60-second interview with Phyllis Townsend TEP

What is your role within your firm?

I am a Partner in the Wealth Management practice in London and lead Baker McKenzie's EMEA Wealth Management practice group. I advise on a broad range of wealth management matters with a particular focus on advising trustees, high-net worth individuals and their family offices on cross-border tax, succession, asset protection and investment structures, including via trusts. I provide ongoing advice to UK resident non-UK domiciled individuals and families with connections to the Middle East, Europe and the US. 

How did it feel to win a STEP Private Client Award (PCA)?

We were thrilled to win Private Client Legal Team of the Year (Large Firm). We work hard to provide our clients with the best advice. To see the work we do recognised was very fulfilling. 

Why is winning a STEP PCA important to your firm?

STEP is the leading body for professionals in the private wealth and trust space and the PCA is one of the most prestigious awards in the market. We are delighted to receive the support and market recognition amongst our clients, intermediaries and counterparts. 

What are the main challenges facing your organisation/ practitioners at the moment, and how will you deal with them?

Nowadays clients and their advisors are having to keep on top of constant changes to the tax and regulatory environment. Clients are also seeking more sophisticated advice and professionalising and institutionalising their private wealth. For example, many clients are establishing investment offices and private equity style funds and incentive structures.  In our case, this plays well to our strengths. As a firm, we are well equipped to give clients that sophisticated and commercial advice. 

What do you like best about your job?

For me it is the clients and colleagues around the EMEA region and the globe with whom I get to work and the nature of the work. No two client situations are the same, which means the work I do tends to be varied and interesting. I feel very fortunate to work alongside the best clients and colleagues in the industry.

...and what do you feel is most worthwhile?

Finding solutions to complex problems for my clients. 

What would you say to a young person thinking of a career in this industry?

It is important to build business links with people of your own generation. Your contemporaries may become your clients or great sources of work and so investing in these relationships early can help to advance your career.

Where do you see future growth, both in terms of sectors and jurisdictions?

I anticipate that demand for sophisticated advice on family and corporate governance structures and the establishment of, and advice to, family investment offices and private funds will continue to grow. Our new entrepreneurial clients tend to build their very significant wealth in the technology and financial services sectors (or a combination of the two). However, we have clients in many sectors. Clients and their families, whatever their sector, are increasingly global and internationally mobile, often having family members in the UK and/or US connections. In the UK, we are planning for the abolition of the UK resident non-UK domiciled regime. At Baker McKenzie, a full-service law firm with a global presence, we are ideally placed to help our increasingly global client base.