Robert Pullen, 31, is the youngest partner in Blick Rothenberg’s history. A graduate with a civil engineering and architecture background, he started his career in private client tax at Deloitte, before leaving for a boutique single-family office in Tunbridge Wells and then joining Blick’s. ‘A lot of partners here are ex-Big Four,’ he says, ‘so there’s a lot of expertise and knowledge, and a more entrepreneurial approach.’ How have things changed for Pullen since his promotion in July 2018? ‘The buck stops with you,’ he says. ‘You make the calls and you make the decisions, and you have the final say.’ And most importantly, he adds, ‘You have to get it right’.

Deloitte tax consultant Lucy Lukic first worked at the Big Four firm in 2012, in its scholar programme, joining full-time in 2016 as an analyst. ‘I support the partners in acting as an adviser on tax affairs as well as with wider aspects such as family dynamics,’ she says. She has noticed a lot of discussions around succession planning, as well as more families looking to ‘professionalise’ their wealth holding structures. It’s a job Lukic relishes. ‘It’s such a people and client-focused role,’ she tells Spear’s. ‘Our clients are all so different, they operate in such different industries and worlds that it’s the variety – no two clients are the same and no two days are the same.’

Craig Hughes joined Menzies in 2016 as private client tax director, after spells at two of the Big Four accountancy firms. In 2017 – aged just 32 – he was made partner at the firm, where he works with a range of HNW clients, including entrepreneurs, international singers, sports stars, corporate executives, non-UK domiciliaries and private equity executives. His skills cover strategic tax planning, estate and inheritance tax planning, international tax structuring and all aspects of personal taxation. He is also a qualified probate practitioner. Hughes attended Manchester University, where he was awarded a first-class degree in economics.

Rather than follow in her parents’ footsteps into law, Clare Hetherington instead chose to study music at Oxford. After a few years working for a concert venue, however, she decided that she wanted to ‘really challenge myself, properly test my brain’. She took annual leave to do internships at different law firms (‘I used that a lot in early interviews to prove my dedication’) and got a training contract in 2014 at Payne Hicks Beach. Private client work struck her immediately as the area she wanted to be in: ‘It’s a mix of rigorous analysis and attention to detail, combined with interacting with a range of clients from all over the world and adapting your advice to suit them.’

Stephanie Brobbey’s star has risen rapidly at Goodman Derrick. Her promotion to senior associate in 2016 broadened her practice further to include many of late founder Lord Goodman’s former clients. Operating in the private client arena gives her ‘a perfect mixture of being in an academic discipline’ and the ability to focus on ‘human relationships’. Brobbey advises on a range of issues, including philanthropy. She says real alternatives to charitable giving have emerged that can create more impact, offer anonymity and decrease the administrative burden: ‘I think it’s going to change even more as the younger generations come into more wealth.’