Course of action

Every year, the Private Client Section runs a market-leading series of seminars, free for Section members, on a range of key private client topics. This year’s series started on 13 November and runs until March, with 12 seminars covering alternative dispute resolution, taxation, elderly client and recent developments in private client practice. The seminars focus on current private client issues, identifying best practice and how practitioners can avoid problems and pitfalls. They cover a range of topics relevant to busy private client practitioners and are conducted by lecturers who are acknowledged experts in their fields, including Professor Lesley King.

All seminars are free of charge for Section members (or from £35 for non-members). Each seminar is accredited for 1.25 CPD hours, starts at 6pm (registration from 5.30pm), and is followed by an opportunity for networking.

The first of the series to start, covering alternative dispute resolution, discusses how to prepare a persuasive position statement, conflict between litigious personal representatives, and tax considerations. The second is a tax update, covering topics such as maximising inheritance tax reliefs, deduction of liabilities, and the proposed reforms to the relevant property regime. The third covers elderly client issues, including an overview of the impact of the Care Act 2014, and a round-up of recent Mental Capacity Act case law and decisions. The final seminar is a general round-up of recent developments in private client law and practice, including the implications of recent high-profile cases (such as the Jimmy Savile estate litigation and the Lucian Freud litigation), the will-drafting implications of the Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Act 2014, and effective post-death variations of wills.

The 2014 seminars are included in your 2014 Section membership. Don’t forget to renew your membership so you can attend the 2015 sessions – you can fill out the membership form opposite to renew.