Private client law in Scotland

Private client lawyers provide legal advice to individuals on a wide variety of areas including tax, succession, trusts and aspects of family law.

A private client law solicitor's work

Private client lawyers are involved with drafting wills, trusts and other associated documentation, as well as administering estates, dealing with ongoing trusts and providing advice in relation to tax planning. They are also involved in the law of adult incapacity and commonly deal with powers of attorney and guardianships, as well as setting up charities and providing ongoing advice. Within the sphere of family law, co-habitation agreements and pre-nuptial agreements are also dealt with. Private client lawyers come across a wide variety of individuals and no two sets of circumstances are the same. Accordingly transactions may also touch on areas of property and agricultural law (among others).

Lawyers will typically have about 30 ongoing matters at any one time so it’s important that they can keep all matters moving forward, even while some are more pressing than others.

The wide variety of transactions means that each piece of work can last for different lengths of time. For example, a piece of drafting work is unlikely to last for more than a few weeks. Other pieces of work such as applying for a guardianship or winding up an estate can take a number of months while administering ongoing trusts can lead to an involvement lasting many years.

Lawyers in this area have a large amount of autonomy and will handle their own workload. It is important to retain direct contact with clients. However, the law involved is often complex and therefore other lawyers will frequently be involved. This may involve discussing complex situations with other private client specialists or getting other specialist advice from, for example, property or litigation lawyers. Other professionals including accountants and stockbrokers are also consulted regularly.

The workload is fairly constant. Unlike corporate transactions this area is not reliant on the state of the economy or market conditions. Lawyers are generally constantly busy but working all night or all weekend to meet an urgent deadline is unlikely.

Skills required

• Strong people skills.
• Good attention to detail.
• A sound knowledge of the law.
• Being comfortable with numbers and words.

Traineeships in private client law

Trainees will be exposed to a wide variety of areas of law. The large number of ongoing transactions means that there is variety day to day and trainees will get the opportunity to work across a number of transactions.

Types of law practised

• Adult incapacity.
• Charity.
• Succession.
• Trusts

About the author

BRIAN ROBERTSON is a partner in the private client group at SHEPHERD AND WEDDERBURN LLP. He graduated with a degree in law from the University of Aberdeen in 1976.