James von Simson
James von Simson
Partner | Evelyn Partners
JURISDICTION
England and Wales, Jersey, Guernsey, Switzerland, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands
TOP SPECIALISMS
Asset Management
Family Governance and Business
Family Office
Office Location
United Kingdom
Short Biography
James specialises in advising multi-generational and multi-jurisdictional families on their investments, family governance, wealth preservation, and philanthropic strategies. Having begun his career at Citigroup in 2005 as part of the Mergers & Acquisitions team in Frankfurt, he joined Evelyn Partners in 2016. Along with the day-to-day management of investment portfolios, James is also one of the firm’s research specialists with responsibility for Global Equity funds. James sits on both the STEP Worldwide Council and the CISI International Committee. He is also an Ambassador for the Diversity Project.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Depending on their spice capacity; Bibi (Indian), Chishuru (West African), Endo (Japanese), Luca (Italian)
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Those who speak the loudest rarely know the most
What was your first job?
Film extra (blink and you miss roles)
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
A greater respect for patience over fomo
James Price
James Price
Partner | Stewarts
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Commercial Litigation
Estates: Contentious
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
London, United Kingdom
Short Biography
Head of Trusts and Probate Litigation team. Advises trustees, beneficiaries, protectors, family offices and other HNW individuals on international complex litigation
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
currently CORD by Le Cordon Bleu
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
When writing any letter, imagine it being read out loud by a High Court Judge
What was your first job?
Washing up in a Harvester restaurant
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
More disputes over protectors and their roles
James Lister
James Lister
Partner | Stevens & Bolton
JURISDICTION
England and Wales, Jersey, Guernsey
TOP SPECIALISMS
Dispute Resolution or Arbitration
Trusts & Trusteeship
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
United Kingdom
Short Biography
James is head of the Private Wealth Disputes team at Stevens & Bolton. James advises on claims by or involving estates and trusts, most commonly involving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. He acts for executors, trustees and beneficiaries, and also specialises in advising on claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. James also has a substantial practice advising on claims overlapping the trusts and family court jurisdictions, dealing with trustees and beneficiaries who have become involved in divorce proceedings and on issues arising from the enforcement and implementation of ancillary relief orders made in divorce proceedings. This frequently includes advising trustees and beneficiaries from offshore jurisdictions when they become involved in disputes involving the UK or assets situated in the UK.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Trivet, London
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
People before everything else - nothing is worth it without the relationships that matter
What was your first job?
Waiter in an average pub
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Economic difficulties always prompt an increase in inheritance disputes - expect to see many more in the next couple of years
Greta Pender
Greta Pender
Director | Sequent
JURISDICTION
Guernsey
TOP SPECIALISMS
Trusts & Trusteeship
Office Location
Guernsey
Short Biography
I am a Director in the Guernsey office, heading up a team responsible for providing trust and company administration services to international clients with a variety of structures, housing a diverse range of assets, largely for asset protection and intergenerational wealth transfer planning. I joined Sequent in February 2019, and have over 23 years experience in the Guernsey financial services industry working with high net worth individuals, overseeing and carrying out the administration of complex structures crossing a number of jurisdictions, and supervising the management of a wide variety of assets from investment portfolios to art and yachts. I am also currently Chair of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners Guernsey Branch, and an Associate of the Chartered Governance Institute.
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?
Gilly Kennedy-Smith
Gilly Kennedy-Smith
Advocate - Partner | Mourant
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Estates: Planning
Family Office
Trusts: Planning
Office Location
Guernsey
Short Biography
I am a private wealth lawyer with both offshore and onshore experience. I work with UHNW families, trust companies, family offices and wealth generators to preserve their family wealth, with a focus on modernisation of structures and governance between generations. I have a particular focus advising and project managing change of control events within the family, succession and updating of structures for clients with cross border interests, who are affected by different laws and mobile family members, as well as collaborative family wealth generation and inter-generational projects. I am a member of STEP (and serve on the committee) and the Association of Tax Technicians.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
La Reunion in Cobo is always a good choice but usually Hook or Red.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Surround yourself with good people - it's what makes life worthwhile and allows you to grow
What was your first job?
I worked in a pub
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
I read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins recently and it was really good
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
We are doing a lot of modernisation of trusts and restructuring in light of how families are changing. We are also working closely with key business owners to set in place governance throughout the business and family.
