England - London • Private client
1

Personal tax, trusts and probate

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP

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The large team at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP has a stellar reputation for its advice to HNW/UHNW individuals and their families, family offices, landed estates, private banks, trustees and wealth managers. It also acts as leading advisers to entrepreneurial wealth creating families. The practice is led by Robert Blower, Piers Master and William Begley. A sizeable portion of its work is cross-border and it is particularly skilled at coordinating cross-jurisdictional matters. Highlights included Nicola Saccardo joining the firm from Italian tax law firm, Maisto e Associati in August 2022. It also added Jeremy Arnold to its ranks from Withers LLP in June 2022. Simon Weil specialises in tax planning, trusts, philanthropy and charities. Nicola Thorpe  and Sangna Chauhan  – who is ‘technically excellent’ – are rapidly building strong client bases. Dominic Lawrance and Alice Wilne are other key members of the team. Clients include some of the world’s wealthiest families. The group also excels in advising on inter-generational succession.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘CRS is a firm that combines a local and UK focus on private clients with larger offshore trust work. They have good litigation support too'.

  • ‘Bart Peerless  is well-respected, full of common sense, excellent at dealing with private clients, a thoroughly easy person to work with. Robert Blower is an intelligent and thoughtful tax and trust lawyer with strong clients in the offshore sector, who is always a pleasure to work with'.

  • ‘Technical leaders in their field of expertise. Technically proficient advice delivered in a highly personable manner'.

  • ‘Dominic Lawrence is the pre-eminent advisor in London on the taxation of non-UK domiciled individuals and offshore trusts. Highly respected by his clients, colleagues and peers'.

  • 'Sangna Chauhan - technically strong, practical and diligent. Would have no hesitation at referring Sangna to any client'.

  • ‘High quality, strength in depth, value for money. Bart Peerless, Robert Blower and Piers Master are all outstanding; know their stuff, and have ability to convey in simple terms’.

  • ‘Very responsive and a few real stars in the areas of both technical excellence and client service. Bart Peerless-very experienced partner with outstanding client service skills and technical strength'.

  • 'Piers Master is a highly intelligent and excellent technician with understated but effective style’.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Robert Blower
Hall of fameCharles Russell Speechlys LLP
Robert specialises in all aspects of private client work, in particular lifetime tax and estate planning, issues relating to offshore assets, trusts, UK landed estates and heritage property. Clients include individuals, both UK domiciled and many non-UK domiciled, their trusts and companies. Robert acts for many highly influential and international families advising on the structuring of assets in many parts of the world. He also acts for many UK entrepreneurs and business owners, as well as art collectors and estate owners. Robert has a large Middle East practice and a particular expertise in structuring trusts so that they comply with the Islamic Shariah rules on the devolution of family assets. He has also carried out a great deal of UK heritage tax work, in particular in relation to conditional exemption and offers in lieu of tax. Robert regularly advises trustees (including charitable trustees) on their duties and responsibilities and also brings Court applications on behalf of trustees.
Bart Peerless
Hall of fameCharles Russell Speechlys LLP
Bart advises individuals, trustees and beneficiaries, based in both the UK and abroad, in relation to succession and estate planning, including tax and on the use of trusts and other asset holding vehicles. His clients include some of the world’s wealthiest families and he advises many UK and international business people and substantial landowners. He frequently has to deal with cross border tax and succession issues in the course of this work. He also acts for a large number of Charitable Trusts and is a trustee of several charities.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
William Begley
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
William is a trusted adviser to both UK and non-UK domiciled clients on a wide range of tax and estate planning issues. His expertise is often called upon to help devise structures to protect the wealth of his clients and their families and to find innovative solutions to the issues they face. Many of William’s clients are household names, drawn from the worlds of business, property, finance, media and the arts. Experience: designing and implementing a practical and effective succession plan for a significant family to ensure the wealth which has been generated is protected for future generations against the threats of tax, possible divorce, family disputes and financially immature heirs; advising the owner of a successful and high-profile family business on pre-sale structuring to incentivise key management and to maximise returns, whilst also effecting a tax efficient succession plan for his family; advising the trustees of a substantial family trust to enable them to carry out their responsibilities in such a way as to meet the family’s requirements; providing a practical and tax efficient estate plan to a family where there are children from more than one marriage.
Dominic Lawrance
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
Dominic has been working in the field of private client law since 2002. He is particularly known for his work in advising UK resident, non-UK domiciled individuals on their tax and estate planning. These clients include US nationals resident in the UK. He has a wealth of experience in establishing offshore structures and in advising offshore fiduciaries on the governance of such structures.  With his colleague Catrin Harrison, he is the author of Clarke’s Offshore Tax Planning: Foreign Domiciliaries. This substantial work is widely read by offshore trustees, wealth managers and tax advisers. Dominic is also an experienced adviser on charities and tax-efficient philanthropy, and has established many charitable entities for his clients.
Piers Master
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
Piers acts for some of the Firm's largest private clients and heads our Private Wealth Sector. Piers acts for high net worth individuals from across the world, but especially from the Middle East, where he acts for many ruling family members and billionaires – many of whose families have US links. His work for these families includes advising on the establishment of global assets holding structures, family governance projects and global real estate investments. Piers is a Visiting Professor at the University of Law, a Council Member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, and an International Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He lectures regularly in the UK and internationally on matters of private client interest. Piers has been featured in eprivateclient’s 50 Most Influential listing, the definitive listing of leading private wealth lawyers, in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Nicola Thorpe
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
Nicola advises on a wide range of private wealth matters, including international and domestic personal tax, trust structuring, succession and estate planning. Nicola's clients include high net worth individuals, trustees, family offices and private banks. Her work often has an international element and she regularly advises on issues arising as a result of foreign domicile and conflicts of laws. She also advises on the creation and operation of international structures for tax, succession and asset protection purposes. Nicola has been recognised as a 'Rising Leader' in Legal Week’s Private Client Global Elite 2022.
Alice Wilne
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
Alice advises a wide range of UK domiciled and non-UK domiciled individuals and their families, as well as trustees. Alice has expertise in advising on: Wills and succession planning arrangements; tax and estate planning involving UK resident and non-UK resident trusts; the English law concept of domicile, the statutory rules which determine UK tax residence and the implications of domicile and tax residence; and a wide range of other matters for individuals typically involving complex UK tax issues. She enjoys building and maintaining long-standing client relationships and acting as a trusted adviser to clients and their families. She regularly works collaboratively with clients’ accountants and other professional advisers, including in other jurisdictions, to coordinate and dovetail their advice and estate planning. She also enjoys working together with other teams within the firm where a client’s needs extend outside her own expertise.
Sangna Chauhan
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
Sangna’s clients are generally very international, with the family and assets being split across various countries. Within this context, she advises on their lifetime planning, together with implementing strategies that mean assets will pass smoothly on death. She believes in an integrated approach to planning: that it should encompass the family’s values and purpose, relevant succession laws and asset protection considerations, as well as purely tax-driven strategies. Sangna enjoys collaborating with others – whether it is the family themselves, or with their trustees, family offices or other advisers. Whatever the situation, Sangna is determined to achieve the best and most efficient results for her clients. She has a particular focus on US-UK estate and tax planning, having acted for many clients exposed to both tax and estate planning regimes. She is also an expert on inheritance tax treaties and contributed the chapter on domicile for inheritance tax for Clarke’s Offshore Tax Planning.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Robert Blower, Piers Master, William Begley

Other key lawyers

Simon Weil, Dominic Lawrance, Sangna Chauhan, Nicola Thorpe, Alice Wilne

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