Our People

I help individual clients, families and family businesses protect, manage and transfer their property and assets through wills, trusts, powers of attorney and other structures.

I explore with clients what they want to achieve and then help them create the best legal and financial structures to achieve this in the most tax-efficient way.

This often involves advising multiple generations of the same family, and there are a number of cases where I have helped a family keep, maintain and grow their wealth down the generations.

I am qualified to practise in England and Wales as well as in Scotland. I have been a member of the Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners (STEP) for over 30 years. I represented Scotland on STEP's Worldwide Council from 2008 to 2022 and chaired STEP's Professional Development Committee from 2019 to 2022. I was founder member of the STEP Business Families Special Interest Group and served as its Deputy Chair from 2007 to 2017.

    

Recent Activity

I have discussed with clients complex personal and family situations and have put in place wills, trust and other structures to ensure that their assets - including some unusual and valuable types of property - were protected and passed to their chosen beneficiaries.

I have assisted with the reorganisation of a number of substantial family trusts to address changes in the law and in the circumstances of the families and their businesses. 

I have presented a number of seminars on estate planning, trusts and tax for the Law Society of Scotland, STEP and within the firm.

I have contributed the introductory chapters to two important books on Family Governance, produced in association with STEP. The second edition of the book on family businesses was published in 2017 (see details of the family business law book) and the 2nd edition of the companion volume of the family office published in 2019 (see details of the family office companion volume).