Vanessa Lee

Areas of expertise

Vanessa's primary focus is on advising clients on individual, family, trust and business matters and is widely recognised for having enduring relationships with families and entrepreneurs across sectors, from diverse backgrounds of significant wealth. 

Vanessa particularly enjoys supporting clients through the generations, ensuring that capital tax and estate planning is focussed in a balanced manner which ensures both clear succession planning and good governance.  

She has significant expertise on matrimonial and dispute cases, having also received industry recognition for advising on complex structures and disputes.

Vanessa is ultimately a critical friend to clients, providing them with succinct advice - no matter what stage they are at with their lives or circumstances.

Experience

Vanessa has over 26 years experience of providing tax planning advice having led key relationships with a variety of substantial private companies, family companies and landed estates.  

She has an extensive network and takes great pride in ensuring that both her clients and their wider advisors receive the very best proactive and supportive advice. 

Vanessa is adept in addressing advice which covers capital taxes planning, including estate planning, the sale of business assets and development land, trust planning, succession and family investment companies. 

She is also highly experienced in advising clients on social and charitable enterprises, Donor Advised Funds alongside impact investing. Through her own vocational roles, she understands the significance which philanthropy holds and the wider benefit it has alongside inter-generational and estate planning.

Notable client work and achievements

• Extensive UK and cross-border matrimonial experience.

• Working with family businesses on a range of issues including succession, governance, family charter's (addressing tax, commercial and family considerations) together with corporate structuring.

• Succession planning and restructuring projects for family groups including family trusts and a family companies of significant wealth.

• Advising UK resident clients on their international tax footprints.

• Advice on acquiring, holding and disposing of UK residential, commercial property and land held directly and through corporate and/or Trust structures.

• Advising on the personal tax aspects of corporate transactions, including transaction readiness planning (including trust structuring, Business Asset Disposal Relief reviews etc.), shareholder reorganisations, IPOs and management buyouts.

• Considerable post completion wealth structuring alongside wider inheritance and succession planning.

• The use and application of tax incentives to encourage private investment in enterprise.

• Advice on the acquisition, appropriate holding structures and disposal of luxury assets such as yachts, private jets and antiques.

More broadly, Vanessa is Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee and Council Member at The University of Hull, she is a member of the Development Committee for The Prince's Trust in Yorkshire and Humber, a Trustee of Yorkshire Children's Charity and sits on the Advisory Board of Tax Aid, which supports vulnerable individuals with their tax affairs. Recognised for her collaborative skills and ability to support others, she is an invited mentor on the Aurora Leadership programme.

Professional qualifications/memberships

Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) and Affiliate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).