Family Office partners

Just like modern lives and relationships, families are multi-faceted and diverse, and so are their needs. My practice is therefore equally diverse, encompassing 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 an environment 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. The setting for that advice is most often a discussion around the table in whatever form works best and involving whichever 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. 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, both present and future, 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 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.

The management of the succession of family wealth can be complicated and fraught with difficulties. I specialise in dispute resolution in the arena of trusts and estates, and 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. While I am first and foremost a litigator, a large proportion of my work relates to resolving disputes, whether by mediation or otherwise, and  to advising on the structuring of affairs with the aim of avoiding any dispute in the first place, with litigation always a last resort.   

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. 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.