Burges Salmon has made up 3 new partners, including Suzanna Harvey, who is a specialist in international tax and trusts work.
Suzanna has substantial experience of advising non-UK domiciliaries on the income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax implications of UK residence, and about international estate planning. In addition, Suzanna provides trust advice to numerous international trust companies and individuals, including drafting trust documentation, advising on general trust law issues and advising on policy documentation.
Completing the trio are two lawyers from Burges Salmon’s market leading energy and environment team, demonstrating a continued commitment to delivering high calibre work in some of the firm’s key sectors.
Maxine Rawlins, a partner at Ernst & Young, will take on the role of chief executive of Hawksford, in 2014 when the incumbent chief executive, Peter Murley, retires.
A partner at Ernst & Young in Jersey, Mrs Rawlins currently leads the Channel Islands Tax Practice and is Head of EMEA Asset Management Tax. Prior to this, she was chief executive of Maples Finance, an international trust business headquartered in the Cayman Islands. During this time she drove the significant growth of the business, including expansion into six new jurisdictions. Mrs Rawlins was also director of business development and in-house legal counsel at Close Brothers. She is a qualified barrister and Cayman registered attorney.
The current chief executive of Jersey based trust company, Peter MurIey, has held his role at Hawksford since March 2010. He said: ‘The board and I would like to take this opportunity to formally welcome Maxine to Hawksford. Maxine has enormous experience in our market and is a highly respected and popular leader who will no doubt make a very significant contribution to the future of this business.
‘I have made the personal decision to retire in 2014 after four years at Hawksford, during which time the business has undergone substantial expansion with the support of our investor Dunedin and chairman Philip Taylor. My focus is now on ensuring a seamless transition for our clients and staff.’
David Williams, partner at Dunedin, who sits on Hawksford’s board, commented: ‘We would like to join Peter and the board in welcoming Maxine to Hawksford. She is highly experienced in her field and has successfully led businesses through periods of growth and expansion, which will be very relevant at Hawksford. Our focus remains on increasing client choice by growing our international footprint whilst ensuring the business continues to add value to its global client base to further enhance Hawksford’s market leading position. We look forward to working alongside Maxine to achieve this.
‘We would also like to acknowledge the very significant contribution made by Peter since we backed Hawksford in 2008. Since then the company has gone on to establish itself as the largest independent trust company in the Channel Islands with an international footprint, revenues in excess of £20 million and a headcount of 180 people. This is in no small part down to the excellent leadership that Peter has shown. Peter remains firmly in charge and we know his phenomenal work rate will continue through to 2014. We are delighted that he will be able to ensure a smooth transition to Maxine and we wish him a well deserved retirement.’
Mrs Rawlins added: ‘Hawksford is one of the most progressive and innovative organisations of its kind and I am delighted to be a part of its future and continued success.’
Earlier this year, Hawksford acquired Key Trust, its fourth acquisition since its MBO in October 2008. In the last two years, the business has also completed the acquisitions of Trustcorp Jersey Limited, L-S&S GmbH, a Swiss boutique private wealth law firm and the employee solutions business of Standard Bank Dubai.
The company has also received peer recognition from the industry and was recently crowned Owner-managed Trust Company of the Year 2012/2013 at the STEP Private Client Awards and won the same award in 2010/2011. In 2011 Hawksford was recognised as Trust Company of the Year at the Citywealth Magic Circle Awards and was shortlisted for the same accolade again in 2012.
Hawksford was recognised in 2010, 2011 and 2012 by Private Client Practitioner, as a Top 25 Trust Company in its annual listing. In 2013 it has been named one of the 25 Most Admired Companies by Private Client Practitioner and most recently was awarded ‘Best offshore trust company in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man’ by Wealth Adviser.
Irish law firm William Fry today announced the appointment of three new Partners including Cliona Donnelly in Tax.
Cliona has over ten years experience in advising clients in tax structuring including corporate reorganisations, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence and is also a key member of the Firm’s Foreign Direct Investment Group.
She trained with KPMG before joining William Fry in 2003
Spinnaker Support, the global market leader for SAP and JD Edwards third-party maintenance, co-sourcingSM, and consulting, announces today George Skidmore has joined the company as its Vice President, Global Tax and Regulatory Compliance. In this role, Mr. Skidmore will work closely with the Global Support team to grow Spinnaker Support’s resources and capabilities to provide custom tax and regulatory solutions for all of its JD Edwards and SAP customers.
“The regulatory compliance piece of our business is so critical, especially as we grow, that we knew we needed to find a powerhouse to fill this role,” said Matt Stava, Managing Principal for Spinnaker Support. “George brings so much experience in this field that we are excited for him to take us to the next level in providing customized solutions for our current and future customers. We couldn’t be happier that he decided to join our team.”
Mr. Skidmore brings over 25 years of international tax and accounting experience. He has significant experience in developing and managing Intellectual Property related to cross-border tax, treasury management, and tax and regulation research. Mr. Skidmore comes to Spinnaker Support after 6 years consulting to several manufacturing and mining companies, where he advised in areas such as cross-border M&A transactions, global treasury solutions, international entity reorganization, and foreign tax attribute and tax credit monetization analyses. Throughout his career, he has held key positions in the oil and gas industry as well as Wal-Mart and Arthur Andersen.
“I was attracted to the breadth and depth of the Spinnaker Support team. They are extremely experienced in the SAP and JD Edwards third-party maintenance sphere,” said Mr. Skidmore. “With the key infrastructure in place, Spinnaker Support has positioned themselves for rapid growth. I am very excited about their commitment to expand global tax and regulatory compliance support, and I look forward to working directly with the Spinnaker Support customer base to deliver customized solutions.”
PLMJ has launched an Italian desk under the leadership of tax partner Serena Cabrita Neto.
The PLMJ Italian Desk features a team of lawyers with extensive knowledge of the Italian language, market and culture as well as the experience that comes from many years advising clients and companies from Italy or with Italian capital.
PLMJ is one of Portugal’s leading law firms and a key reference in the country’s legal sector because of its dynamism, capacity for innovation and quality of service. PLMJ is a full service firm dedicated to specialisation and offering a complete range of legal services.
Schoenherr, a leading corporate law firm in Central and Eastern Europe, is strengthening its offering in tax law and advisory services in Austria and Romania by hiring a team of well-established tax experts.
Michaela Petritz-Klar has joined Schoenherr as a tax partner in its Vienna office, while Theodor Artenie, Oana Manuceanu and Mihaela Popescu provide tax consulting services through Schoenherr Tax Bucharest SRL, a newly-launched separate legal entity affiliated with the firm’s Bucharest office. Building on these appointments, Schoenherr plans to further expand its offerings in the area by also establishing tax teams in Poland and Serbia during the course of next year.
“The newly-hired tax experts in Vienna and Bucharest represent the first step in our well-developed plans to strengthen tax law as a core offering at Schoenherr. Our ultimate aim is to offer top-tier tax law expertise and services across Central and Eastern Europe,” Sascha Hödl, the Schoenherr Corporate/M&A partner heading the committee shaping the firm’s offering in the tax field, underlines Schoenherr’s commitment to a comprehensive and sustainable offering in that area of law.
“One of Schoenherr’s most important goals is to cover the full range of commercial legal services. First class, sophisticated tax advisory services make us better equipped to handle all aspects of even the most complex mandate,” states Sebastian Gutiu, the managing partner of Schoenherr’s Bucharest office.
Austria: Experienced new tax partner
Michaela Petritz-Klar (35), who joined Schoenherr as a partner at the start of April, has over 10 years experience as a tax lawyer. In further developing Schoenherr’s tax practice in Austria, Michaela will focus on providing comprehensive tax advice in the area of corporate tax law, including any kind of transaction-related tax advice. She will also apply her extensive track record of advising domestic and internationally operating clients on cross-border strategic tax planning, as well was her substantial experience in developing tax-efficient finance structures for equity, debt and hybrid instruments and structured financial products. Tax and estate planning for private clients and high net worth individuals on both a domestic and cross-border level is a further key area to which Petritz-Klar, who worked as an associate and senior associate in the tax practices of both national and international law firms in Vienna and London, will apply her expertise. In addition, Petritz-Klar has a strong focus on representing clients in tax litigation matters.
Petritz-Klar holds a doctorate degree in law from the University of Vienna, as well as a business degree from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Before entering legal practice, Michaela worked as an assistant professor for tax law at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the latter university. She continues to holds lectures on Austrian and international tax law at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences. She also frequently publishes articles on tax-related topics in both Austrian and international law journals and is a regular speaker at international tax conferences and seminars.
In Romania, Schoenherr si Asociatii SCA has expanded its current practice in tax advisory services by launching Schoenherr Tax Bucharest SRL, which operates as a separate legal entity affiliated with the law firm. The firm’s tax practice in Romania comprises Theodor Artenie, Oana Manuceanu and Mihaela Popescu, all of whom worked as tax experts in the Bucharest office of the same Big Four accountancy firm before linking up with Schoenherr to form Schoenherr Tax Bucharest as a spin-off.
Theodor Artenie (30) has more than 9 years experience in professional business services, out of which 8 have been spent as part of the tax advisory practice of a Big Four accountancy firm in Romania. His main area of expertise concerns value-added tax (VAT) issues, in which he has extensive knowledge and experience with regard to the relevant Romanian and EU legislation. Theodor has extensive experience in managing complex cross-border tax projects after spending a year in the Big Four’s VAT practice in London. Over the years, Theodor has played an instrumental role in several initiatives to amend and modernise the Romanian VAT legislation in accordance with the requirements of the Romanian business environment and EU best practices. Theodor’s client portfolio includes multinational companies in the technology, real estate, defense, energy, industrial products, services and automotive sectors.
Oana Manuceanu (36) has over 11 years experience with a Big Four firm in Romania. Her experience includes complex advisory work related to structuring international assignments: salary tax, social security, immigration, recharge of costs, permanent establishment exposure, labor law requirements, the application of double taxation treaties, and social security agreements. Oana has extensive experience in working with major multinational companies active in Romania. She is also specialized in the tax treatment of various types of income derived by individuals (salary, investment, freelance activities etc), assessment and optimisation of the tax residency position, tax analysis of contractual relationships with individuals, as well as salary tax reviews.
Mihaela Popescu (33) also previously worked for the Bucharest office of a Big Four firm, where for the past 7 years she serviced a wide portfolio of clients, primarily in the financial services industry, real estate, IT, telecom and energy sectors. She has extensive experience in advising clients in domestic and international corporate income tax matters, withholding taxes and local taxes. Mihaela’s expertise relates in particular to tax reviews, the taxation of financial instruments, international tax structuring, M&A, deal structuring, tax due diligence, and transfer pricing. She also has significant experience in assisting resident and non-resident clients in successfully complying with their tax obligations in Romania or dealing with the Romanian tax authorities on various tax matters.
Graf has strong expertise in the field of international tax law and is experienced in advising multinational enterprises as well as private equity funds. He is also a certified tax advisor.
Graf joined Dentons on May 1, 2013 from the HAARMANN Partnership Company. He is an MBA (Diplom-Kaufmann), a lawyer admitted to the German Bar and a certified tax advisor. He specializes in tax law and mainly advises multinational corporations with respect to their national and international tax questions. His advice comprises tax optimized structuring, monitoring tax field audits, filing administrative appeals as well as representing clients before finance courts and the Federal Finance Court (Bundesfinanzhof). Furthermore he advises on tax optimized structures in connection with M&A deals.
Dentons Europe has promoted Dzhangar Dzhalchinov to partner. He is based in the Dentons Europe Moscow office and is currently Head of the Russian Tax Practice.
Dzhalchinov graduated from the Moscow State University in 2005. He worked at Pepeliaev, Goltsblat & Partners and OOO Consalringovye Uslugy prior to joining legacy firm Salans in 2006. He was promoted to Head of the Russian Tax Practice in April 2012.
Dariusz Oleszczuk, Dentons’ European Chief Executive, said: “I am delighted to announce Dzhangar’s promotion to Partner in our Moscow office. He has done a tremendous job in developing our Russian Tax Practice, which is a growing market in that country at the moment. I am confident he will continue to contribute to Dentons’ success in Russia for years to come.”
The appointment follows three partner promotions made in January 2013: Peter Mayer was promoted to corporate partner in Berlin, Jody Saltzman was promoted to real estate partner in New York, and Sergey Trakhtenberg was promoted to real estate partner in Moscow.
