Willis Re emerged largely victorious from a UK High Court battle with Guy Carpenter over the recruitment of reinsurance brokers in Bermuda, after a judge found only "narrow" conspiracies and rejected calls for sweeping injunctive relief.
Justice Birt handed down a 125-page judgment in Guy Carpenter & Company Limited and Others v Willis Limited and Others [2026] EWHC 361 (KB), finding that former Guy Carpenter executives James Summers and John Fletcher improperly assisted Willis Re's hiring push before resigning in mid-2025.
The court identified two distinct unlawful means conspiracies between Willis Re and each of the former directors, which included sharing confidential compensation data during recruitment discussions. Senior Willis executive Lucy Clarke was found to have induced some of those breaches.
However, the judge rejected Guy Carpenter's broader allegation of a systematic scheme to poach teams and strip business.
He noted that the defendants' conduct "went slightly further than was admitted by them at the trial, but not to the extent alleged by Guy Carpenter." The ruling confirmed that seeking to recruit a team is not inherently unlawful.
The court denied Guy Carpenter's request to bar former staff from soliciting clients through 2027, calling it "a comprehensive defeat" for the firm on injunctive relief. Internal dissatisfaction at Guy Carpenter – particularly over pay – was cited as a significant driver of departures, with the judge noting a "threat to leave" culture around compensation.
Guy Carpenter said it was "pleased" that Clarke, Summers, and Fletcher had been found to have acted unlawfully, calling the conduct something that "undermines trust and integrity in the market." Financial damages will be addressed in a later phase.
Willis Re re-entered the reinsurance broking market last year through a joint venture between WTW and Bain Capital, after WTW's original reinsurance arm was sold to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a $3.25 billion deal in 2021.
More than 20 Guy Carpenter employees resigned between June and early July 2025 to join the relaunched venture.
The firm has since added specialists in ILW broking, ILS-backed reinsurance, and property retrocession — many recruited from its Bermuda operations.
Guy Carpenter has moved to fill the gaps, bringing in Kevin Adams from the Fidelis Partnership and Brian Steinhoff from Vantage Risk Companies for its Bermuda office.
The top four reinsurance brokers currently hold roughly 90% of the market. The court itself observed that Willis Re "is more likely to be a competitor to the small ('challenger') brokers" than to Guy Carpenter or Aon.
