Withers launches Hong Kong office, spearheaded by London tax partners Samantha Bradley and Kurt Rademacher

Withers’ has announced the launch of its Hong Kong office. The experienced team in place will focus on servicing the complex – and burgeoning – cross-border legal and wealth planning needs of entrepreneurs, families, businesses and their advisers throughout the region.

The Hong Kong office is a foreign law firm spearheaded by UK tax and family office practitioner, Samantha Bradley who is the Office Managing Director, and US tax practitioner, Kurt Rademacher – both are transferring from the firm’s London office.

From the outset, Withers will offer integrated international advice, providing a comprehensive range of US and English tax, international trust and commercial solutions. Hong Kong tax and commercial advice will also be available from March through an associated firm headed by leading US tax and Hong Kong legal practitioner, Mary Ellen (Mimi) Hutton, who joins from Bryan Cave’s Hong Kong office. Mimi will work alongside Kurt Rademacher to provide US tax advice as well as advice on Hong Kong legal and tax matters. Mimi has 30 years’ experience advising individuals, families and financial institutions in Asia on US and Hong Kong tax and trust matters.

The firm is adding a number of other senior lateral hires, all of them very experienced:

* Corporate lawyer Guy Facey joins from London based KSB Law LLP where he was head of the Commercial and International Group. Guy will focus on cross border corporate finance, particularly in the aerospace and automotive sectors. In addition to speaking Mandarin, Guy is also fluent in Italian and French. He brings to the team many years’ experience in advising Chinese and Italian companies and is qualified to practice both Hong Kong and English law.
* Francis Lee joins from Walbrook Trustees in Hong Kong. He is a chartered accountant with over twenty years’ experience in the region, having worked in a range of financial and management roles in leading financial and professional services firms. He joins as Executive Director (Asia). Francis is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

The team will also be supported in Hong Kong by:

* Silvia On, a specialist in family offices and international structuring who joins from the Hong Kong office of PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd where she was a senior consultant in the Personal Financial Services team. Silvia is fluent in English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Shanghainese.
* Nisha Chadha, a wealth planning solicitor qualified in England & Wales transfers from the firm’s London office. Nisha has experience on advising families in Asia on the creation of family offices and advising Asian families on cross border tax planning and estate planning. Nisha is fluent in English, Hindi and Punjabi.