Magic circle firm Linklaters has paid tribute to one of its leading corporate partners, who has died following a cycling accident. Iain Wagstaff, who had been with the firm for more than 20 years, died following the accident on 31 August, the firm said today. 

Iain Wagstaff

Iain Wagstaff

Charlie Jacobs, senior partner, said: ‘It is with enormous sadness that we can confirm the death of Iain Wagstaff, a partner, friend and admired colleague at the firm.

‘The firm’s thoughts are with Iain’s family as well as with his many friends at Linklaters and beyond the firm. Iain was an exceptional lawyer and a great friend to me and so many others. He will be very greatly missed.’

Wagstaff was admitted as a solicitor in 2001 and was a corporate and private equity partner based in the London office.

A boardroom adviser to many of the firm’s FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 clients, he acted on some of the largest and most complex transactions in the market, with a particular focus on public M&A and IPO transactions.

Among his highlights, he advised Arcus Infrastructure on the £1.1bn sale of a 65% stake in Forth Ports to PSP, Bill Kenwright and others on the sale of Everton Football Club to Farhad Moshiri, and Siemens on its £950m acquisition of Rolls-Royce’s energy gas turbines business and on its £1.7bn acquisition of Invensys’s rail automation business.