Citywealth Leaders List interview: 60 seconds with Ben Rosen, Quastels

Date: 26 Feb 2025

Karen Jones

This week’s 60-second piece is dedicated to Ben Rosen, Partner at Quastels.

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.

I head up the Private Wealth & Tax team at Quastels, which focuses on advising high net individuals and families on tax and succession issues, often with a cross-border dimension.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I can’t say I’ve had a typical or mundane day for about three years! Although, if I had to summarise, it would be a mix of running around London meeting clients and contacts, drinking copious amounts of coffee and once every few weeks, interviewing unsuspecting passers-by on Baker St as part of our Lawyer on the Beat series.

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.

Given the upcoming changes to the non-dom regime, we’ve been deluged (very sadly) with instructions for clients mostly heading to the departure gates. However, we also have a particular expertise in cryptoassets and we have been kept very busy working on some fascinating matters for several UNHW crypto entrepreneur on multi-jurisdictional tax and trust issues. Despite thinking I was entirely up-to-date on all matters crypto, I’m often left astonished by the pace of innovation and change in that space and am really kept on my toes by my brilliant clients!

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?

Many clients are considering leaving the UK and that applies to my UK domiciled clients too. Unfortunately, it is not merely a case of a higher tax environment but a perceived diminishing competitiveness of the UK on the international business stage. Choosing another jurisdiction is often not driven by fiscal factors, but by lifestyle and emotional considerations. Ultimately, this where my role goes beyond a technical advisor and, as a supervisor once told me during my trainee days, “you must learn to become a quasi-psychotherapist”. What for us is work, is very much personal for our clients and so I believe that, ultimately, humanness is fundamental to helping clients overcome their current challenges.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

Building my team from scratch within the last three years. The firm had traditionally acted for high net worth families but never focused on private wealth beyond property and immigration. With the support of my firm, many sleepless nights and a fair amount of business travel, we are in the great position of being able to advise fantastic clients with complex needs.

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

Listening. Lawyers love to talk and I am no different, but we cannot assume that we know someone’s needs from the outset. With private wealth, no client is ever the same, which is what makes the job so interesting. We are dealing with family dynamics, cultural idiosyncrasies and a variety of assets and jurisdictions. I often say to my team, our clients take our technical ability as a given, so focus on being a human first and the rest will follow. My old supervisor was right, being a quasi-psychotherapist is the way to win and maintain work, and build a team.  Another important attribute is an openness to change and criticism. Those who become dogmatic will remain set in their ways and not grow.

Who do you most admire and why?

This may sound mildly or perhaps overtly sycophantic but, on a work level, it has to be our managing partner. He is open to new ideas, to being challenged and never accepting a status quo. This is probably why our firm goes from strength to strength as, although it is a firm-wide effort, this culture trickles down from the top.

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?

Davos for work – and what a beautiful place! This was for a family office conference where I spoke on a panel about the transition of wealth to the next generation.

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?

As a child, I wanted to be a politician but my family did their utmost to dissuade me from what they say would have been a thankless career! But you never know in the future…

How do you relax after a long day?

I have a very energetic puppy at home and whilst I wouldn’t call this the peak of relaxation, he does take my mind off the pace of the work day. Once he’s asleep, it’s time to read or watch TV alongside my better half!