Instinct isn’t guesswork, it’s born from experience

Legal: Howes Percival

The best advisers not only tell you what the law is, but also help you decide what to do.

Acumen and insight

“Our last lawyers always told us we couldn’t fix it, but we’ve never understood why.”

My potential clients told me this as I flicked through a yellowing trust deed.

“I don’t think that’s right,” I replied. “I’m sure there’s a way through this.”

You know that feeling when you listen to a melody and a single note is played off-key? It’s like that.  Something’s not right, even if you can’t identify it straight away. I didn’t doubt the previous advisers’ professionalism, but after 30 years of unpicking similar problems and pulling the deeds apart, I knew it felt wrong. Deeds from 2001 simply weren’t drafted like that. There’s almost always a way.

Being able to tell your client “I’m confident there’s a solution but I need to confirm what works best” is hugely valuable.

Technical knowledge can be learned from books, legislation and precedent – insight cannot. It is pattern recognition built on countless successes and failures, conversations and collaborations. It comes from being wrong often enough to know when you’re right, and being creative enough to find answers in even the most tangled knots. 

From the inside, insight seems obvious; from the outside, it appears instinctive.

Options and advice

Even harder, but more valuable, is the ability to take your advice further.

I work with business owners who have spent decades building something of lasting value. When the legal and tax issues get in the way, those people want guidance and advice, not just options. 

This is rarely a legal question. It’s not even asking what I would do. It’s asking me to judge from everything I know about their circumstances, their nature and their family, which route will most likely produce the outcome they are most comfortable with.

Your eyes lift to the ceiling as you silently rattle through decades of clients in similar situations, and with similar personalities, family dynamics and interactions. What are the costs – emotional and financial – and how readily can they be borne? Will the outcome be a bump in the road, or will it cut to the depths of their self-image? Do they want to save tax or sleep at night?

Neither the black letter law of tax nor the broad shades of grey of equity can readily answer those questions. It isn’t a legal judgment; it’s an empathetic one. It’s asking: in one, two or five years’ time, will my client be happier?

A prudent lawyer can identify the risks for you; a trusted adviser guides you through them. It is this combination of technical knowledge, experience and judgement that helps clients make decisions with more confidence.