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Overview
Martin Paisner CBE is a private client lawyers in the UK, with more than five decades of experience advising individuals, families, charities and philanthropic organisations. His practice focuses on private client, trust, estate and charitable matters, acting for both domestic and international clients on wealth planning, succession and governance issues.
Martin is particularly renowned for his work in the charity sector. Over the course of his career, he has served as a trustee of numerous grant-making and operational charities and is widely respected for his contribution to the charitable and not-for-profit sector. In recognition of his outstanding charitable services, he was awarded the CBE in 2004.
Having qualified as a solicitor in 1970 and led one of the City’s best-known private client practices, Martin combines unparalleled experience with a deep understanding of private wealth, philanthropy and charitable governance.
Expertise
Martin specialises in:
- Private client advisory work
- Trusts and estate planning
- Succession planning
- Wills and inheritance planning
- Personal tax matters
- Philanthropy and charitable giving
- Charity law and governance
- Trustee advisory work
- Private wealth structuring
- Family governance
- UK and international private client matters
- Charitable foundations
- Not-for-profit organisations
- Trustee appointments and administration
- Wealth preservation and family legacy planning
Reported Cases
- Advises UK and international private clients on succession, trust and estate planning matters.
- Advises charitable foundations and not-for-profit organisations on governance and legal structures.
- Acts for philanthropists and charitable donors on charitable giving strategies and foundation structures.
- Serves and has served as trustee to numerous grant-making and operational charities.
- Advises families on intergenerational wealth transfer and legacy planning. Also acts as trustee or Protector of several substantial private family trusts and foundations.
- Works with trustees and private clients on complex private wealth and charitable arrangements.
Qualifications & Accreditations
Martin qualified as a solicitor in January 1970 and became a Partner at Paisner & Co in 1972, a firm founded by his father, Leslie Paisner, in 1932. Following a series of mergers after 2000, the firm ultimately became Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.
He joined Payne Hicks Beach as a Partner in 2020.
Honours
- CBE – awarded in 2004 for services to charity.
Honorary Fellowships
- Queen Mary University of London
- Worcester College, Oxford
- Wolfson College, Oxford
- King’s College London
- Reichman University, Israel
Honorary Doctorates
- University of Glasgow
- Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Awards & Accolades
- Legal 500 UK 2026 – Ranked as a Leading Partner for Personal Tax, Trusts & Probate.
- Legal 500 UK 2026 – Recognised as a Recommended Key Lawyer for Personal Tax, Trusts & Probate.
- Legal 500 UK 2026 – Recognised as a Recommended Key Lawyer for Charities & Not-for-Profit.
- Legal 500 UK 2025 – Ranked as a Leading Partner for Private Client: Personal Tax, Trusts & Probate.
- Legal 500 UK 2024 – Ranked as a Leading Individual for Personal Tax, Trusts & Probate.
- Legal 500 UK 2024 – Recommended for Charities & Not-for-Profit.
- CBE – 2004
