Legal project management firm

We cover full range of commercial and corporate transactional work, including debt and private equity financing. We always look for a commercial solution rather than stick to a rigid standard template. Our team has a  road cross-border expertise across a wide range of industries and sectors including high technology, media, financial services, real estate and hospitality.

We assist entrepreneurs and business owners through every stage of their business lifecycle from conception and setting up to the eventual exit.

We also act as in-house legal counsel for family offices and family run companies.  We assist our clients with legal queries and issues that arise in their business day-to-day operations and by combining our legal and market  knowledge with a practical outlook we come up with realistic solutions and provide clear and focused commercial advice.

We offer company start-up  services which include business plan review and strategy advice, registering a new business entity, preparing shareholders’ agreement, directors service contracts, employment contracts as well as B2B and B2C commercial contracts.

We assist our internationally mobile clients on preparing their wills both in the UK and abroad, administering estates, obtaining probate, preparing declarations of trust and lasting powers of attorney.

The protection of wealth, including business succession planning is one of the main concerns of our clients. We are able to help our clients with their estate planning by drawing upon the firm’s extensive network of professional contacts to guarantee a constant access to appropriate expertise and advice. It is this approach that makes us different from other private client consulting firms.

We work closely with our selected independent tax advisors, accountants and wealth managers who provide our clients with advice on potential tax-saving structures and financial planning.

Our litigation team specialises in commercial litigation and international arbitration and experienced in assisting on complex matters involving misrepresentation, breach of contract, partnership and shareholder disputes, jurisdictional issues and enforcement.

We have assisted on a number of high profile cases but many of the disputes we handle are resolved ahead of any court or arbitration hearing. Our team is skilled at finding solutions via negotiation or mediation. We offer creative solutions helping our clients to achieve their goals by resolving their disputes in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

We provide an integrated service, covering not just family law but also other services required by parties involved in a divorce, including taxation, sharing business interests, contentious trusts and international issues.

Dealing with finances is often the most complicated and stressful part of a divorce. It can be difficult to understand how to disentangle and reorder family finances to provide for two households. We assist on all stages of the divorce and have a particular expertise in complex, high-net-worth both
domestic and international matters.

We make a concerted effort to provide solutions that reduce the strain on divorcing couple’s wealth and our ultimate aim is to assist our clients to reach a sensible financial settlement out of court.

We have developed a unique expertise in setting up and operating family offices for our clients. In addition to our know-how we have a strong cultural affinity with the clients we work for which is one of the key elements in a successful business relationships. Each clientand his family is unique and therefore designing a family office for a family is similar to making a bespoke furniture piece that should meet the specific requirements of the family. We can structure, set up, staff and manage the family office for you or help you to create a
bespoke structure to be managed by your own personnel.

• Design of operating model for optimal legal structure
• Creation of private trust company; sourcing and provision of qualified trustees
• Protector services
• Ongoing legal and family governance advisory service
• Selection of independent investment advisors, organisation of “beauty contest” for investment advisors
• Acquisition of large assets – aircraft, yachts, classic cars, fine art
• Insurance and reputation management assistance
• Coordination of all external service providers

Strong risk management practices, a tailored insurance and risk financing strategy, sound governance and robust oversight should stand alongside legal structuring and investment management as a key pillar of any private client strategy. Too often, however, this area is overlooked until it is too late. Clients make do with off-the-shelf insurance products rather than ones tailored to their specific circumstances. Opportunities to integrate risk financing with wealth transfer are overlooked. There is often little in the way of formalised monitoring of risks, and no strategy for their mitigation or management. Sloppy governance practices pave the way for a lack of transparency and due process in decision-making, which can have disastrous consequences. A lack of real oversight can leave the client exposed to the actions of trustees, employees and service providers until it is too late.

The Salient PCS team has exceptional experience and expertise in these areas. Our services include:

• Design of family office and legal structure governance processes and protocols
• Protector services (formalised ongoing oversight of trustees)
• Independent periodic review of trustee and family office activity
• Development of risk management, monitoring and financing approach for family office and legal structure
• Coordinating risk financing and insurance for high value personal assets (art, yacht, jet, cars, property)
• Coordinating risk financing and insurance for personal exposures (life, cyber and reputational, kidnap for ransom)
• Coordinating risk financing and insurance for exposures where family business interests and family wealth intersect (key person and directors & officers and use of insurance captives as part of wealth transfer strategy)