Jim Aveline

Spear’s Review

Jim Aveline is a Burges Salmon partner and head of the firm’s private client services department.

‘Some clients are international, some are more UK res-dom focused – lots of landed estates work, old farming families or people who have bought farms recently, and family business and succession work,’ he says.

Aveline advises on tax, trusts, estate planning and intergenerational tax, and often delves into high-value probate cases. He observes a great deal of change in the way in which structures are now used to hold wealth; trusts, companies or partnerships are increasingly widespread. This has caused a definite shift away from complex structures likely to be challenged by HMRC.

‘Clients are reaching the point where they would rather pay the tax,’ he says.