Paul Hardwick Senior Associate
Paul advises on matters of governance, succession planning, tax, trusts and trust litigation. He has a particular focus on matters involving complex, cross-border structures.
His clients include individuals, family offices, family-owned companies, trustees and financial institutions. He has worked with clients from Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East and East Asia and has advised trustees in all the major trust law jurisdictions.
Governance
Paul regularly advises on issues of governance, and in particular on how to delineate control between owners, officeholders and other fiduciaries in the context of family-owned businesses and structures. This includes proposing new governance structures, auditing existing ones and reforming governance structures that are no longer fit for purpose.
He advises trustees, protectors and other fiduciaries on good governance practices. He has also advised directors of private and public companies on matters of corporate governance.
Succession planning
Paul advises both UK-based and non-UK based clients on how to put in place successful succession plans. He also assists trustees, directors and family offices in how to implement them.
He has dealt with the full range of client situations, from families who have succession plans in place that have operated successfully for many generations to families where there was no succession plan on the death of a matriarch or patriarch and so one needed to be negotiated and implemented after the fact.
Trust law and trust litigation
Paul has extensive experience in drafting and interpreting trust instruments and advising on trustee decision-making and matters of trust administration.
Paul has advised beneficiaries in relation to two of the leading Public Trustee v Cooper trustee blessing applications in Bermuda over the last five years.
Paul frequently advises trustees, protectors and beneficiaries in the context of on-going litigation.
Tax
Paul advises on all matters of UK personal taxation. He has a particular focus on UK tax issues involving non-UK resident trusts, non-UK resident corporate structures, digital assets and carried interest as well as the operation of double tax treaties. He also helps clients navigate matters of tax policy.
He regularly writes and speaks on these issues.
HMRC investigations
Paul advises taxpayers and fellow professionals about the conduct of HMRC investigations and has assisted taxpayers with investigations involving complex areas of income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax.