Contributors
Will is a refreshing face in the world of private wealth. Practical and personable, Will’s our Partner who specialises in cross-border estate planning. He advises UK and international individuals and families, trustees, family offices and financial institutions. And he focuses on all aspects of personal tax, legal issues, trusts, estates, succession planning and governance. He’s also a keen sailor who’ll do anything he can to get out on the water with friends and family. It’s a hobby that’s taken him everywhere from the Bay of Biscay, to Australia and its surrounding islands.
So, how did he end up as one of our most trusted advisors? Well, Will grew up in the countryside with two brothers. His mum would often send them to neighbours’ gardens to build or fix things. Always a doer, he loved being able to help others out. It’s when he first realised his need to solve problems for people.
When Will went to Cambridge to train as a lawyer, he wasn’t the smartest in the lecture hall, or the sportiest on the pitch. He was an all-rounder. He got stuck into everything, playing almost every sport going with the aim of getting a 2:1(just). It was an attitude that sits in stark contrast to his approach with clients today – where only a first-class service will do. He thought he might one day want to be a private client lawyer, but the law library put him off. It wasn’t the books or the building, it was the endless discussion of careers and training contracts. “Which firms are you applying to?” “What’s the starting salary?” were common themes among his fellow students. He wasn’t ready for all that.
It's all part of the reason Will had three ‘gap’ years between school and beginning his training as a lawyer. In that time, Will worked as a butcher, painted houses, processed payments for a management accounting body, spent a brief time working for the FCA, pulled pints, and sailed boats in Sydney and the Whitsunday Islands. He also did other temporary jobs in London. The eclectic mix of work helped Will to keep his head above the water financially while travelling and getting a broader experience of the world.
During the years before ‘professional’ life began, Will also spent amazingly rewarding periods working for a sail training charity. He loved teaching, keeping others safe (whatever the weather) and showing them how it all worked. There was a diverse mix of people, and Will saw what a week at sea could do to build confidence, resilience and lasting bonds. Not only that, but Will helped others develop their practical and interpersonal skills, embrace the power of teamwork, and broaden their horizons (as well as expanding his own). It’s where he realised that nearly everyone likes the same things: 1. People who care and are nice to them. 2. People who can make them laugh. 3. People who teach them something a bit different. He also learned to support others through the scarier moments out at sea. In fact, there are lots of parallels between his work then and now – especially for clients going through difficult circumstances.
For Will, those years were a true privilege, and a breath of fresh air before the hard (intellectual) work began. Following his studies, he trained at a large law firm where he stayed for over 11 years. During his time there, Will did a wide range of international and domestic client work. Afterwards, he chose a somewhat unusual path, leaving the firm to join a family office. At 1500+ households strong and spread across the globe, it was one of the largest single-family offices in the world. Once there, he helped family members with everything – legal, tax and estate planning, but also investment issues (with a very large specialist team to lean on). He offered them guidance on spending decisions and all types of significant decisions which come along as part of life (almost nothing was off limits). A lot of his meetings were done literally around the kitchen table. It was somewhere Will had to abandon many engrained habits and apply his knowledge in a completely different way. In this role, he knew virtually everything about his clients and their lives (sometimes almost too much). It gave him a broader perspective, a supportive platform to advise from, and an excuse take an interest in nearly every aspect of their lives. There was no standard client or typical question. Will covered domestic and international matters, lifestyle and experience needs, financial and investment issues across a client base with widely differing styles, interests and levels of sophistication. It offered a huge variety of challenges – that was the great joy.
It's where he learned something crucial: “sometimes the most valuable thing you can do, is shut up and listen”. And not just listen, but listen actively and engage. This resonated with values that had been hardwired in him since childhood. Will grew up wanting to be relied on by friends, family, colleagues and clients. And being that guiding influence is what he gets to do in his role today. He always gives clients the time and opportunity to share their problems, and never pretends that one client is the same as another. He can’t solve everything, but he’s there to help people make better choices. If there’s a big decision to be made, he helps clients narrow down their options quickly. If there’s a lot of detail to read, Will distils it – wherever he can he'll offer two pages of initial information, rather than 20.
But it isn’t all big-picture strategy setting – Will also tackles difficult technical questions, disputes with HMRC, and the detailed analysis the job demands. As a specialist in international succession law, complex trust and other legal issues, and complex tax, he likes understanding the finer specifics as much as he enjoys the more overarching, strategic work. For Will, it’s an area of practice that’s intensely demanding and technically unforgiving, but also incredibly rewarding.
Part of why he chose Womble Bond Dickinson was because he got to do things his way, and reflect the kind of advisor he’d become. When Will started, he had (close to) a blank canvas for creating an international team. The entrepreneurial possibility was huge, and the market position of the firm, coupled with the transatlantic resources, only reinforced its scope. For Will, there were minimal limits or constraints, and everyone was incredibly supportive. They helped him create and refine his business plan, explore opportunities, and provided great mentoring and support (both inside and outside of his team). It was all very important as someone joining during lockdown without a single client of his own.
In a profession with more than its fair share of anxiety, imposter syndrome and insecurities, the speed with which clients turned up was incredibly validating for Will. This reinforced his faith in his abilities and helped him embrace his own style of advising. To Will, it’s really satisfying to do something technically complex for clients he really cares about. He also loves to see all the latent potential in the international private client team come to life, at a firm of genuinely lovely people.
Another of his reasons for joining Womble Bond Dickinson was his family. Will made a conscious choice to move to a firm and a role where he could continue to be a very hands-on dad. Excelling as a lawyer shouldn’t have to mean sacrificing home life. It’s not an all-hours culture, and this lets him have valuable time doing the everyday jobs that keep life running smoothly. Weekends are for friends and family, not work. Whether it’s soaking up the sun, or holidays with his wife, children and their gang of cousins, Will lives for those moments. Sailing, paddleboarding and jumping in the sea are just a few of the things that they enjoy together.
As a family, balancing two careers and being good parents is a constant challenge. Both respected lawyers with broadly parallel abilities (although he is always quick to point out that his wife is much smarter and more successful), Will and his wife feel a responsibility to those around them. They want to show others that you can balance two demanding careers with the needs of your young children. Part of that is sharing how they do it, but also how difficult it sometimes is. They each believe you can’t go wrong with being honest, and they’re not afraid to tell people that it can be tough. They both recognise that it’s still significantly harder for women – especially for mothers in professional careers. And the gender disparity is typically still much larger than a lot of businesses and governments want to admit. Recently, the balance they’ve struck allows his wife to focus more on her career, with Will ensuring he’s there for more of what’s needed at home.
With his intuitive mind and collaborative approach, Will brings a different perspective to Womble Bond Dickinson. What he does best is connect with people – seeing every challenge through their eyes. Clients. Colleagues. Friends. Family. Whether it’s meeting someone face to face to discuss their issue, mending a garden fence, or teaching someone to sail for the first time – for Will, it only comes to life when it means something. It’s no surprise that he's found a way to work in an environment where he supports clients every day. It’s (almost) always about a person and their problems. When he deals with business-y things, there’s a person behind it. And fixing the things they are worried about is what gets him up in the morning.
