Associate/Senior Associate - Wealth & Succession

The role

This is an excellent opportunity for a talented Associate or Senior Associate to join our highly regarded Wealth and Succession team with our Private Client department. 

We excel in advising UK and international high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, entrepreneurs and senior executives, addressing their complex estate planning, tax and succession needs. Clients include entrepreneurs, business owners, artists, authors, musicians, members of foreign royalty, and sport professionals in the UK and overseas.

We benefit from the firm's wider private wealth offering that includes family, immigration, reputation management, business crime, residential property and cultural property. Our Wealth and Succession team is comprised of 2 main areas of focus; Tax, Trusts and Estate Planning and Administration of Estates.

We are known for our focus on delivering straightforward advice and solutions that resolve problems and creating the circumstances for a smooth and tax efficient transition of wealth between generations. This often involves preparing complex wills and creating trusts or corporate structures.  We also regularly deal with estates containing business assets or containing assets in overseas jurisdictions, where we co-ordinate with lawyers and professionals in those jurisdictions to ensure the administration of the estate is a seamless and streamlined experience for the client.

Role responsibility

The role will involve:

• Advising on succession planning and structuring for UK and international high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families
• Wills, trusts and estate planning for UK and international clients;
• The planning of a broad range of estates from the straightforward to complex estates with international aspects
• Trust administration;
• Responsibility for participating in business development and client relationship management activities.
• Supervising and mentoring more junior members of the team including Trainees, Paralegals, Solicitors

About you

Ideally you will be able to demonstrate;

• Significant experience in domestic and international estate planning, including advising UK and international clients ;
• A good level of tax knowledge necessary for wealth and succession planning; including trusts and other structures for tax efficient solutions
• The ability to mentor and supervise less experienced members of the team;
• Strong intellectual and analytical abilities;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Ability to drive and develop long-standing client relationships
• Good commercial understanding and ability to apply legal principles to client circumstances in a commercially aware manner;
• Excellent business development and client management skills;
• Strong legal skills, including proficiency in research and the ability to digest and explain complex legal and factual points in a language that clients understand.
• An organised and accurate approach to work.

At Howard Kennedy we believe that everyone deserves the space to thrive. We’re committed to creating an inclusive recruitment experience that reflects the diversity of both our people and our clients.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and identities, and we’re committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and accessible to all.

We understand that every candidate’s needs are different If there’s anything we can do to make your application journey more comfortable— whether for interviews, assessments, or onboarding—please let us know. We’ll work with you to remove any barriers and ensure our recruitment process is comfortable for you. 

Contact our recruitment team at recruitment@howardkennedy.com to discuss any support you might need.

Agency Introductions

Please note that we are not accepting applications via agencies for this role at this time. Before sharing any named candidate CVs, please contact your recruitment representative. If any named CVs are sent from agencies without approval from our recruitment team, they will not be deemed valid introductions, and no agency fee will be paid.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• 25 days annual holiday
• Permanent Health Insurance
• Life Assurance
• Interest free Season Ticket Loan
• Private Healthcare
• Pension Scheme
• Staff Introductory Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme

About us

With almost 200 lawyers in one location, we ensure our clients have the right team to help them get from where they are to where they want to be. We advise major corporates and institutions as well as entrepreneurial, ambitious enterprises which are often privately or family owned, or private equity backed. As well as our significant business law capability, we are one of only a few London-based law firms with a large private wealth offering. Our clients find our straightforward approach a compelling alternative to larger, less personal firms.

Whether you are an ambitious and talented individual wanting to hit the ground running from day one, or an established professional looking for a new opportunity, Howard Kennedy is the firm where you can really make it happen.

We have earned a strong reputation for our exceptional and uniquely talented people who between them deliver outstanding results for clients. In a firm of our size, our strong team dynamic creates a thriving culture of creativity and entrepreneurialism. Howard Kennedy is a pragmatic and non-hierarchical environment where success is shared, and you are proactively encouraged to thrive at your own pace.

Our distinctive culture is built on fairness and respect. Guided by the firm’s values of talk straight, think smart and be yourself, everyone in the firm holds equal value, and everyone plays their role in supporting, encouraging and inspiring colleagues to do their best work.

At the same time, we recognise and reward individualism, celebrating the diversity of our people and supporting them to grow their practice and drive their own career advancement.

As well as client work, there is opportunity to broaden your horizons at the firm with fulfilling pro bono and charity projects. We have a regular social calendar full of wellbeing activities, charitable and social events too.