Gilead Cooper KC
Gilead Cooper KC
Barrister | Wilberforce Chambers
JURISDICTION
England and Wales, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Hong Kong SAR
TOP SPECIALISMS
Art and Cultural Property
Estates: Contentious
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
United Kingdom
Short Biography
Before coming to the Bar, Gilead enjoyed a brief career in publishing, editing books on photography, popular science and astronomy. He also spent a couple of years teaching in pre-revolutionary Iran. Gilead joined Wilberforce Chambers in 2015, specialising mainly in trusts and estates litigation. He has a particular interest in Art Law, as well as NFTs and digital assets. He occasionally sits as an arbitrator.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
The Garrick
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
tantum religio potuit suadere malorum
What was your first job?
Waiter. I was terrible at it.
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
The Matter with Things, by Iain McGilchrist
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
The proportion of offshore work has been increasing steadily over the past few years; I hope that continues.
Gavin Ferguson
Gavin Ferguson
Partner | Ogier
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Family Office
Fiduciary
Trusts & Trusteeship
Office Location
Guernsey
Short Biography
Gavin is partner in Ogier's Private Wealth team in Guernsey, and provides contentious and non-contentious fiduciary advice to high net worth individuals, corporate clients and charities. Gavin is a qualified Guernsey Advocate, BVI solicitor, English solicitor and Notary Public. Gavin also provides fiduciary services to a couple of family offices and protectorship services. He was praised for his "very high degree of expertise" in trust and private wealth work, and described as "one of the island's top trust lawyers" in client feedback cited in the Chambers and Partners UK Guide Gavin is a founding member and current Guardian of local male cancer charity, MUG; and a former member of the Board of Trustees for the Lloyds Bank Foundation. In his spare time Gavin enjoys scuba diving, boating, karate and being an embarrassing dad to his two daughters
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Red
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
What was your first job?
Stock broker
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
Damage Done
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Edward Cumming KC
Edward Cumming KC
Barrister | XXIV Old Buildings
JURISDICTION
England and Wales, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man
TOP SPECIALISMS
Commercial Litigation
Estates: Contentious
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
United Kingdom
Short Biography
“The perfect modern barrister” and “the absolute best”, Edward Cumming KC has acted in some of the most significant and highest-profile trust and succession litigation in recent years. He is recommended as a leading KC in nine separate categories in the latest Chambers & Partners, and eight separate categories in the latest Legal 500. The directories, which have long recognised Edward as a “lion in court”, describe him as “just an amazing individual” and “a very smooth advocate, who is persuasive, articulate and nimble on his feet”, saying “Edward is an absolute superstar. He has a phenomenal work rate, huge intellect, an elephantine memory, and [is] utterly charming with it”. “He works incredibly hard, is commercial, is an outstanding advocate and is loved by clients for being aggressive and knowing their cases inside out. He is the first name that comes to mind for any high value and difficult case”.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Tomos Parry’s Brat
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Don’t believe the hype.
What was your first job?
Receptionist at the Premier Travel Inn at Tewkesbury Strensham services on the M5
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
Believe It by Nick Foles
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Constance McDonnell KC
Constance McDonnell KC
Barrister | Serle Court
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Estates: Contentious
Probate
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
United Kingdom
Short Biography
Constance McDonnell KC is a specialist trust and probate barrister. She has appeared in a number of highly publicised cases, including Reeves v Drew (a probate dispute about the £100m estate of an illiterate testator), she appeared for the Respondent in the landmark case of Ilott v The Blue Cross in the UK Supreme Court, and acts in the important case of Hirachand v Hirachand heading to the Supreme Court in January 2024.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Bocca di Lupo
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Preparation, preparation, preparation
What was your first job?
Silver service, ranging from alcohol-fuelled work outings to a ducal home
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
A thesaurus
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Finally being completely paperless (except for trials)
Christian Hay
Christian Hay
Partner, Head of Private Client & Trusts | Collas Crill
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Dispute Resolution or Arbitration
Estates: Contentious
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
Guernsey
Short Biography
TEP qualified, a CEDR acredited mediator and qualified arbitrator, Christian has headed up the dispute resolution team in Guernsey since 2007. He is the global practice head for Private Client & Trusts across the firm's 4 offices offshore. His main focus is contentious trusts and probate, acting for trustees, protectors and beneficiaries on a range of contentious and semi- contentious private client matters, including mistake applications, Beddoe relief, restructuring and variations to trusts, and family disputes. He is also an expert in fraud and asset tracing, and enforcement.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Rouge in Guernsey for wine and cheese
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?
We have just restructured our private client practice into a global team so I will be assuming leadership of all our private client practitioners across 4 offices including Jersey, BVI and Cayman. We have a number of longstanding private client disputes coming to trial in 2024 and will be looking to develop our Middle Eastern practice.