A look back at the most popular stories on eprivateclient this week....
Monday
Global fiduciary services provider Ocorian hired Carole Murphy as its new chief operating officer. In the role, Ms Murphy is responsible for leading Ocorian’s global IT and operations functions at a time of business growth and transformation for the firm. She joined Ocorian from Capgemini where she was head of business transformation services and head of the finance and accounting practice.
The UK's Upper Tribunal (UT) imposed a £350,000 penalty on a taxpayer who did not comply with an information notice. It was calculated by reference to the tax believed to be underpaid.This type of penalty is reserved for serious cases of non-compliance, amounting to a failure to provide HMRC with any information about an offshore trust.
Tuesday
International law firm Charles Russell Speechlys added Madalina-Andreea Dumitrescu as a commercial dispute resolution partner in London, as it looks to strengthen its litigation and international arbitration offerings. Ms Dumitrescu joined from Mishcon de Reya and is a dual-qualified English solicitor and Romanian lawyer.v
Big Four accounting firm EY’s UK revenues grew by 7.3 percent in the financial year ended 2 July. UK fee income grew to £2.75 billion from £2.57 billion the previous year. In total, distributable pre tax profits increased to £533 million, up from £479 million in FY20. As a result, partner renumeration increased significantly from £667,000 to £749,000 this year.
Wednesday
Tilney Smith & Williamson made two senior hires in its Birmingham professional services business with eprivateclient Top 35 Under 35 Adam West and Clare Halligan joining the firm's tax team as a partner and director respectively. Mr West joined the firm from RSM where, as private client tax director, he led the firm’s private client advisory team in Manchester. Meanwhile, Ms Halligan joined Tilney S&W's Birmingham office from Grant Thornton with a remit to build a tax dispute and resolution practice.
A Chinese mother and her two UK-based sons agreed to hand over London properties worth more than £1.6 million, in response to a National Crime Agency (NCA) civil recovery claim that linked their purchases with suspected money laundering.
Thursday
International law firm McDermott Will & Emery promoted 41 lawyers to partner and 10 to counsel, effective January 1, 2022. The promotions follow three consecutive years of double-digit growth across all of the firm's key metrics. The firm promoted three from within its private client offering in the US, with Mac Biedermann in New York, Katie Gose in Los Angeles and Chris Nason in San Fransisco all becoming partners.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) formally dismissed three members of staff for computer misuse over the last four years, according to official figures. The data, obtained by boutique litigation practice Griffin Law, revealed that a total of 23 employees have faced some form of disciplinary action for offences including examining private accounts of family members, sharing content on Facebook linked to criminal activity and sending inappropriate content via work emails.
Friday
New figures showed HMRC has already identified £428,000 in tax it believes was underpaid by wealthy individuals on cryptocurrency investments last year. This was a jump of 202 percent from £142,000 it believes was underpaid the year before, according to international law firm, Pinsent Masons.
UK law firm Fletcher Day family partner Emma Nash officially launched the Family Law Language Project (FLLP). Founded by Ms Nash, the project seeks to make family law easier to understand, less hostile and more accessible to everyone.