Senior Associate - Private Client

Job content

We are seeking a lawyer with solid experience in general succession and tax planning, estate administration, and trusts work, likely to have a minimum of 5/6 PQE. This is an excellent opportunity to develop experience in our broad based team, recognised for providing a real alternative to the City for complex private client matters given the quality of the offering.

The private client team is a critical part of the firm’s business and the work undertaken by the team represents approximately 20% of the firm’s turnover. We have extensive experience in advising private clients in relation to all aspects of their affairs and our wide-ranging national and international client base includes Sunday Times Rich List individuals, globally wealthy families, trustees, family offices/individuals, professional sportspeople, landowners, business owners and entrepreneurs.

Our private client team comprises 24 specialists (including six partners). The experienced team can advise on all aspects of private client matters including in relation to tax, trusts, estate planning and estate administration. We are top ranked for Private Wealth Law as “National Leaders (outside London)” in Chambers HNW, and top ranked for Personal tax, trusts and probate in The Legal 500, as well as being one of only a few firms to be ranked in the London section of The Legal 500 without a London presence.

Representative cases include:

• Preparing complex wills and devising a long-term estate planning strategy (including trusts and family investment companies) for a £300m+ high profile UK family.
• Advising on international estate planning issues for high-net-worth non-UK domiciled clients with assets in the UK, Switzerland, France, Spain, The Netherlands and various other jurisdictions.
• Dealing with a complex international probate where the deceased had assets in the UK, Portugal and Thailand.
• Working alongside a very successful entrepreneur (net wealth £250m+) to consider a complex trust history for part of the business and whether this structure should be revised in light of current circumstances.
• Advising on generational estate and trust planning for landed estate clients.

The Personal Tax, Trusts & Charities team undertakes the full spectrum of private client work, key areas being:

• Succession planning through Wills and trusts, including cross border estate planning
• All aspects of inheritance tax, capital gains tax, and income tax planning in relation to individuals and trusts
• Probate and administration of estates and trusts, including domestic and international estates
• Wealth structuring and planning for UK and non-UK domiciled clients
• Advising fiduciaries and beneficiaries on UK and offshore trusts and other structures
• Tax planning for entrepreneurs and business owners

There is plenty of opportunity for the right individual to build a career in this fast developing practice group.

What we are looking for

We are looking for a strong team player with good inter-personal skills, strong academics and high quality experience – typically with a major City or leading national/regional practice. Excellent communication skills are a must. An appetite for business development and developing your own key contacts would be a definite advantage.

Candidates should have a proven track record of working directly with clients and helping to build long term relationships. We offer excellent supervision, coaching and training within our friendly team, but we expect all team members to take responsibility at an early stage. The right candidate should be able to work with initiative to provide the highest quality advice and service.

Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage your own workload are a must, together with a willingness to develop the technical expertise of junior members of the team.

What we offer

Competitive base salary, bonus scheme and benefits package including contributory pension scheme, private medical insurance, 25 days holiday with the option to buy up to 5/ sell up to 3 days. In addition, we offer a range of flexible benefits which include a cycle to work scheme, dental insurance, discounted shopping and membership to a critical illness scheme.