The UK law firm of Herbert Smith has the marketing machine rolling recently including a "new" private client practice in Hong Kong: http://asia.legalbusinessonline.com/news/breaking-news/herbies-targets-wealth-management-industry-with-new-hong-kong-practice/40419
Herbies is certainly not new in Asia but was traditionally more of a corporate law firm and may have be only familiar to those on the corporate trustee side. Now they have set the hounds loose hoping to drum up contentious trust and estate business.
And if Herbies is successful, then that means trouble for somebody. Their raison d'être is to stir up trouble: sue or be sued. They are the antithesis of family governance for a family that stays happily together means no business for them. They require dysfunctional, and somewhat greedy families. They are looking for the respective sons and daughters of Hidetora Ichimonji and King Lear.
As the patriarch system of wealth in Asia is slowly dying out and being replaced by by western educated 2nd and 3rd generations, "issues" are more often settled in court rather than the old school way of being settled out of court. "All under heaven" is being replaced by fractional and warring family camps. Gentlemen's agreements are now replaced by writs. Appeasing the old man is now being replaced by marginalizing the old man.
If you're a trust/estate beneficiary or feel you should have been one, call them.
If you're a trustee or executor, avoid them or put them on retainer so they can't be used against you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment