Family Office partners (version a)

I specialise in providing succession and tax advice in the context of trusts and estates. I advise clients and their families on their plans for the future which includes family succession, protection of family businesses, philanthropy, avoiding inheritance and family disputes and all aspects of family/trust governance.  My clients are from a wide range of jurisdictions including offshore, the US and Ireland. These include trustees, family offices and entrepreneurs.

It is important to me to engage clients and their families at an early stage about their plans for the future. Families are not always aligned on what the future may look like. It is important to have these conversations before they become difficult conversations. Working with our Family Office team and clients’ existing advisors is a key part of this. When advising families my belief is that strong foundations should be in place so the family can continue to build upon these and be successful, whatever that may look like to each family member. Wider support beyond legal and financial solutions is essential to this including family therapy, counselling, educational and reputation management. I help clients take that step and stay with them, and the next generation, on that journey.  

I work as a family lawyer – that doesn’t just mean helping people separate sensible. It means helping individuals and their families discuss and determine whatever legal, financial and parenting decisions need to be made arising from any family change, transition or crisis. Just like modern lives and relationships, families are multi-faceted and diverse, and so are their needs.

My practice is therefore equally diverse. It encompasses all aspects of family life including where personal relationships meet financial and business planning. I am considered an expert in complex financial matters, including those involving businesses and trust/tax structures, often those with an international dimension. As such, I couldn’t do my job without the support of my Family Office colleagues and my wider network. For my clients, that means that I often work in a setting where all aspects of the advice they need relating to their families and the changes they may be facing are given as an integral part of our service, rather than it being an add-on, after-thought or a referral elsewhere. The setting for that advice is most often a discussion around the table in whatever form works best and involving whatever family members and their advisors need to be present. 

Reputational and regulatory issues can often have an unforeseen and complex impact on various elements of modern life. My role within the Family Office is to provide clear and definitive advice in dealing with the media in all its forms from a point of crisis management though to advising and assisting ongoing interactions with regulatory or statutory bodies investigating the affairs of individuals or organisations.

My role for clients is to helping them to understand the situation they are facing and how to fix the issues that present themselves, while being aware of the need to ensure that there is nothing relied upon that could go on to cause issues for the client or their business in the future. I am often instructed to assist Family Office clients with others in the team to ensure that the impact of any issues they face within their personal and/or professional lives is minimised and their interests are protected at all times.

I advise individuals and families on all aspects of their giving, helping you achieve your family’s philanthropic legacy. 

I work with families starting or running a family foundation, advising on structure and compliance, whilst embedding values and ensuring these pass through generations. I support donors on making particularly large, or complex gifts. I advise on how to structure your giving to best protect you and your family’s reputation and interests, while achieving the impact that you desire. This will differ from family to family: sometimes I will be helping to obtain naming rights, other times ensuring giving is discrete. If things go wrong with existing structures, I have extensive experience of advising charities through Charity Commission investigations. 

I specialise in dispute resolution in the arena of trusts and estates. With an ageing population (and the higher incidence of mental capacity issues), increasingly complex families and a general movement towards a more litigious society, the management of the succession of family wealth can be complicated and fraught with difficulties.  

Whilst I am first and foremost a litigator, a large proportion of my work relates to resolving disputes (whether by mediation or otherwise) and also to advising on the structuring of affairs with the aim of avoiding any dispute in the first place. My litigation experience gives me the tools to identify cracks and weaknesses that may not otherwise be obvious. My input may include stress-testing trust structures, advising on the conduct (or prospects of removal) of trustees or looking at the obligations a trustee may have to disclose information. Litigation is always a last resort; the stress, costs and unpredictable outcome make for a process which satisfies no-one. Wherever possible our aim is to resolve a dispute, or better still, provide full service advice that is practical and flexible and which prevents a dispute in the first place. Life doesn’t come in silos and so advice shouldn’t either.  

I am a corporate lawyer specialising in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, debt finance and company law and corporate governance. Although I often advise in a conventional business environment, I also work extensively with my colleagues on more personal, family-oriented matters.

This commonly involves advising on dealing with business interests on behalf of owners (rather than the underlying business), whether as part of succession planning, on separation, or after death – including when the situation is contested. Examples include establishing Family Investment Companies, advising on share sales by personal representatives (or the corporate governance arrangements that apply while shares remain in the deceased’s estate), and assisting with court applications for urgent business-related grants of probate.

Advising in a family orientated context has many similarities when compared to operating in a more commercial sphere. The underlying legal framework is broadly the same, as, ultimately, is the end goal – working with clients to understand and achieve their objectives. 

I have experience in all aspects of real estate transactions with a particular focus on investment, asset management and funding.

I specialise in leading multi-disciplinary teams on complex portfolio transactions across a number of sectors. My client base is varied and includes property companies, family offices, investors and occupational tenants.