Head of Private Client Legal

Key Responsibilities

• Close supervision of junior members of the team, including regular one to one meetings to discuss workloads; give specific feedback on their work and their progress in their roles;
• Adherence to the firm’s “four-eyes” policy which entails reviewing in conjunction with another member of the team draft documents and correspondence sent to clients and third parties;
• Develop an internal network, in particular with the firm’s Private Client Tax and Financial Advisory teams as part of the firm’s holistic offering to clients;
• Advise the firm’s Trust Corporation and trust team on the legal aspects of administering trusts and interpreting historic trust deeds;
• Proactively manage the billing process by setting realistic fee estimates; agreeing revised fee estimates where applicable; identifying invoices to be raised each month; sending invoices to clients where appropriate; reviewing aged WIP; working with the credit control team to pursue outstanding invoices; and reviewing WIP provisions each month;
• Regularly checking the team’s probate pages on the firm’s website to ensure they conform to the SRA transparency rules; and
• Active participation in business development activities, including preparing comments and articles for the national press and professional publications; willingness to speak events such as seminars and webinars; and speak in videos to be posted on social media and on the firm’s website on various Private Client legal matters.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Ability to take instructions for, prepare and explain complex Wills, in particular for high net worth clients with blended families and/or business assets;
• Ability to draft and interpret various trust deeds, including discretionary trusts; age contingent trusts; declarations of trust over assets; and bare trusts; 
• Ability to advise on the TRS;
• A complete understanding of the probate process in England and Wales, including making online and paper probate applications;
• A good understanding of the treatment of capital and income within an estate, their tax treatment for CGT and income tax purposes and the preparation of estate accounts;
• Advising on whether it would be appropriate or tax efficient for a beneficiary to vary, disclaim or make a gift of their inheritance;
• An awareness of the probate process in other jurisdictions, such as forced heirship rules and the enforceability of a UK Will and/or grant of probate in other jurisdictions;
• Comprehensive understanding of the inheritance tax regime and estate planning techniques in particular in relation to lifetime gifts; transfers into and distributions from a trust; the function and tax treatment of FICs; the GROB rules; and available reliefs, in particular BPR;
• An understanding of all forms of powers of attorney, in particular both types of LPA but also EPAs and general powers;
• A good understanding of the MCA 2005 and its application in particular to the preparation of Wills and its interaction with Banks v Goodfellow; and
• An understanding of the provisions of the 1975 Act and a spouse or dependant’s right to make a claim under the Act.