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.
Gedling is a village and former civil parish which gives its name to the larger Borough of Gedling in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Nottingham city centre. The parish was abolished in 1935 and absorbed into the urban district of Carlton, which in turn was abolished in 1974 on the creation of borough of Gedling. The population of the Gedling ward at the 2011 census was 6,817[1] and 111,787 for the district.[2] Gedling was recorded in the Domesday Book and is still a distinct settlement, although residential, commercial and industrial growth in the wider borough of Gedling and the neighbouring city of Nottingham, boroughs of Broxtowe and Rushcliffe and district of Ashfield (as well as the Derbyshire boroughs of Amber Valley and Erewash, which have become increasingly urban around Nottingham) means it can be difficult to distinguish the village of Gedling from the nearby town of Carlton, with which it has become contiguous.
Gedling was first settled around Saxon times, when the Saxon chief Gedl (hence the name Gedling, coming from the chief "Gedl" and "Ing" being Saxon for People, Gedl-Ing meaning "Gedl's People") sailed up the River Trent, and then up the Little Ouse dyke, until he could get no further upstream. He landed at the spot which is thought to be the present-day site of All Saints' Church. Gedling has had several versions of its name including Ghellinge, Gedlinga, Geddlings, and Gettang.
Despite being a fairly small place, Gedling gives its name to the local borough council which has its offices in nearby Arnold, and also to the local parliamentary constituency, which covers the suburbs to the east of Nottingham, including Arnold and Carlton. Village pubs are the Gedling Inn (once the Chesterfield Arms) and The Willowbrook on Main Road.