A solicitor in a private client department advises ­individuals and families rather than companies. Such clients are often high-net-worth individuals who can be based anywhere – indeed, it is increasingly common for such individuals to be truly global and for a family to be based and have interests in a number of ­jurisdictions. The range of work is very wide, but broadly involves advising on estate planning (wills etc), personal tax planning (in particular capital gains and inheritance tax), trusts (both offshore and ­onshore) and other structures through which ­individuals may hold their personal wealth.

One of the most exciting and interesting aspects of ­private client work is the input lawyers have on a ­family’s global strategy. It is far more than merely advising on tax, it involves getting to know the individual ­concerned and their particular motives and then creating a ­structure – be it a simple estate plan or a truly global trust structure – that serves those needs.

The working culture

Private client lawyers are unlikely to spend as many hours in the office as their corporate colleagues and on the whole are able to maintain a good work-life ­balance. That said, working on a large offshore trust restructuring (involving, say, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the UK) is similar to a corporate ­transaction both in terms of the excitement generated and the hours worked.

Even at the most junior level private client lawyers will have the opportunity to take on a lot of ­responsibility for the day-to-day running of a number of matters. They could end up establishing what are long-term relationships with clients and will become the first port of call for a number of different matters and concerns.

A typical trainee’s day might involve a telephone call to a Bermudian lawyer about documents being ­prepared for an offshore restructuring; the drafting of a will and letter of wishes for a client; preparing the first draft of a taxation paper on the consequences of a ­particular transaction for an individual; or an ­obscure piece of research that a longstanding client has thrown up. No two days are ever really the same.

Skills required

The most important skill for a private client lawyer is confidentiality, as it is of the utmost importance that a client’s affairs are kept private. You may well end up working for some household names, but you are not ­allowed to tell your friends about it later. You will also need to have good attention to detail and excellent ­drafting skills. Private client lawyers find themselves working with a number of different people, be they the client, other professionals or even lawyers from other ­departments in the firm, so good communication skills and an ability to get on with people are also very ­important. Finally, the nature of much of the work means that it is often more technical than other areas of law.

Recent developments

The past year has been exceptionally busy for private client lawyers, primarily because of changes to the law concerning trusts and tax, introduced first by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown in March 2006 and followed by a number of further changes announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in October 2007.

The 2006 changes had a fundamental impact on the way in which certain trusts are taxed and prompted an exceptionally large amount of work leading up to 5 April 2008 (the last day of the 2007-08 tax year), as many trusts had to be amended to comply with the new rules. In the case of a number of landed estates that were held in a variety of trusts – some of which were first established from 50 to 100 years ago ­(including one established in 1704) – this led to some very interesting legal analysis and drafting, as private client lawyers were forced to consider carefully and work with the terms of the trust so as to take advantage of the transitional rules.

The changes introduced in 2007 concerned the so-called ‘non-doms’ and received a great deal of media coverage. These relate to the way that people who are resident but not domiciled in the UK are taxed. The changes introduced were politically driven and initially not very well thought out and prompted a lot of opposition, at the forefront of which was a number of private client practitioners. This ­opposition led to a number of amendments being made to the legislation. However, while these ­amendments were debated, a lot of work had to be done on behalf of clients who wanted to reorganise their affairs while the legislation was not complete. It was crucial for all lawyers working in this area during this period to be flexible and quick to adapt and also to keep abreast of some very complicated, yet ­constantly shifting, legislation.

Private client work is an ever-evolving sphere due to the changes that are constantly being introduced to the tax regime and also to all other developments in the law, all of which have an impact on the individual and therefore on the lawyer. One thing for certain is that the law will never stop changing and so neither will the practice of someone working in this field.

Charlie Tee, assistant solicitor, Withers