For high-net-worth individuals with £1 million or more in investable assets, a dependable Homme d’Affaires can be indispensable. Focused on solving the legal and quasi-legal problems of their high-profile clients, and typically forming long and close relationships with their select clientele the best Hommes d’Affaires demand and provide a level of service that very few can hope to replicate – and are usually the most trusted of the trusted advisers.
It is a broad term that encompasses a range of services, but a Homme d’Affaires is someone – often a qualified lawyer – who can fight their clients’ corner in crucial aspects of both their business and personal life. This can entail anything from negotiating contracts on their behalf, managing their finances, and even assisting on reputation and public affairs. The Spear’s index highlights the leading trusted advisers to (U)HNWs, ranging from lawyers to presidents and billionaires advising clients on international and corporate disputes to private wealth experts specialising in succession planning and asset management.
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Related
- The best Hommes d’Affaires: the complete list
- Methodology: how we choose our recommendations
- The best Hommes d’Affaires: some names to know
- Contact us
The best Hommes d’Affaires: the complete list
Methodology: how we choose our recommendations
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.
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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 Hommes d'Affaires: some names to know
Tahina Akther
- Focus: Complex financial matters
- Position: Director, head of legal services
- Firm: Wildcat Law
Barrister Tahina Akther, co-founder and legal director at Wildcat Law, has a wide-ranging practice advising clients on complex financial matters and disputes, including those involving contentious trusts, estates and inheritance – often with cross-border elements – and those stemming from divorce and separation.
Her varied career saw her practise in Exeter, Manchester and Southampton before she settled in London. She has considerable experience in issues facing family enterprises, from sham trusts and overseas assets to the establishment of companies and multi-jurisdictional disputes, including cases with connections to the UAE, Russia and Hong Kong.
Read Tahina Akther's full profile on Spears500.com
Jamie Horner
- Focus: Luxury asset transactions
- Position: Partner
- Firm: Keystone Law
Keystone Law partner and new addition to this year's index Jamie Horner is a man of many talents. With a diverse practice that spans classic cars, antiques, wine, sports, education, agriculture and art, Horner acts on contentious and non-contentious matters for UHNW families to ensure the smooth running of their daily lives. What ties his practice together is his passion for luxury assets, ‘but the old luxury assets, rather than the new ones’, he tells Spear’s with a laugh.
Work can range from assessing the provenance of a Ferrari or the valuation of an heirloom antique, to acting on breaches of copyright or appealing a pupil’s dismissal from school.
Read Jamie Horner's full profile on Spears500.com
Peter Lamb
- Focus: Commercial real estate
- Position: Partner
- Firm: Payne Hicks Beach
New addition to the index Peter Lamb is a partner at Payne Hicks Beach, which he joined in 2024 after gaining significant experience in real estate, corporate law and finance at Herbert Smith and Withers. With more than 20 years of experience working in the industry, he tells Spear’s he has learned that wealthy clients value the ‘clarity and empathy’ he provides.
Lamb acts for affluent individuals and their family offices, who come to him with ‘all sorts of problems’, which can span the fields of finance, commercial property, property investment and reputation.
Read Peter Lamb's full profile on Spears500.com
Contact us
- Click here to order a print copy of The Spear’s 500.
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