Rhiannon Russell is a senior associate in the private client advisory team at Birketts. She has worked as a private client solicitor for more than 10 years, advising clients on a range of matters from complex estate and tax planning to high-value probates and powers of attorney advice. Rhiannon has a particular interest in detailed tax planning for clients, including farming families and business owners. Rhiannon is also a notary public.
What was your career path to your current role?
My route to my current role was a bit more long-winded than usual! I did an undergraduate degree in Spanish and Politics and then undertook the law conversion course. I then immediately joined Birketts in September 2013 as a trainee solicitor, where I gained experience in four different areas of law over two years, including in private client. It was during my training contract seat that I realised how much I enjoyed private client work and the client interaction. I then qualified as a solicitor in the private client team in September 2015. Following qualification, I also then trained as a notary public, qualifying in 2021.
Did you have any other career ambitions?
I have wanted to be a lawyer since secondary school, but before then I used to really want to be an estate agent. When my parents were looking to buy a new house when I was very young, I absolutely loved nosing around other people’s houses and deciding which one I would like to live in!
What keeps you motivated in your work?
I enjoy being challenged. I love a good complex tax planning matter, where I feel I can really add value to a client and make a difference. Private client work is technical, and I enjoy the wide range of issues I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis and trying to find the best solutions for the clients.
What has been the best development in wills and probate in the last 20 years?
The use of technology and online probate applications. It was a long time coming, but the ability to make probate applications online has made a huge difference to the speed and ease of probate applications.
And the worst?
The ever-increasing compliance involved in trust work. While it is of course absolutely right and proper that there are procedures and regulations in place to deal with any suspicious activity, the burden the current regulations and laws place on the trust landscape means so much time is spent dealing with compliance matters rather than providing the advice people are looking for, and puts clients off trusts where they should be seen as a useful vehicle in tax and estate planning.
If you could bring in one new piece of legislation for the sector, what would it be and why?
Reforms or updates to the nil-rate band. It has been £325,000 for many years now, and with house prices having risen sharply over the years, more and more families are being liable to pay inheritance tax. Relatively modest estates are having to pay potentially large amounts of inheritance tax because the nil-rate band has failed to keep up with rising house prices (especially those individuals who do not have children and so are unable to benefit from the residence nil-rate band).
What piece of legislation would you take off the statute books and why?
Similarly, I would remove the residence nil-rate band and replace it with either an increase in the nil-rate band generally, or a replacement residence nil-rate band that helps a broader spectrum of society. The current residence nil-rate band is limited in scope, in that it only applies to those individuals who own a property and have children, and is also unnecessarily complicated, especially concerning the downsizing provisions.
What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you regarding your career?
That the law is a marathon, not a sprint. No-one is expecting you to be the perfect lawyer on day one. You will make mistakes (some small, some big), but you will learn from them and in time, they will make you a better lawyer.
What advice would you like to give to someone just starting out?
Be kind to yourself. The legal world is fast-paced, ambitious, daunting, stressful. But it is also incredibly rewarding, and I have learnt that starting out as a lawyer is the hardest part of the job. It gets easier, and you will be surprised just how much you learn and grow.
Tell us something people may be surprised to know about you…
I have walked on fire!
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