Earlier this year, the 200-year-old Schroders dynasty came to an end when the family bank was sold to US investment firm Nuveen for £9.9 billion. Around the same time, Next agreed to buy family-owned retailer Russell & Bromley for £3.8 million ahead of its own sale in a similar case of family-run companies changing hands.
If these deals highlight huge shifts in the British financial sector, they also point to something changing at the heart of corporate law.
While most top corporate lawyers spend their careers advising large multinationals, a growing number are building practices around a very different kind of client: wealthy individuals, family offices and owner-run businesses – whose commercial affairs are rarely as tidy or straightforward as a standard M&A deal.
[See also: Why British wealth management is taking on an American accent]
Related
Our research this year also found that the top corporate lawyers are increasingly having to consider how decisions made in the boardroom can have consequences far beyond the business, touching a client’s reputation, wealth, family and succession plans. One example is the 2025 legal battle over the $12.5 billion sale of the LA Lakers, which divided the Buss family after alleged miscommunications left five siblings prepared to sell their stakes while Jeanie Buss, daughter of former owner Jerry Buss, publicly opposed the deal.
The corporate lawyers featured on our list must take a whole-life view of the client and, increasingly, of the family and structures around them too.
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Trends in 2026
Cross-border transactions are becoming the norm
Wealthy families are undoubtedly more international than ever. Their acquisitions, wealth structuring, investments and even disputes often involve cross-border work and mean that a good corporate lawyer must act as a coordinator across multiple jurisdictions.
Svetlana London, founder of CIS London & Partners, works with Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh families who, she told Spear’s, are often based in Monaco, Switzerland or the UK and frequently have assets spread across Europe, the US and Asia.
‘[Our clients] like that we can help to source the best expertise across multiple jurisdictions and fill any cross-border gaps that need to be filled,’ she explained.
Not only that, but several advisers note the draw that English law has for highly mobile clients because of its reputation for neutrality and security. ‘I’ve had a few cases where the parties were not in the UK, and the investment was elsewhere, but they wanted to use English law because they saw it as more reputable and the better governing law,’ noted Fara Mohamed of Keystone Law.
Increasing governmental pressure
The UK governments abolishment of the non-dom regime, restriction on business property and agriculture reliefs and increased scrutiny into individuals by the FCA have placed immense pressure on privately owned businesses in the UK.
As a result, the nature of the advice corporate lawyers give to individuals and their family offices has shifted. Several advisers interviewed this year spoke of incorporating proactive measures into their advice to prevent future problems.
Richard Penfold, a partner at Withers, explains that intellectual property is becoming heavily regulated, with ‘laws spreading quickly’. His advice centres on ‘ensuring clients get it right from the outset’ to avoid regulatory investigations or compliance complaints. James Fulforth of Kingley Napley echoes this statement: ‘It’s essential that companies meet regulatory requirements. You can’t just send out documents without doing sufficient due diligence.’
‘Proper planning and advice are more essential than ever. Most of my cases involve a bit of coaching in terms of wealth protection,’ says Debbie Serota, who works closely with Irwin Mitchell’s tax team to structure acquisitions, investments, and business sales in a way that is both tax efficient and beneficial for family governance.
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- Methodology
- The best corporate lawyers: some names to know
- The best corporate lawyers: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
The best corporate lawyers: some names to know
Hannes Arnold
- Focus: Corporate restructuring
- Position: Senior partner
- Firm: Gasser Partner
- Rank: Top Recommended
Based in Liechtenstein, Gasser Partner senior partner Hannes Arnold has a wide practice that encompasses corporate law, civil law and litigation, bank and finance law, and real estate law.
He has particular expertise in commercial matters, such as M&A transactions and corporate reorganisations, and regularly acts for HNW clients and family offices, assisting them with both personal and business structuring, ‘often across jurisdictions’, he tells Spear’s. This includes litigating in complex, high-value disputes, and navigating regulatory requirements.
