Fiduciary Legal is the trading name through which Stuart Pryke provides legal services. Stuart is an English law qualified barrister and has extensive legal experience from working at a number of prominent barrister’s chambers in the United Kingdom and in a non-contentious commercial capacity for a number of leading offshore law firms. Fiduciary Legal operates more in the nature of private commercial consultancy than a traditional barrister’s chambers and provides commercial non-contentious advisory, drafting and other associated legal services in the following areas:-

Fiduciary Legal focuses on matters of English law and also advises on international legal issues which concern certain offshore jurisdictions including (but not limited to) Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Cyprus the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

Fiduciary Legal aims to deliver fast, commercial solutions and responses to any queries or requests which it receives from clients in a manner which is jargon free and to the point.

Fiduciary Legal is able to ‘punch above its weight’ in terms of being able to deal with high level, complex and multi-jurisdictional matters whilst remaining highly cost effective. It achieves this by drawing on the depth and experience which Stuart Pryke has built up over many years working on a wide variety of legal matters, often of a high value and complex nature and involving a broad range of legal disciplines. Where necessary however, Fiduciary Legal works in close association with an extensive network of other professionals or specialists both in the UK and in other legal jurisdictions. This provides access to the very highest quality of information and knowledge in all areas whilst maintaining a low cost base for the majority of the work.

Areas of law covered

Fiduciary Legal has extensive experience of the following areas of law and is able to advise on and assist in the establishment of various financial structures which arise in such fields.

Trusts and foundations

Trusts and foundations are used by both individual and corporate clients for financial planning purposes. Purpose trusts, which are only available in offshore jurisdictions, have in particular become a favoured vehicle for holding voting shares in relation to investment funds and other financial structures. In the case of individuals, private trusts are frequently used for wealth planning and asset protection purposes and also to provide a potential shield for assets which may be subject to unwanted succession laws in the settlor’s (investor’s) home jurisdiction. Foundations are increasingly being used by companies and individuals for similar financial planning purposes and are also used as charitable holding structures.

Investment funds and financial services

Investment funds have grown exponentially in number over recent years. Properly structured they can provide highly flexible and tax efficient vehicles for holding investments and attracting inward investment. Equally well, recent events in the financial markets have indicated the potential frailty of such structures in protecting investor’s assets if they are not properly established at the outset. Another important issue is that the market for service providers in these fields is global. In deciding how best to structure any investment fund, be it open-ended or closed-ended, it is important to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of using service providers, such as managers, administrators, custodians and prime brokers based in particular jurisdictions. Likewise, when setting up an investment fund, it is important to appreciate the relative advantages and disadvantages of particular structures such as unit trusts, corporate funds, limited partnership funds and umbrella funds.

Financial structuring and wealth management

As private personal wealth and corporate structures have taken on an ever more international form, the structuring of the asset holdings of both companies and individuals has become far more complex. Cross border issues are commonplace and anti-avoidance tax legislation in developed countries has become voluminous. By ensuring that personal and corporate assets are held in appropriate structures (for instance through, companies, trusts, foundations or limited partnerships) and providing such structures are cited in appropriate jurisdictions, it is often possible to minimise potential liabilities to taxes be they in the nature of income, inheritance, capital gains or goods and service taxes (such as VAT in the UK). Likewise by using appropriate asset holding structures in appropriate jurisdictions, it may be possible to effectively reduce the exposure of individuals and companies to non-taxed based liabilities such as damages and personal injury claims, as well as to claims by third party creditors. In the case of individuals, it may also be possible to shield personal assets from claims by aggrieved family members as a result of divorce or death or at least provide a greater degree control over personal assets in these events. Conversely, companies or individuals who feel that they have been unjustly precluded from gaining access to assets as a result of these types of structures may wish to understand the remedies available to them in order to try and access assets held in such structures.

General commercial and corporate law

The diversity of modern commerce and the increasingly international forum in which businesses are obliged to operate means that a sound understanding of the potential legal issues involved in operating any business is essential. Whether the issue concerns real property (such as leases and land rights), commercial business contracts, insurance or cross-border matters, competent handling of the relevant legal issues is paramount. Likewise the principals of companies and other organisations which engage in commerce (such as partners, directors and other officers) need to have an understanding of legal issues facing the organisations which they run. Meetings of shareholders and directors of companies need to be properly held, run and minuted and resolutions need to be properly recorded and filed. More than ever, directors need to adhere to appropriate corporate governance principals and understand their duties to their particular organisation. Similar considerations apply in the case of partnerships and unincorporated associations although the legal principles involved are often different.