Rob Gardner
Rob Gardner
Partner | Bedell Cristin
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Commercial Litigation
Insolvency
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
London, United Kingdom
Short Biography
After qualification at Wilde Sapte I embarked on a 12 month exchange with a Madrid law firm (turning up there with very little Spanish) before moving to Lawrence Graham in London. I then worked at Walkers in the Cayman Islands and BVI for almost 5 years before moving to Jersey, where I joined Bedell Cristin and qualifed as a Jersey advocate in 2012. My only previous experience of the Channels Islands had been attending a wedding in Alderney in the early 90s, but the experience of living in Jersey for 16 years was amazing. I am now based in the London office of Bedell Cristin, although all of my work involves Jersey (and some BVI) law. I frequently appear in the Jersey Courts on a wide range of contentious cases including trusts, general commercial disputes and insolvency related matters.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Oyster Box St Brelade's Bay Jersey
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
leave York, don't look back and go off and see the world
What was your first job?
Hotel ''porter'' in Saas Fee, Switzerland: involving everything from driving the electric milk float to collect guests, to bringing in the logs, to stocking the bar, to washing up. They squeezed 16 hour days out of me, so I crwaled out of there after 4 months
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Probably an up-tick in insolvency and security enforcement work
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?
Richard Laignel
Richard Laignel
Managing Associate | Ogier
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Family Office
Trusts & Trusteeship
Trusts: Planning
Office Location
Jersey
Short Biography
I advise a wide range of professional trustees, intermediaries, family offices and private clients on the establishment, operation and restructuring of trusts and the establishment of private trust company structures and also with the dissolution, reinstatement and migration of Jersey private companies.
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?
Assisting at a veterinary surgery - it was uplifting and heartbreaking in equal measure!
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Ever increasing use of technology to (hopefully) streamline our service and make things easier for our clients.
Richard Joynt
Richard Joynt
Head of Family Office Services | Highvern
JURISDICTION
Jersey
TOP SPECIALISMS
Family Governance and Business
Family Office
Fiduciary
Office Location
Jersey
Short Biography
Richard is a Director of HIGHVERN and Head of Family Office. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from Warwick University. As well as having expertise in financial accounting and strategic financial planning, Richard has devoted the last 20 years of his career to the Family Office sector. He was the Director of a prominent Single Family Office from 2002-2012 and led the Multi-Family Office division of a prominent international fiduciary services firm from 2013 to 2021, dealing with Ultra High Net Worth individuals and their families from many jurisdictions including Europe, the US and the UAE. He has specific expertise in private equity, luxury assets, cryptocurrencies and philanthropy. At HIGHVERN, Richard is responsible for managing some of the more complex client relationships, often with innovative structures. He is frequently asked to write articles for leading publications and regularly speaks at international conferences.
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?
Peter Unwin
Peter Unwin
Head of Private Wealth & Family Office, Middle East | IQ-EQ
JURISDICTION
Jersey
TOP SPECIALISMS
Family Governance and Business
Family Office
Fiduciary
Office Location
Jersey
Short Biography
I have over 28 years’ experience with Family Offices and Ultra High Net Worth individuals. I am responsible for overseeing a range of management activities and regularly have oversight of family wealth and complex cross-border transactions. I have travelled to the GCC, and in particular KSA for the last 15 years and am frequently in the Region. I have been involved in strategic planning for family governance, including succession planning and family constitutions, and am well versed in the establishment, administration, and governance of multi-jurisdictional structures for holding a variety of international business interests, financial investments (including private equity and venture capital), lifestyle / luxury assets, family run businesses and philanthropic activities.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
La Capannina
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Be humble
What was your first job?
