The Legal 500

At Conyers Dill & Pearman, 'important addition' Blair Botsford joined the private client practice from the Waterloo office of Canadian firm Miller Thomson. Botsford has brought expertise in estate planning and administration, trusts, incapacity planning and taxation. The practice is noted for its delivery of bespoke solutions to substantially wealthy clients and their onshore legal advisors, and is a leader in the creation and management of private trust companies. Experienced trust litigators also complement the private client team. Recently, the group advised on a complex reorganisation of a Bermuda law trust with Italian resident beneficiaries, which involved substantive advice on cross-jurisdictional issues, including complex forced heirship and succession right issues, and acted for the trustees in connection with a proposed private acquisition of a large publicly-listed UK company for the benefit of a high-net-worth client. For one client, group head Alec Anderson is 'clearly the best person for this work in that jurisdiction', and Craig MacIntyre is 'an excellent young partner who is conscientious and has good initiative. He is responsive and client oriented'. The 'extremely hardworking advisor' Helen Cooper and Peter Pearman are also recommended.

Appleby's former private client and trust group head Randall Krebs recently left to join Meritus Trust Company. Notwithstanding this key departure, recent highlights for the practice include obtaining a Bermuda Grant of Probate and assisting in the administration of an international estate with $100m-plus assets that were located in several countries around the world. The team also assisted in the restructuring of a trust portfolio for a high-net-worth individual looking to become resident for tax purposes in the US, where Butterfield Trust (Bermuda) were the trustees. The group also represented one of the wealthiest families in the UK in connection with the reorganisation of a Bermuda charitable trust and private trust company structure as part of the family's cross-border philanthropic goals. Partner Vanessa Lovell Schrum and associates Sophie Tod, Leah Scott and Naresh Chand are the key contacts.

Marshall Diel & Myers has a team of veteran trust lawyers that work in conjunction with the firm's corporate and property departments to provide custom-designed trust and estate planning solutions for both domestic and international clients. Luciano Aicardi oversees the department, and of counsel Gordon Hill QC has extensive experience in local and international estate planning, estate and trust administration. Paragon Trust, an affiliate of the firm, carries on trust business in and from Bermuda, providing a full range of trust administration services.

Recommended by its peers, Mello Jones & Martin is experienced in advising on the establishment of trusts, purpose trusts and special purpose vehicles, charitable private trusts, private trust companies and structures, as well as registered charities. Partner Hildeberto (Hil) de Frias has a wide ranging international and domestic private client practice, encompassing the areas of trusts, wills, estate planning, and estates, including complex international private trust structures. Michael Mello is also a key contact.