Marcus has more than 25 years’ experience as both an English lawyer and a Cayman-based professional trustee. His practice primarily involves managing disputes involving wealthy global families and their associated structures. Marcus has experience of dealing with litigation in England, the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the US. In his career story he recounts his work in Cayman and why he returned to the UK to join Stewarts, and shares lessons from his practice.
I joined Stewarts as a partner in the Trust and Probate Litigation team in October 2022. I knew James Price and the rest of the team very well as I had instructed them on a complex piece of litigation involving the Libyan Investment Authority while I was a professional trustee in the Cayman Islands.
Having started my career as a non-contentious tax and trust lawyer, in 2010 I established a boutique private client firm, New Quadrant. Working with four other partners from my former firm Payne Hicks Beach, it was a great entrepreneurial experience and we started on day one with 13 people on our payroll, so it was quite an undertaking. A few years later I became a professional trustee in the Cayman Islands before returning to the UK to focus on contentious trust work, most of it with an offshore angle.
Cayman practice and return to the UK
Since the late 2000s I have been working with a number of clients in the Cayman Islands and would visit the island often. In 2013, after enduring another miserable English winter and an interminable commute, I resolved to move permanently to a hot and sunny Caribbean island. Having found it very difficult to find a high-quality offshore trust company that focussed on difficult trusts, I decided to create one.
I first set up a Cayman office for a Swiss-based trust company called Summit Trust, and then joined Genesis Trust. We became the go-to and Court-appointed trustee for difficult situations and dealt with a broad variety of high profile and high value disputes involving some really fascinating characters.
The Covid-19 pandemic put paid to island life. Mine is a blended family with five kids now aged between 16 and 30, plus a very recent granddaughter. During lockdown in Cayman we only had one of the kids with us, and she was about to go to a UK boarding school. Not knowing how long we would be stuck (it turned out that five months would pass without any flights on or off the island), we resolved one Sunday afternoon to return to the UK. We did so while sitting on our balcony overlooking a beach that it was illegal to sit on, and a sea it was illegal to swim in, as a police helicopter flew overhead…
We had to readjust to the UK (especially to paying income tax again!) but this was fun as we had missed seasons and the sheer variety of things to do in the UK compared to Cayman. My wife Emma and I were also very happy to actually spend time with our children. I knew we would remain regular visitors to the Cayman Islands in any case as much of my work still involves a Cayman element.
Working life at Stewarts
As well as working on a number of global trust disputes, a key part of my role is to develop new business for the firm, not only in trusts but also for other departments and this has worked well. I have always loved the thrill of developing business and Stewarts kindly offered me a different kind of role which enables me to spend time doing this. I also have the opportunity to travel often, as most of my key contacts are in offshore jurisdictions.
I enjoy flexible working and think I work best when I am roaming. Whilst in Cayman I would travel almost every other week and so became very used to working on planes, in lounges and hotels and on the road rather than being in the office all the time.
The pandemic of course added some normality to flexible working, and that to my mind has been the good that has come out of a terrible situation. I think it helps to ensure an essential life balance to combat the everyday stresses of work, commuting, parenthood and life as a whole. I also think flexibility stimulates creativity and in my experience just getting up and going for a walk helps you to think through and find solutions to problems. If you can’t find me that’s probably what I’m doing.
I can honestly say Stewarts is the firm I have enjoyed working at the most and this is the job I have most enjoyed doing. Everyone here is a delight to deal with – they are extremely collaborative, supportive and really great lawyers, and we have lots of fun. The difference between a good and great job is all about the people, and Stewarts really excels at hiring, maintaining and promoting the right people.
Career lessons
During my career I’ve tried to try and learn something every day, and one of the most important lessons has been the philosophy of “if you are not sure, ask”. Listening is also a hugely important skill that many forget in their desire to always be talking. On the business development front always, always (deliberately said it twice) leave any interaction with a plan to further develop the relationship. Send regular follow up messages, connect that contact with a colleague, share some knowledge with them or organise another meeting/event/interaction (the more unique the better).
Outside of work
If I wasn’t a lawyer, my goal would have been to become a pilot, but I had poor eyesight which disqualified me. I still have a love of flying and a (peculiar?) hobby of buying used airplane parts. My favourite part is the rear exhaust from a retired and dismantled BA 747 (imagine Emma’s surprise when that turned up). It is now a feature in our garden.
My other love is interior design. I think I have a good eye and our recent acquisition of a 1906 home has allowed me to develop a unique style which I like to call Edwardian funk. If you have been on a Zoom call with me, you will have experienced a small part of this in my background.
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