BDB Pitmans LLP

Firm Overview: 

BDB Pitmans was established in 2018 following a merger between legacy firms Bircham Dyson Bell (BDB) and Pitmans Law thereby bringing together over 300 years of legal expertise across four locations – London, Reading, Cambridge, and Southampton. We are full service law firm assisting individuals and corporates alike, from the complex and the unusual, to everyday legal matters.

The Individuals Group within the firm encompasses Private Wealth, Private Real Estate, Contentious Trusts and Estates and Family.Working together with the corporate, immigration and philanthropy teams, the firm aims to deliver an holistic service to high net worth private clients, with the primary focus on the structuring and transmission of wealth, both in a UK and international context. The firm and its lawyers are committed to understanding the challenges its clients face, and to building longstanding and mutually beneficial relationships based on the same collaborative spirit that permeates BDB Pitmans’s own business model.

Main Areas of Practice:  

Private Wealth: 

The Private Wealth team offers a full service to individuals, families and trustees and covers the following areas:

·estate planning, succession law, wills and the administration of estates;

·lasting powers of attorney and the administration of the affairs of vulnerable clients through the Court of Protection;

·trusts and foundations, including their formation, administration, accounting, variation and distribution;

·international clients arriving and leaving the UK;

·structuring and co-ordinating the affairs of international families whether or not based in the UK, including the provision of cross-border tax and legal advice;

·structuring of real estate assets, in particular for clients domiciled and/or resident outside the UK;

·advising entrepreneurs at all stages in the life cycle of their business;

·employee benefit trusts;

·advice on ‘disguised remuneration’ arrangements;

·onshore and offshore pension schemes;

·regulatory law, including compliance with an increasing raft of reporting regimes; and

·immigration.

The Team is recognised for its wide-ranging technical tax expertise.In addition to advice on capital and income tax planning and compliance, specialist advice on property taxes and VAT is offered as well as corporate tax advice.

Private Real Estate:  

The Private Real Estate practice acts for individuals, UK and overseas investors, offshore entities, corporates, international and UK banks, developers, funds, and trustees. It is a leader in leasehold enfranchisement, having successfully served the first ever collective enfranchisement claim notice on the day the 1993 Act came into force in 1994.

Landed Estates and Agriculture: 

The team provides comprehensive advice to individuals, trustees and institutional landowners, both in the UK and internationally, on all matters relating to landed estates, agricultural property and rural business activities.

Contentious Trusts & Estates: 

Against the backdrop of increasing litigation the team is often called upon to give advice before any dispute emerges and they work closely with the Private Wealth team to steer clients away from conflict towards more constructive solutions. When litigation cannot be avoided they handle a wide range of international and English law disputes involving trustees, beneficiaries, executors, attorneys and charities. They have a particular expertise in advising clients in relation to bringing and defending claims for reasonable financial provision from an estate, claims relating to the validity of wills and trust documents, rectification claims, removal of executors and trustees, mental capacity matters, breach of trust claims, proprietary estoppel claims and contentious Court of Protection matters..

Family: 

The Family team is recognised for advising high net worth clients with international assets, often involving associated disputes over jurisdiction for divorce cases or family trusts. The Team also includes a number of qualified mediators and trained collaborative lawyers.

Philanthropy, Charities & Not-for-Profit: 

The Team works closely with clients and their advisers to offer a seamless personal service for all types of philanthropic giving in the UK and across international borders.In the third sector, the firm’s award-winning charities and not-for-profit team remains a leader in its field, acting for both UK and international charity clients..

Corporate & Commercial Services: 

The partner-led corporate team offers advice at every stage of a business’s lifecycle, helping them to protect their assets and achieve their long-term strategy. Lawyers here have particular expertise in takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, Main Market and AIM listings, corporate finance and capital reorganisations/restructurings.