Top Ten Tax & Trust Lawyers

‘There’s a movement towards the wealthier clients becoming more sophisticated and more international in their requirements and their outlook,’ says Russell Cohen, a leading light at Farrer.

Cohen also notes an increase in cross-departmental work and problem-solving on behalf of clients. ‘It’s just the nature of the international wealthy private client that they require services across the firm,’ he tells Spear’s.

Cohen is cautious about the political uncertainty. ‘It can’t be taken for granted that the wealthy will continue to have connections here when it’s such an uncertain environment,’ he says. ‘If there are going to be significant further attacks on the non-doms, there will be a change to the mood.’

The chaos surrounding the Finance Act 2017 was ‘embarrassing’, says Cohen, who is sympathetic to clients who wish to have ‘some fundamental foundation on which to do some planning’.

Even so, Cohen’s practice is still reliably international: ‘In the Middle East, where there’s lots of uncertainty, we’re seeing clients thinking about structuring, diversification. Clients from Russia are concerned about long-term security, long-term preservation of wealth. In general, clients are more and more international in their approach.’