Click here to read more: EPrivateClient – In the spotlight – Robert Brodrick, partner, Payne Hicks Beach
Roberts interview has been reproduced below with kind permission.
Robert Brodrick is a partner at Payne Hicks Beach in London.
He advises wealthy individuals, family offices and trustees on tax, trust and estate planning. His clients include owners of landed estates, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, non-domiciled and formerly non-domiciled individuals, and international families with assets across multiple jurisdictions.
Mr Brodrick also acts as a trustee, executor and protector. He has particular experience in advising high-profile US families with UK-based assets or family members, working alongside their US advisers, as well as Middle Eastern families on the establishment and restructuring of trusts, including Sharia-compliant structures.
Why do you specialise in this area?
As the saying goes, “If you’ve seen one family office, you’ve seen one family office” – because each family office is built around the preferences and needs of the family or families that it serves. I enjoy the variety, and the fact that advice will often span many different specialisms, so it is as much about bringing in and collaborating with the right people as it is about being able to do all of the work yourself. Most of the family offices I work with look after very international families which means that you also get the opportunity to work with people in different jurisdictions.
What are the key trends shaping family office services at the moment?
Global mobility is one of the biggest trends – whether it is families moving from one country to another for tax reasons, or for geopolitical reasons. We have seen an exodus of families from the UK, but there is also a lot of movement within the US as people look to move away from high-tax states. This has a knock-on effect on the advice required, from legal advice to banking, and setting up structures to enable household staff to be relocated and to work in different countries where, for example (post-Brexit) visas are now required.
What are the main challenges facing family office services?
The combined threats of capital taxation, divorce claims and in some countries the risk of expropriation are probably the main challenges for family offices and the families that they serve. We also see an increasing number of family disputes for example on the death of the patriarch or matriarch which can paralyse a family for many years, with the family office caught in the middle.
What are your favourite ways to relax/switch off from work?
My favourite way to relax and switch off from work is skiing – when you are hurtling down a mountain, you have to stop thinking about work, and the combination of fresh air and exercise is not only invigorating but it also helps to justify a good meal with friends (which would be another favourite way of relaxing).
Do you have a pet(s)? What are they like?
I have two fox red labradors – they are both excellent listeners.
What was your student job?
I worked as a ‘plongeur’ doing washing up in a French restaurant. At weekends, I was promoted to chef’s assistant and was responsible for preparing escargots (which came out of a tin and had to be stuffed into shells). I learnt how to swear properly in French, and I can make an excellent raspberry sundae (this was in the 1980s)!
For further advice on Private Client law, email Robert or telephone on 0207 465 4300.
