Citywealth Leaders List, 60 second interview – Nicola Bruce, Appleby
This week’s 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to Nicola Bruce, Partner in the Private Client & Trusts department of Appleby‘s Bermuda office.
Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.
I lead the non-contentious Private Client and Trusts team at Appleby in Bermuda. My work involves advising ultra-high-net worth international families, family offices, trustees, pension schemes, employee benefit schemes and charities on Bermuda trust and charity law. I genuinely love the complexity and variation of a modern trusts practice.
What does a typical day look like for you?
The work is an interesting mix of contentious and non-contentious trusts work. A few weeks back I was in the Bermuda Court with a leading London KC, clients from the family office and other members of our team successfully making a ground-breaking court application of a kind never before brought in the world, with critical consequences for a valuable dynastic trust – and then celebrating afterwards. Today I am meeting a client to discuss a trust re-structuring, working on the establishment of a new Bermuda trust for an international family, and wrapping up a commercial trust matter.
Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.
Over the past week I have been working with two leading London law firms, co-incidentally, advising both on the status of surrogate and illegitimate children in relation to various Bermuda trusts for their respective clients. Modern families with surrogate, illegitimate, step or adopted children often require advice specific to their circumstances and the terms of the trusts in question; sometimes amendment of historical trusts is needed to reflect the wishes of such clients; the matter can be surprisingly complex.
What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?
Over my career I have seen extreme challenges in relation to historical trusts: the family whose only child was excluded from the beneficial class of a colossal trust causing distress to the family; a catastrophic mistake made decades back which rendered a major trust void; “irrevocable” trust amendments which are later regretted; serious errors impacting trust deeds. In all of these cases, we have been able to come up with solutions, either out-of-court or by applying to the Bermuda Courts using Bermuda’s incredibly flexible trusts legislation to (completely confidentially) re-structure the trusts or re-write the past to right what previously went wrong. It’s amazing to come across those cases where, at first, the problem looks insurmountable – and then to work with a team of international advisors and clients to find a creative solution, often one that would simply not be possible in any other jurisdiction. I love sitting on the Trust Law Reform Committee and working with other industry professionals to ensure that Bermuda’s trust laws remain genuinely world-leading in their flexibility so that we can continue to offer these unique solutions. I remember finding trust law very dry as a teenager at Cambridge (it was my least favorite subject!) but in the real world I can’t imagine a more fascinating, dynamic and human area of the law to work in – there is so much scope for lateral-thinking and creativity: sometimes it feels like we pull off the impossible!
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Anytime clients say a heartfelt thank-you; being successful in every court application made for clients before the Bermuda Courts; being named a Legal 500 Leading Partner for my jurisdiction, and this nomination.
What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?
Being compassionate and supportive – as well as enthusiastic about passing on technical knowledge, listening to others and working collaboratively.
Who do you most admire and why?
I admire my parents most: they grew up in a deprived part of London but made sure that their children developed a love of learning, and they have been there for us and their grandchildren all their lives. Many of my clients are self-made and it’s an honour to meet such inspirational people from all parts of the world and to witness their common humanity: especially the way that they are so often keen to shelter their children and grandchildren from the harmful aspects of their success, and to instill in younger generations a good work ethic and values, including family harmony and philanthropy: it’s great working with such clients on flexible trust structures and family constitutions which are designed with those goals in mind – my work is often highly academic and involves staggeringly large sums– but unusually for work of that description, family is at the heart of much of it.
Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?
I took my son (who is 7) to Lapland just before Christmas – he’s usually such a chatterbox, but he’s always rendered speechless in the presence of Santa Claus. We travelled a little more in Finland this year and it blew us away: highlights included visiting a remote ski mountain where my son skied for the first time, sledging with him, watching movies in a hot tub as our hair froze and just, generally, Christmasing-out to the max.
If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?
I always loved physics – so in my next life I’d like to be a theoretical physicist – or maybe to run a ramshackle little beach café or bar in Costa Rica or Italy.
How do you relax after a long day?
Watching oddball cartoons with my son and annoying him by singing the theme tunes all wrong; hearing his cheeky little jokes and laughing together; just being around him, really.
Nicola Bruce’s Citywealth Leaders List profile
Appleby’s Citywealth Leaders List profile
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