A look at the most read stories on eprivateclient this week…
Tuesday
2020 eprivateclient Top 35 Under 35 Ravi Francis was promoted to partner at law firm Gateley Legal. Mr Francis has worked at the UK law firm since April 2019 having moved from Irwin Mitchell Private Wealth where he spent four years. As well as last year, Mr Francis was also named as an eprivateclient Top 35 under 35 in 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2018.
HMRC will start demanding data on holdings of cryptocurrencies from taxpayers it suspects of tax evasion and avoidance, warned national accountancy firm, UHY Hacker Young. The firm claimed that HMRC’s ‘statement of assets’ form - used to obtain a complete accounting of all a taxpayer’s assets in an investigation - will now include explicit demands for information on cryptos and other assets.
Wednesday
International law firm Charles Russell Speechlys hired a London-based international tax team led by new partner Robert Reymond. His team - Leigh Nicoll, senior associate; Emma Tyrrell, senior associate; and Oliver Cooper, policy lead - all also join Charles Russell Speechlys from Canadian law firm Stikeman Elliott.
EY completed its acquisition of Frank Hirth, a provider of UK and US personal tax services. The acquisition was first announced in February and sees a total of 195 employees join the EY private tax teams.
Thursday
KPMG become the latest firm to embrace flexible working in the wake of Covid-19. Newly appointed CEO Jonathan Holt announced that its 16,000 staff in the UK will be expected to spend four days a fortnight in the office. The remainder will be spent working from home or at client sites. Additionally, all staff will be given an extra day off on 21 June to “to reconnect with family and friends, take some time away from work and re-energise”. They will also be given an extra 2.5 hours a week off “over the summer”, which staff can use to either finish early or start later.
The UK is facing a wedding boom over the next 18 months and a renewed interest in prenuptial agreements, UK law firm Collyer Bristow said. UK Weddings Taskforce, a trade body representing the wedding industry in a report in January 2021 estimates that some 824,000 weddings are planned in 2021 and 2022, following 95 percent of weddings planned for 2020 postponed following the COVID pandemic. Collyer Bristow said that this spike in weddings is being matched with a renewed interest in prenuptial agreements.
Friday
The European Union officially opposed the UK’s application to re-join the Lugano Convention. In a statement the European Commission said it took “the view that the European Union should not give its consent to the accession of the United Kingdom to the Lugano Convention." Many, including the UK government, hoped that the UK might obtain admission to the Lugano Convention, which determines which countries’ courts have jurisdiction over cross-border civil and commercial disputes.
London law firm Howard Kennedy added Reshmi Manekporia as a partner in its private client team. Ms Manekporia joined from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, where she spent more than 11 years. Ms Manekporia’s departure from BCLP’s private client team follows that of a number of partners including Damian Bloom and Martin Paisner, who, along with others, joined the private client teams at Taylor Wessing and Payne Hicks Beach respectively.