Ed Powles

Ed has led the firm’s Art and Cultural Property team since 2019.  He advises a range of clients on art and heritage property related matters. He deals with both domestic and international transactions and structures. He has a particular interest in conflict of laws issues and the difficulties that can arise in relation to title to artwork and heritage property.

He is a contributor to the new edition of Professor Norman Palmer’s text on art loans.

His experience includes:

Ed advises UK and international individuals, trustees and private banks on a range of traditional and more complex private client matters. His experience ranges from traditional estate planning (including testamentary planning, lasting powers of attorney and probate) to more complex family succession and taxation matters.

He regularly advises on the creation, administration and taxation of trusts (both in the UK and outside the UK) in order to achieve a variety of goals, from traditional succession planning, to achieving protection under international investment treaties. He frequently advises on the complex trust law issues that arise out of existing trusts.

Much of Ed’s work is international in nature, and he has substantial experience of advising in relation to difficult conflicts of law issues, including the new Brussels IV Regulation, in the context of international trusts and succession planning.

He frequently advises individuals who are planning to become tax resident and/or domiciled in the United Kingdom on personal estate planning that may need to be considered prior to arrival, as well as the scope and impact of UK taxation that will apply to them when they become resident. He has a particular interest in the UK aspect of tax planning for individuals with connections to continental Europe and the Middle East.

In addition to advising on non-contentious tax and estate planning, Ed has experience of high-profile and highly sensitive tax investigations.

Recent experience includes:

Ed advises financial institutions, law firms and institutional trustees on a range of trust law issues associated with finance trusts (including securitisations), decommissioning trusts, unit trusts, escrow trusts and other specialist commercial trust vehicles. He has experience of drafting bespoke, complex commercial trusts, as well as advising on trustees’ duties and liabilities arising under commercial trusts, and UK taxation implications of various types of trust.

He also gives advice on particular considerations that apply when trustees (rather than individuals or companies) enter into a range of commercial transactions, including company sales and acquisitions. Recent experience includes:

Ed advises on the formation and ongoing administration of charities, and the duties of charity trustees. He has particular experience of advising on a range of governance and taxation issues, including the impact of the “tainted donations” rules, and conflicts of interest faced by charity trustees.

He also advises high net worth individuals and others on philanthropy, including the formation of UK and international charities. He routinely advises on tax-efficient giving through the Gift Aid scheme and ancillary tax issues.