About
Piers is the head of private client.
Piers specialises in succession, tax and estate planning advice for individuals and their families as well as related advice to trustees and other private client service providers, such as family offices. In addition to UK-based clients, much of his work has an international element, including structuring multi-jurisdictional estates, using trusts in civil law and Shari’a law countries and advising non-UK trustees on tax and fiduciary matters.
He has experience in UK pre-arrival planning for non-domiciliaries, remittance basis advice and the implementation of trusts, wills and associated mechanisms on arrival, both for entrepreneurs and for other high-net-worth individuals. Piers is also involved in the post-death administration of estates, both in the UK and in the international context.
Before becoming a partner, Piers spent six months on secondment in the trusts department of a leading international law firm.
Piers is ranked as a Tier One adviser in the UK and Global editions of the independent Chambers guide and as a leading individual in the UK Legal 500 guide. He has been recognised in the eprivateclient 2021 50 Most Influential list and is recommended in the 2021 Private Client Global Elite guide.
Piers is a member of STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners).
Experience
- Advising consortium led by Lawrence Stroll on a £500m strategic investment in FTSE250 luxury British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin Lagonda.
- Leading a team of lawyers in six different jurisdictions on the development of a complex succession plan for a family with a significant trading business and a wide range of other valuable investments around the world.
- Advising on a restructuring of an entrepreneur’s significant liquid investment portfolio in order to give a significant proportion to the client’s children who were US residents. This included detailed advice and technical input on the structuring and involving both US and UK investment guidelines and tax considerations.
- Advising an individual on the UK tax analysis arising from their move to the UK from Italy and the subsequent opening of a London office of their business which operates across Europe.