Conyers mourns loss of respected lawyer Niel Jones
A top lawyer whose life was lost in an accident on the water over the Cup Match holiday is remembered by colleagues as an admired and well-liked member of the team at Conyers.
Niel Jones was a director in the corporate department of the firm — and well known for his prowess as a fisherman and diver and his skill as a captain.
Mr Jones was a regular winner at The Royal Gazette Wahoo Tournament, taking Overall Largest Wahoo three times in a row from 2019 to 2021.
He first appeared in the newspaper as a 15-year-old in 1993 when he set a record with the International Game Fish Association for a shark caught eight miles off the island.
Christian Luthi, the Conyers chairman and global managing partner, said Mr Jones, who joined the firm in 2005 and was made partner in 2016, practised corporate law and was “very highly respected in the business community here and with a lot of our international clients”.
“He had broad experience in corporate law, with a particular emphasis on matters involving international companies setting up in Bermuda.
“He was involved in a lot of our major hotel deals and other transactions that touched the local economy.
“Niel was a fine lawyer and a very solid colleague, one of those guys who was admired and respected by us all. He was probably known as a man of few words who didn’t use more than needed to make his point.
“He let his actions and professional conduct speak for him, and they always spoke loudly in his favour.”
Marcello Ausenda, the director and head of Bermuda Corporate Practice, said: “Niel was a very talented lawyer and a model colleague. He was a valued partner in the firm and a dedicated mentor to trainees and associates. His absence will be felt strongly throughout the firm and the Bermuda legal community.”
Mr Ausenda added: “His legal practice focused on banking and finance — he was an expert in local property finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and aviation.
“Niel was selected to be part of the team that opened Conyers’ Moscow office in 2008. Niel had a very successful stint in Moscow, where he also met his wife, Olya.”
He said that Mr Jones earned “a deserved reputation as a superb legal practitioner with a loyal and appreciative client following”.
“In the words of one client: ‘Niel was an amazing corporate lawyer — frankly the best I’ve ever dealt with in all my time dealing with lawyers.’
“Away from the office, Niel was an adventurer who loved life in Bermuda. Niel was an avid boater, diver and fisherman, as well as president of the Bermuda Anglers Club.”
He added: “Niel was a devoted husband and father who is survived by his wife and his two young sons.
“Niel was a special person who was universally loved by everyone who encountered him — inside and outside of Conyers.
“More than anything else, though, he was our friend and we will miss him profoundly.
“Our deepest sympathies go out to all of Niel’s family and friends who have lost him far too soon.”
Mr Luthi added: “He would throw himself into matters with alacrity and good humour, and you knew he could always be counted on to get it right.
“He will be very much missed. He enjoyed life, loved the outdoors and the natural environment of Bermuda. I think that’s one of the things that is so shocking about his death due to a maritime accident.”
The disappearance of a man on the waters of Castle Harbour was reported by police shortly before midnight on August 4. His body was recovered the following morning.
He was 46.
Mr Jones graduated from Saltus with various distinctions in 1995, and attended McGill University in Canada, graduating with honours in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.
Mr Jones studied law at the University of Durham, graduating in 2002, and finished the University of the West of England in 2003 with a Diploma in Professional Legal Practice.
He was Called to the Bermuda Bar in 2006.
From 2008 to 2012, Mr Jones worked in the Conyers Moscow office.
In 2018, he was among the Bermudian lawyers listed in the IFLR 1000, a guide to the world’s leading financial law firms.
Mr Jones leaves behind his wife, Olya, and their sons, Daniel and Philip.
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