Qualified in Austria as well as Liechtenstein, Arnold is a notary public and a member of the International Bar Association, the European Law Society and the Liechtenstein Arbitration Association.
Read Hannes Arnold’s full profile on Spears500.com
Rosalyn Breedy
- Focus: Financial regulation and policy
- Position: Partner
- Firm: Breedy Henderson
- Rank: Top recommended
Rosalyn Breedy, founder of Breedy Henderson, is an experienced corporate lawyer who advises family offices, founders, UHNW investors and privately owned companies on complex transactions, succession and investment structures.
Her practice sits at the intersection of wealth planning and private client commercial interests, and includes work on mergers and acquisitions, corporate transitions, joint ventures and investments. She is particularly known for her expertise in corporate governance, compliance and regulatory matters. With her clients based across the world, Breedy tells Spear’s she is ‘confident dealing in much of all the major jurisdictions’.
Her recent work includes supporting a large family business through an ownership transition and advising on the wind-down of international corporate and investment structures across several jurisdictions.
Read Rosalyn Breedy’s full profile on Spears500.com
Thomas Nigg
- Focus: Complex international cases
- Position: Senior partner
- Firm: Gasser Partner
- Rank: Top recommended
Thomas Nigg, a senior partner at Gasser Partner, is a widely respected Liechtenstein-based litigator and legal practitioner in a broad range of areas of corporate law.
Fluent in German and English, Nigg is ideally suited to advising and acting on behalf of British clients on their commercial endeavours in the jurisdiction, which is renowned for its attractive tax policy. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, financial markets law, foundation and trust law, insurance law and white-collar crime.
He is equally at home litigating in the courts, where he has received much praise for his acuity, and arbitrating privately. According to the firm, many of his clients comment on his speed and clarity of response, despite a very busy schedule.
Read Thomas Nigg’s full profile on Spears500.com
Ariel Sergio Davidoff
- Focus: International finance
- Position: Founder
- Firm: Davidoff Law
- Rank: Recommended
Following a banking career that began in 1986 and culminated in a CEO role, Ariel Sergio Davidoff has run his own Zurich-based firm, Davidoff Law, since 2019.
Having worked with UHNW individuals throughout his financial and legal career, he is especially attuned to the needs of clients who own and run large enterprises with multi-million dollar turnovers. His practice is highly informed by his financial nous, and he takes on an estimated ‘80 per cent commercial enquiries and 20 per cent lifestyle’. This spans corporate transactions such as M&As and joint ventures to the occasional real estate or racehorse purchase.
Davidoff prides himself on being able to utilise his international network of advisers to sort matters efficiently, saving clients time and money. ‘We are cross-border specialists,’ the amicable adviser tells Spear’s. ‘We can bring together specialists in whatever regulatory system or jurisdiction is needed for clients.’
Read Ariel Sergio Davidoff’s full profile on Spears500.com
Chris Cowley
- Focus: Cross-border and UK transactions
- Position: Partner
- Firm: Winston Taylor
- Rank: Recommended
Chris Cowley, a partner at Winston Taylor, the firm formed from the merger of Winston & Strawn and Taylor Wessing in 2026, is a corporate lawyer who advises businesses and HNW individuals on complex cross-border transactions, including acquisitions and sales, restructurings, capital raising and private equity investments.
As wealthy individuals and family offices increasingly engage with private investments, Cowley has built a niche guiding them through the process of becoming limited partnerships. Established entrepreneurs will also come to him with passion projects in the entertainment, leisure or real estate world, seeking to acquire trophy assets or fulfil lifelong ambitions in a particular sector.
Working with private individuals and families, Cowley collaborates closely with tax lawyers to carry out transactions in the most optimal financial format for the client. ‘You’re a sherpa and therapist as much as you are a lawyer,’ he tells Spear’s when asked about his relationship with clients.
Read Chris Cowley’s full profile on Spears500.com
The best corporate lawyers: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
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