Private client

Tax work for private clients typically involves advising ultra-high net-worth individuals and families, including trustees and family offices, on managing their assets in a tax-efficient way for the long-term benefit of future generations. There’s often an international element, and frequently work may also involve considering complex trust and corporate structures, Wills, succession planning and immigration matters.

Being a solicitor is undoubtedly demanding, making it essential to find your true vocation to remain passionate and effectively navigate the profession’s challenges. Private client associate Millie Parrott exemplifies this by thriving in the UK & international private client team at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, where she’s found both her speciality and passion.

Following an undergraduate degree in French and Spanish, Millie embarked on the non-law conversion route. She completed a Graduate Diploma in Law, followed by the Legal Practice Course and successfully secured a training contract at Charles Russell Speechlys’ London office. Millie explains that the law conversion process can feel quite compressed, making it difficult to paint a “clear picture of the area of law where I saw myself ending up”. However, completing a training contract at a full-service law firm like Charles Russell Speechlys was the perfect opportunity for her to “try on all these different hats” and explore various practice areas before deciding where to specialise.

While Millie’s first three seats on her training contract (including a stint on client secondment) were enjoyable and provided valuable learning experiences, there was still something “missing”. For Millie, the final puzzle piece was her last seat in the private client team: “It was like a sort of clicking into place of what had maybe been missing from my other three seats.” In this seat, Millie discovered the “personal element” of private client work and the unique opportunity “of working with people in relation to their personal affairs”. The rest, as they say, is history.

From trusts to trust

For Millie, the most “rewarding” part of her training contract was uncovering the personal nature of private client work. She explains that it goes beyond merely completing tasks for clients: “you’re dealing with what might be their life’s work if it's a business that they've built from the ground up, or generations of wealth that's been built up in a single family.” The full-service nature of Charles Russell Speechlys and its seamless integration of specialisms has enabled Millie to work with a variety of clients on personal matters across many different teams, which she finds particularly fulfilling.

Now an associate in the private client team (previously referred to as tax, trusts and succession) at Charles Russell Speechlys, Millie gets the opportunity to work across both the UK and international teams. While “it's very difficult to boil down the nature of our work into a single sentence”, she explains that at its core it consists of estate planning and asset protection, and providing the tax advice and analysis necessary to deliver these services. From planning wills and inheritance tax for conventional UK couples, to working with international families who have assets and investments across multiple jurisdictions, “no day looks the same”.

On a typical day, Millie might be approached by families who are planning significant life changes, such as moving to the UK. These clients would seek her advice on how to manage their assets efficiently and understand the tax implications of their relocation. “I find that I’m doing an increasing amount of work for clients who have family businesses,” she adds. These entrepreneurs seek to establish structures and governance arrangements to ensure their businesses are effectively managed in the future by their children and future generations of the family.

Millie has also had the opportunity to collaborate with various teams at Charles Russell Speechlys, including the immigration team on visa applications and biometric residence permits, and the employment team on hiring household staff for an ultra-high net-worth client relocating to the UK. The variety in client contact that comes with being a solicitor in private client law was the “deciding factor” for her when choosing her career path. In Millie’s eyes, private client work gives you “the opportunity to forge real relationships with your clients and their families” – an opportunity that “you don’t tend to come across in other areas of law”.

Navigating new issues

Technological developments, legislative updates and constantly evolving client needs make private client a dynamic practice area, so solicitors must stay informed and adaptable to provide the best advice and services to their clients. Millie highlights two key issues facing the private client sector in the coming years: increasing reporting obligations and anticipated legislative changes.

Millie notes a significant shift as the government introduces more reporting obligations within the UK, such as the trust register and the register of overseas entities. While these measures aim to improve transparency and information exchange between countries’ revenue services, “it can be a source of frustration for clients”. This is particularly true for clients that value anonymity or “come from states with much more volatile political territory where disclosing too much information about your financial means can be potentially endangering for your family”, she explains.

Another key change facing the sector follows the recent change in government. As we anticipate the new Labour government’s first budget at the end of October, Millie believes that “a degree of crystal ball gazing” might be necessary to predict what could unfold. This uncertainty makes it challenging to provide definitive advice to clients when solutions to problems don’t exist at this stage. There’s one thing Millie is certain of: “There are going to be far reaching changes to the UK's tax treatment of UK resident non-domiciled individuals… This is looking likely to create an environment where it simply may no longer be tax efficient for these individuals to stay in the UK and they face the difficult decision about whether to pack up their lives, sell houses, take children out of school and move abroad.”

Clearly Millie’s work is “never stagnant” and, with “the next few months rife with speculation”, it seems this dynamic will continue.

Embracing the unknown

Reflecting on her own journey when faced with the pivotal decision of which area to specialise in, Millie advises aspiring lawyers to explore various fields by engaging with professionals from a range of practice areas. “There’s so much out there”, explains Millie, and “there really is something for everyone”. She suggests that utilising resources such as careers fairs and websites like LawCareers.Net can be invaluable in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the legal landscape before making any firm decisions.

Millie also reassures budding solicitors that it’s perfectly normal to discover that an area of law you thought you’d enjoy might not meet your expectations, while another unexpected area might turn out to be a perfect fit. She explains that as long as you approach the training contract with “an open mind”, “good attitude” and are “willing to try something for the first time”, you’ll discover your true calling as she’s done.