Expertise

Sally has experience of a wide range of Private Client work including Wills and related succession issues; inheritance tax mitigation; creation, administration and taxation of trusts; and estate planning generally. More specialised areas of experience include the offshore elements of Private Client work – such as UK tax liability of non-UK resident and/or non-UK domiciled individuals, and the creation and taxation of offshore trusts – and mental capacity work including Lasting Powers of Attorney.

In 2012, Sally moved from advising clients on these types of issues to supporting the Private Client team in all the above areas, as the team’s Professional Support Lawyer.

Recent Experience

• Preparing precedent deeds, documents and know-how resources.
• Monitoring legal developments on Private Client issues and keeping the Private Client team updated of new legislation, case-law and practice.
• Assisting with legal research and supporting the team generally with legal and practice-related queries; recent work has centred on the new trust compliance regimes, including the Common Reporting Standard, FATCA, the Trusts Register and Legal Entity Identifier requirements.
• Organising the team’s training programme, including arranging internal technical sessions.
• Tracking and responding to Government consultations and policy affecting our clients; recent topics include the proposed reforms to the taxation of non-domiciliaries, and raising probate fees.
• Assisting with writing articles on legal issues for the press and industry publications, and producing brochures and updates for clients on topical issues and key Private Client themes.

Career History

Sally has been at Wedlake Bell for all of her career, joining as a paralegal in 2004, before training with the firm and qualifying as a solicitor in the Private Client team in 2007. Sally became the team’s first Professional Support Lawyer in 2012.

Sally is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (“STEP”) and the London-based Private Client PSL Forum.

Sally obtained a First in History from The University of Exeter and completed the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course with distinction.

Publications

Sally assists with the production of the Private Client team’s biannual newsletter “In Trust”. She also regularly assists the team with articles for industry publications such as the Solicitors Journal, Trusts and Estates Law and Tax Journal, The Law Society’s PS Magazine and eprivateclient; as well as articles that have appeared in the wider press such as The Telegraph and Financial Times.