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HNW Areas of Expertise

Areas of Expertise covered in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide include the following:

Accountants & Tax Advisers

Firms recommended in this category offer audit, accounting, tax advice, tax preparation/compliance and filing services to wealthy individuals, families and family offices.

 

Art and Cultural Property Law

This section covers a wide range of contentious and non-contentious work where art or other cultural property is the subject matter, and matters relating more generally to the art world. Work for collectors, dealers, auction houses, museums and galleries is included.

 

Buying Agents

Buying agents act for the buyer in high-value residential property transactions. Buying agents help wealthy buyers with property searches, and can negotiate with the seller's agents on the buyer's behalf. Many buying agents have contacts in the property industry that enable them to find properties for sale off-market. Some provide additional services to help clients move home, and can introduce clients to surveyors, valuers, property lawyers and interior designers. 

 

Chancery Traditional (UK Bar)

This section covers trusts, probate, real property, charities and mortgages work.

 

Defamation/Reputation Management: High Net Worth

This section ranks lawyers who handle defamation proceedings (i.e. libel and slander) on behalf of high net worth individuals. Reputation management involves advising individuals on the legal aspects of protecting and regulating their reputation. Work for media organisations will not be considered.

 

Estate Agents

Estate agents act for the seller in property transactions. In Chambers HNW, the focus is on high-value residential property. Estate agents may offer additional services such as surveying, property consultancy and land management.

 

Family/Matrimonial: High Net Worth

This section deals with issues surrounding the inception and breakdown of personal relationships. In this guide, the focus is on high net worth individuals. This includes the creation of pre-nuptial, civil partnership and cohabitation agreements relating to financial and property assets, the resolution of divorces or separations involving financial and property disputes, and the handling of matters relating to children in the context of divorce or separation.

 

Family Offices & Funds Structuring

This new category covers corporate structuring and transactional work for family businesses and closely held companies owned by Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs), as well as family office set-ups and restructures. This includes regulatory advice and compensation structuring for family office employees. Ranked departments and lawyers will show a dedication to working with large family offices and UHNWI-owned corporates. The category also covers private equity and hedge funds work for UHNWI clients and their family offices; this can include Limited Partner investments into funds, the formation of funds/pooled investment vehicles for direct investment purposes and direct investing on behalf of the family office/UHNWI client.

Financial Crime: High Net Worth Individuals

This category covers a broad range of financial crime offences, including (but not limited to) fraud, bribery, money laundering and sanctions breaches. In Chambers HNW, the focus is on representation of high net worth individuals as opposed to corporate clients.

 

Financial Planning & Pensions

This category covers Independent Financial Advisers and other providers of financial and retirement planning advice in the UK. Many of the firms featured also offer investment advice and portfolio management services to their highly-compensated and High Net Worth clients.

 

Immigration: High Net Worth Individuals

This section ranks law firms and lawyers who provide advice on all aspects of inbound and outbound immigration by high net worth individuals, including visitor visas and entry planning for tax and domicile purposes.

 

Offshore: Trusts

Offshore Trusts work includes formation, management, trusteeships/protectorships and trusts disputes. Work for both individuals and institutions will be considered. 

 

Philanthropy

These categories list the recommended philanthropy consultants that help wealthy individuals, families and private foundations to achieve their charitable objectives. Some of these firms help clients to establish tax-efficient means of donating wealth and handle the financial management of giving accounts such as Donor Advised Funds, and others provide independent research, strategy advice and resources for clients who wish to establish giving programmes. These categories are each divided into two sub-tables – Philanthropy: Donor Advised Funds and Philanthropy: Strategy/Consulting.

 

Private Aircraft 

This section covers the sale, acquisition, financing, registration, operation and charter of private aircraft on behalf of high net worth individuals.

 

Private Banks

This category covers those banks that provide private banking services; that is, deposit, investment and loan services customised for wealthy individuals. These banks need not necessarily be privately-owned. As well as deposit banking and credit, private banks will often provide many of the same investment management and wealth planning services as the firms in the Wealth Managers category. 

 

Private Wealth Law

Work in this area includes but is not limited to: charitable planning; wealth transfer; business succession planning; estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax planning (in the US); life and health insurance planning; the creation and administration of trusts and estates; asset transfer; the taking-public of closely-held businesses; and structuring outward and inward investment. Contentious matters are also included, such as trusts disputes, probate contests and contested wills. In larger jurisdictions, these matters are ranked separately in a Private Wealth Disputes table.

 

Real Estate: High-value Residential

Lawyers featured in this practice area will typically handle the financing, acquisition (including acquisition tax structuring), sale and management of prime residential property on behalf of domestic high net worth clients and individual inward investors.

 

Trust Companies

Firms in the Trust Companies category have the formation and fiduciary administration of trust structures as their sole or primary business. These firms may or may not also provide wealth management and estate planning services.

 

Wealth Managers

The Wealth Managers category covers firms whose main business is in helping wealthy individuals and families to manage their investments, organise their affairs, plan for the future and manage income, capital gains and wealth transfer taxes. Many of these firms will offer additional services, including advice on family governance and mediation of family disputes, concierge services and management of external professional advisers. 

 

Yachts & Superyachts

This section covers the financing, construction, acquisition, sale, registration, operation and charter of yachts and superyachts on behalf of wealthy individuals and families.

 

Yachtbrokers

The Yachtbrokers category covers yacht brokers and yacht charter brokers handling the sale, purchase and charter of yachts and superyachts on behalf of wealthy clients. Yacht broker firms may also assist with the commission of new build vessels, ship maintenance and crewing.


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