The story
Founded in Bermuda in 1928 (although it can trace its roots back to 1903), the firm has subsequently opened legal practices in a number of other offshore financial centers, including the British Virgin Islands (1996) and the Cayman Islands (2004). It also has offices in key financial centers, including London (1998), Hong Kong (1985) and Singapore (2001). It is a member of the offshore magic circle. Conyers' expansion has been entirely by way of organic growth, rather than by the acquisition of smaller firms in the jurisdictions in which it wishes to operate. The firm can claim to be the first offshore firm to operate in multiple jurisdictions; the original Bermudian firm opened a British Virgin Islands office in 1996.
The firm's founder, Reginald Conyers, played an important role in the development of the nascent financial services industry in Bermuda in the 1920s and 1930s. Following on from the Bermuda Railway Company Act 1924, Conyers faced a legal problem of conveying huge numbers of land parcels by the company. Firstly, he took on two partners in his practice, Bayard Dill and James Pearman (and thus the firm was officially born). Secondly, in 1935 the firm was instrumental in the enactment of the first "exempt company" legislation in Bermuda, which led some to claim that Bermuda was the world's first offshore financial center. Later, in 1957, another partner of the firm, David Graham, laid the basis for the development of Bermuda as a domicile for ship registrations in a letter to The Times. In 2019, the firm became the subject of the Mauritius Leaks and related investigations carried forth by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its partners.
From Wikipedia’s article on Conyers Dill & Pearman, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3