Working behind a bar
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
More quality clients / family offices requiring solutions to their complex problems
Pierre Ali-Noor
Pierre Ali-Noor
Senior Associate | Carey Olsen
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Dispute Resolution or Arbitration
Trusts & Trusteeship
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
Jersey
Short Biography
Pierre is a Jersey Advocate (and an English barrister and solicitor, both currently non-practising) in Carey Olsen's trusts and private wealth and litigation teams in Jersey. He specialises in the court-related aspects of the trusts and private wealth team’s practice and is engaged in a broad spectrum of private wealth work covering advisory, administrative and contentious trusts matters. He is ranked as a "Rising Star" by the Legal 500 UK directory for Jersey dispute resolution which describes him as "hard working, charming and diligent. He really gets into the meat of a case". Outside of work, Pierre has a keen interest in classic cars and motorsport. He also enjoys learning about wine and practising his foreign languages (French, German and Urdu) whenever possible.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
67 Pall Mall - sensational wines, and food to hold its own with them.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
from my late father: "Always do your very best, and do it with integrity". It was all he ever asked of me.
What was your first job?
working for a very small firm in Gray's Inn which obtained civil injunctions protecting employees from extremist protesters - a fascinating, if sometimes eye-opening, baptism of fire into the legal world!
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
Candide by Voltaire
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Paul Beale
Paul Beale
Head of Family Office and Private Client | KPMG
JURISDICTION
Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands
TOP SPECIALISMS
Family Office
Relocation and Cross-Border Advisory
Tax Advisory
Office Location
Guernsey
Short Biography
I lead the Family Office and Private Client team for KPMG Islands Group offering UK and international support to global families and their structures.
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
Red
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Value yourself, or what chance do you have.
What was your first job?
Cashier at McDonalds
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
Legacy - by James Kerr
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Opportunities arising from challenges in the global tax and regulatory environment.
Nick Williams
Nick Williams
Partner | Ogier
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Commercial Litigation
Insolvency
Trusts: Contentious
Office Location
Jersey
Short Biography
Nick is a partner in Ogier's Dispute Resolution team specialising in contentious trusts matters, insolvency and restructuring, contentious regulatory and corporate/shareholder disputes. He leads the Jersey Dispute Resolution team and is a key member of the Trusts Advisory Group. Nick has a broad experience of complex and often multi-jurisdictional commercial litigation, with clients consistently highlighting the commercial and practical nature of his advice. He is an experienced advocate, regularly representing clients in the Royal Court of Jersey.
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?
Naomi Rive
Naomi Rive
Group Director & Head of Private Wealth | Highvern
JURISDICTION
Jersey
TOP SPECIALISMS
Family Governance and Business
Family Office
Fiduciary
Office Location
United Kingdom
Short Biography
Naomi is a Group Director and Head of Private Wealth at HIGHVERN. She was called to the English Bar in 1999 and re-qualified as a Jersey Advocate in 2003. As a former Partner at law firm, Appleby, Naomi provided wealth-structuring advice to high and ultra-high net worth individuals, international private banks and trust companies. At HIGHVERN, Naomi works closely with clients and their advisers to establish and implement robust and sustainable wealth planning structures. Naomi is a member of the board of HIGHVERN Trustees Limited, Former Chair to the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) in Jersey and previously sat on the Jersey Finance Trusts Law Working Party.
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?
Nancy Chien
Nancy Chien
Partner - head of department | Bedell Cristin
JURISDICTION
TOP SPECIALISMS
Family Governance and Business
Family Office
Trusts: Planning
Office Location
Jersey
Short Biography
Nancy is head of Bedell Cristin's International Private Client practice. Nancy is a qualified lawyer in multiple jurisdictions and has over 20 years of experience in advising ultra-high net worth families on family governance as well as succession planning. Nancy has extensive experience in a wide range of offshore matters in both the private client area as well employee incentive arrangements. Nancy has considerable experience advising ultra-high net worth families, family offices and intermediaries on all aspects of private client structuring including the use of trusts and foundations, as well as related corporate law issues (including where such vehicles are used for philanthropic purposes). Nancy is ranked as a leading individual in Legal 500 2023 where her clients said "the depth of knowledge that Nancy clear has shines through in the advice she gives".
What is your favorite restaurant to take a client or colleague to?
n/a
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Life is a marathon nor a sprint
What was your first job?
McDonalds
What is the book you recommend to everyone?
The Happiness Trap
What changes do you expect to see in your practice over the next year?
Having a more global outlook as clients' needs become more international. There will be more cross jurisdictional advice required which would require closer collaboration with advisors from other jurisdictions.