respect of unregistered, unfunded arrangements, including legacy arrangements for high earners, unregistered death benefit trusts and personal accident arrangements. Advising on the tax and compliance requirements of these arrangements, ongoing management, and the termination and winding up of underlying trusts.International pensions matters
A unique and market-leading practice advising on matters such as the UK taxation of UK tax-relieved funds held in offshore pension schemes, the application of UK inheritance tax to non-UK schemes, the transfer of benefits out of the UK and between non-UK schemes, the receipt of pension income through the "foreign income and gains" regime, and pensions succession planning for globally mobile individuals.
