The Spear’s recommended boutique law firm has appointed Emma-Jane Weider and snapped up Rupert Ticehurst, reports Arun Kakar
There’s a new era at boutique law firm Maurice Turner Gardner LLP with Emma-Jane Weider now taking on the role of managing partner. This occurs at the same time that Rupert Ticehurst – without doubt one of the great trusts litigators of his generation – is coming on board from Berwin Leighton Paisner, giving the firm exceptional strength in contentious matters.
Weider is a specialist in advising international wealthy families, trust companies and banks in connection with tax, estate planning and philanthropy matters. The firm said that the move that will complement Spear’s top recommended tax lawyer and Wealth Management Awards judge Clare Maurice, who currently serves as a senior partner.
‘Over the last (almost) ten years, MTG has grown and prospered to the point where we felt it appropriate to create the role of Managing Partner for the first time,’ said Maurice. ‘I have worked with Emma-Jane for more than 20 years and am delighted that the partnership has recognised her unique skill-set to manage the firm.’
Weider joined Allen & Overy as a trainee in 1996, and played an ‘integral’ role in the establishment of Maurice Turnor Gardner in 2009. She has been a ‘key’ member in the firm’s charity and philanthropy team, and is especially interested in tax-efficient cross-border giving and issues surrounding ‘counter-parties in transactions with charities’.
‘It is nearly ten years ago that we decided to set up shop amidst the financial crisis in 2009,’ said Weider. ‘Since then, we have been fortunate to enjoy a strong client base and expanding legal team, now led by nine partners, and shortly to be joined by Rupert Ticehurst to head up our disputes team. I look forward to managing our unique, growing firm in the years to come.’
Ticehurst is one of the Spear’s inaugural six recommended contentious trust lawyers, a position he retained in 2018. He is widely considered to be one of the stars in his field. ‘While his background is in advising on non-contentious trusts, wills and tax planning, Ticehurst’s bread and butter has always been litigation,’ wrote Spear’s in a profile. ‘The two disciplines inform each other: as a private client lawyer he is well placed to foresee how a trust or estate may be attacked; as a litigator he understands why trusts are established and how they work in practice.’
The firm was founded in 2009 following the demerger of Allen & Overy LLP’s private client department. A specialist in the affairs of HNW individuals and trusts, it houses some of the City’s top-tier lawyers covering private wealth, professional partnerships/LLPs as well as charities and chartered corporations. ‘
MTG partner Ceris Gardner is a Spear’s columnist and top ten tax and trust lawyer. She was described last year by Spear’s as not merely ‘an eminent solicitor – she’s also a trusted adviser on international tax, succession and the establishment of UK and offshore trusts to immigration, philanthropy, art and heritage property matters’.
Arun Kakar writes for Spear’s