International law firm Stephenson Harwood has appointed Barbara Allen as head of its employee incentives practice. Barbara joins from Ashurst where she has worked for the last 23 years as a partner in their employee incentives practice.

Barbara has expertise in the design and implementation of employee share schemes for private and public companies, long-term incentive plans and bonus arrangements, as well as advising on the incentives and share scheme implications of flotations, M&A, demergers and management buy-outs. At Ashurst, Barbara worked with a range of corporate clients including Jessops, Apax, ICAP and Wm Morrison.

Commenting on her appointment, Barbara said: "Joining Stephenson Harwood as head of incentives gives me the opportunity to join a corporate practice in expansion mode which presents a lot of opportunity."

Sharon White, CEO and head of the corporate practice at Stephenson Harwood, said: "Barbara is a welcome addition to our corporate practice which is rapidly expanding. Barbara's expertise further enhances our full service offering and her work with management teams at the very highest level, as well as her experience of working on share plans for both private and public companies, means she has the ideal range of experience for the firm's client base."

Barbara's appointment to the corporate practice follows a range of recent partner hires including: Andrew McLean from Weil Gotshall, James Tinworth from Simmons & Simmons, Jeremy Sheldon from Fulbrights and Jonathan Cripps and Rebecca Carter from Eversheds.

Stephenson Harwood's employee incentives team has strong expertise in auditing, designing and maintaining share plans; advising and structuring management interests in primary and secondary buy-outs; designing flexible remuneration structures and advising on regulatory compliance. The firm advises a number of clients in the financial services arena on 'disguised remuneration' tax rules and the FSA remuneration code.