Will Burnell

Will Burnell

Partner  |  Mourant
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Family Governance and Business

Trusts & Trusteeship

Trusts: Planning

Office Location

Jersey

Short Biography

I am a Partner in Mourant's International Trusts and Private Client team in Jersey. I advise corporate, charitable and private clients from a range of jurisdictions on the creation, ongoing management and termination of British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Jersey trusts and other wealth and succession planning vehicles. I am qualified in Jersey, the BVI and England (non-practising).

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Zuma in Miami always offers a special experience.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

It's not about what you know, it's about finding the answer when you don't know.

What was your first job?

Paper round.

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

I find myself recommending Edward St Aubyn's Patrick Melrose novels most often, although I'm not sure I could recommend them to everyone...

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

I expect to see an increase in structures holding digital assets.


Wesley O'Brien

Wesley O’Brien

Counsel  |  Conyers
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Planning

Trusts: Contentious

Trusts: Planning

Office Location

Cayman Islands

Short Biography

Wesley is a Counsel in the Private Client & Trust practice in the Cayman Islands office of Conyers Dill & Pearman. Wesley’s practice covers all areas of private client and trust law advice and litigation, as well as regulatory matters. He has extensive and in-depth experience assisting with the establishment, reorganisation and maintenance of complex trusts, pensions and other wealth management structures. He is also regularly engaged to advise on estate planning and administration as well as a range of regulatory matters including the application of economic substance and exchange of information laws.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

The Cracked Conch in Cayman or anywhere with a great outlook over our Island's beautiful waterfront

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Take your work seriously but there's no need to take yourself too seriously

What was your first job?

Lifeguard

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

Technology will continue (as always) to be a big disrupter but will also provide great opportunities for those who can best embrace digital solutions to enhance their services


Tony Pursall

Tony Pursall

Consultant  |  Mourant
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Planning

Trusts & Trusteeship

Trusts: Planning

Office Location

United Kingdom

Short Biography

Tony Pursall is a Consultant in the International Trusts & Private Client team at Mourant Ozannes, based in their London office. Prior to joining Mourant in 2016, Tony led the Trust and Private Client team for Europe and the Middle East at another leading offshore law firm. Tony was admitted as an attorney-at-law in the Cayman Islands in 2001 and as a legal practitioner in the BVI in 2005. He has 30 years' experience advising trustees, beneficiaries, protectors, banks and high-net-worth individuals on a wide range of trust and private client matters and has co-authored three books, Drafting Cayman Islands Trusts, Drafting British Virgin Islands Trusts and Guernsey Trust Law. Tony is the International Correspondent for Private Client Business and a member of the Trust and Succession Law Review Committee of STEP, BVI branch, that recommends new legislation to the BVI government.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?


Sue Nickason

Sue Nickason

Vice President  |  Dart Family Office
JURISDICTION

Cayman Islands

TOP SPECIALISMS

Family Office

Office Location

Cayman Islands

Short Biography

Sue Nickason is a VP at Dart Family Office

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Tillies at Palm Heights

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Listen to your intuition

What was your first job?

Consultant at an engineering firm

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

100 Years of Solitude

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

Welcoming more family offices to the Cayman Islands, which is emerging as the jurisdiction of choice for family offices in the Americas


Stephen Baker

Stephen Baker

Senior Partner  |  Baker & Partners
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Civil Fraud

Commercial Litigation

Trusts: Contentious

Office Location

Jersey

Short Biography

Stephen Baker is an English barrister and Jersey Advocate. He is Senior Partner at Baker & Partners. He was called to the English bar in 1989 and is a highly experienced court room advocate, having conducted many contested trials. He practised at the English bar for many years before moving to Jersey in 2003 where he established Baker & Partners. He specialises in complex international financial litigation including trust and commercial disputes as well as civil fraud. Educated at Manchester and Cambridge Universities he has a first class Masters degree in law.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?


