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UK Private Client Law

​Private client lawyers work with individuals and families, providing legal advice on a variety of matters such as investments, taxation, estate management, wills and testamentary issues. Private clients are usually very rich and high net worth individuals or landowners who hold massive amounts of properties and other assets. Private client lawyers also tend to deal with charities too. These might be small, not-for-profit associations or fully-fledged organisations that are run like a business and have immense budgets.

The main objective of a private client lawyer is to provide advice which will help preserve, build and maintain wealth and establish trusts. They will also offer prudent guidance on matters, such as inheritance tax and capital gains tax.

Why is it important? What does it involve?

The workload of a typical private client lawyer might be comprised of drafting wills, executing the terms of the will in the instance of death, and the subsequent disbursement of properties and assets. You will also help clients to look after and grow their wealth, locally or internationally. As such, private client lawyers will also be required to apply tax law in many cases. Most firms will have separate departments where private client and charity work is handled.

Private client lawyers working for charitable bodies will provide legal services for registration, restructuring, creating charters or trust deeds, compliance with statutory and local authorities and regular management and disbursement of funds, which have been received or earned for charitable endeavours. Other activities will include providing investment advice, helping to set up offshore trusts, drafting contracts and business proposals and handling sponsorships.

Private client practice is an ever-burgeoning field. Immense advances in several emerging markets have created a fresh breed of millionaires and billionaires across the globe. Consequently, lawyers in this area have their hands full with plenty of work, and there’s more to come in the future. There is also an increasing demand for lawyers specialising in private client and charity practice.

Break it down for me a little bit!

Private client lawyers must have excellent people management skills. They will need to handle communications, discussions and negotiations articulately and efficiently. A comprehensive knowledge of the law and commercial matters when dealing with taxation, inheritance, investments and trusts is essential.

They must have a particular aptitude for wading through tons of rules and regulations and be able to structure matters in a manner that is most beneficial to their client; saving on costs, whilst still being compliant with the law.

It’s advantageous for private client lawyers to have a good understanding of the foreign markets where clients hold their assets and funds. They may also need to interact and coordinate with people abroad and deal with organisations that operate offshore or in overseas tax havens.

These careers could involve some degree of international travel. However, there will also be long hours and, as always, an ungodly amount of documentation to get through.

​Bentley is a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England two miles north of the city centre. The population of the ward (also including Arksey, Shaftholme, Toll Bar and part of Scawthorpe) within the City of Doncaster at the 2021 census was 18,195.[1][2] The Bentley built-up area subdivision had a population of 12,048.[3]

Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village was once owned by Edmund Hastings of Plumtree, Nottinghamshire, who had inherited it from his wife Copley's Sprotborough family. Hastings subsequently sold the manor to John Levett, a York lawyer born at High Melton who married the niece of Hastings's wife, who then conveyed it to Sir Arthur Ingram of York, High Sheriff of Yorkshire.[4][5]

A former mining village, it lies on the River Don. Bentley Colliery, which is now Bentley Community Woodland, closed in December 1993. Bentley and the nearby hamlet of Toll Bar were badly affected by floods in June 2007.

The local parish church of St. Peter dates back to 1891. A second church, Church of SS Philip and James in the New Village area was dedicated in 1915

Bentley includes West End, New Village and Rostholme. Streets in Bentley include Cooke Street and High Street.

During the 2019 United Kingdom floods residents of Bentley were asked to leave their homes after the area suffered flooding.[6]

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