Shan Warnock-Smith KC

Shan Warnock-Smith KC

King's Counsel  |  ICT Chambers
JURISDICTION

Cayman Islands, England and Wales, Bermuda, Hong Kong SAR, British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Contentious

Trusts: Contentious

Trusts: Planning

Office Location

Cayman Islands

Short Biography

Shan is a prominent English KC and an international advisor and litigator specialising in trusts, other wealth structures and estates. She travels the world from her base in the Cayman Islands and is to be found "everywhere" according to the guides who also describe her as being at "the pinnacle of her profession and sheer class". Shan also acts as a protector, s director of a private trust company and a mediator of trust and estates disputes.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Caprice at the Four Seasons in Hong Kong

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Never believe your own publicity

What was your first job?

riveting boxes in a metal box factory

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

More stress-testing existing structures in light of increased attacks on trusts from regulators and others


Roger Priaulx

Roger Priaulx

Director  |  Highvern
JURISDICTION

Cayman Islands

TOP SPECIALISMS

Fiduciary

Trusts & Trusteeship

Trusts: Planning

Office Location

Cayman Islands

Short Biography

Roger Priaulx qualified as a solicitor in 1998, whilst working at Linklaters in London. He was seconded to Linklaters, Hong Kong, from 2001 to 2003 and was appointed managing associate in 2002. In 2003, he joined Walkers in the Cayman Islands and was admitted as an attorney of the Cayman Islands. In 2005, Roger joined Close Brothers (Cayman) Limited, a subsidiary of Close Brothers Group plc, as in house counsel and he was appointed a director in 2007. He joined Genesis Trust & Corporate Services Ltd. which is now Highvern Cayman Limited (“Highvern”) in May 2010 as a director and is responsible for the management and administration of the director and trustee services provided by Highvern. He was elected to the Cayman Islands STEP Council in June 2010 and appointed Vice Chairman in 2015. He retired from the STEP Council in 2019 following completion of his term.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Calypso Grill

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Listen before speaking

What was your first job?

Scaffolder

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

La Gloire de mon pere le chateau de ma mere

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

Increased specialisation


Robin Rathmell

Robin Rathmell

Partner  |  Kasowitz Benson Torres
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Dispute Resolution or Arbitration

Reputation and Crisis Management

Trusts: Contentious

Office Location

United States

Short Biography

Robin Rathmell, Co-Chair of Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP’s International Disputes team, is a renowned international litigator representing high-net-worth individuals and institutions in litigation involving allegations of fraud, money laundering and other forms of misconduct. Dual-qualified as an English barrister and U.S. lawyer, Rob formulates offensive and defensive global litigation strategies for international clients, including in relation to civil and criminal asset forfeiture, trusts, commercial and insolvency litigation, INTERPOL, and international sanctions regimes. Rob's engagements always span multiple jurisdictions, legal systems and asset-holding structures. He has acted as counsel in cases involving the world’s key offshore financial centers, as well as Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas. In addition to his regular interface with U.S. regulatory and intelligence agencies, Rob has extensive experience coordinating legal strategies in matters involving actions brought by non-U.S. authorities, requiring sensitive negotiations with government agencies across multiple jurisdictions.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

HaSalon in Tel Aviv

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Follow Mark Twain’s advice: "If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything."

What was your first job?

Gardening

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

Making progress on sanctions remediation as geopolitical trends shift.


Robert-Lindley

Robert-Lindley

Partner  |  Conyers
JURISDICTION

TOP SPECIALISMS

Estates: Contentious

Trusts: Contentious

Trusts: Planning

Office Location

Cayman Islands

Short Biography

Robert is head of Conyers' Private Client & Trust practice in the Cayman Islands and the BVI with more than 20 years of private client experience. He has previously worked in the Isle of Man and the UK. He has a broad practice of contentious and non-contentious trust and private client work. Robert also acts as Protector and in other fiduciary roles in the context of structures for HNW families and family offices.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

Mr Singh's Roti for the best Doubles in the Caribbean.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

Pot washer in a hotel in the Isle of Man

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?

An increase in trust and estate litigation, particularly on issues relating to capacity and complex restructuring.


Richard Wakeham

Richard Wakeham

Group Head of Commercial  |  ZEDRA
JURISDICTION

Jersey, Guernsey, England and Wales, Isle of Man, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, United States, Cayman Islands, Curacao, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, India, Malta, Switzerland

TOP SPECIALISMS

Family Governance and Business

Fiduciary

Trusts & Trusteeship

Office Location

United Kingdom

Short Biography

Richard leads the Group’s business and client development activities focussing on client retention/satisfaction and intermediary partnerships. He also leads the Group's Marketing team.

What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

What was your first job?

What is the book you recommend to everyone?

What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?