Leaders List interview: 60 seconds with Stewart Stretton-Hill, Irwin Mitchell

Date: 20 Dec 2024

Karen Jones

This week’s 60-second piece is dedicated to Stewart Stretton-Hill, Senior Associate at Irwin Mitchell.

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What does a typical day look like for you?

With the nature of the work there is no typical day. My role involves advising on a broad range of private client matters but all have one desired outcome: to give my clients peace of mind. That will include advising on tax-mitigation, succession planning focussing on protecting wealth for future generations, advising on and setting up trusts, Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. My major focus and what I find most rewarding is helping individuals who may themselves be vulnerable or have vulnerable family members due to brain injury, dementia, learning difficulties or any other injury or impairment. This involves meeting with families face to face or by Teams, forming a view on individuals’ mental capacity, explaining where they stand, and what steps can be taken to support and protect the vulnerable family member. Most of my role is education. I have presented to financial institutions on their duties to protect vulnerable customers, help clients understand complex tax rules, explain to attorneys what they can and, most importantly, cannot do. Where attorneys or deputies want to take steps that are not permitted or (in many cases) have already taken action that was unauthorised I advise on and put together applications to the Court of Protection.

I am also the ‘technical mind’ of the team and, as such, research more obscure areas of the law and support the team by peer reviewing advice being provided, provide training and updates to the team, mentor and supervise our junior colleagues.

So every day is different, with varied challenges and, as such, very rewarding.

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

I have noticed an increase in enquiries related to the ‘right to die’ under the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill which attracted a great deal of media attention over the last few weeks. The right to choose the time and manner of one’s own passing is an emotive topic that I am discussing more and more frequently with clients. The current rules, of course, do not provide for this and, worse, an attorney, family member or friend who assists someone to end their life is committing a criminal offence. Such assistance could even include the simple act of a financial attorney purchasing the donor of the power of attorney a one-way ticket to Switzerland. Clients are increasingly aware of the need and right to have autonomy over their own lives and helping people to understand there may come a time, through accident or illness, that they may lose that autonomy is a vital part of the advice I provide.

Alongside this I am seeing an increasing number of enquiries from people wanting to protect their assets from the ever-looming care home fees. It is very concerning to see that, because in my opinion governments have not addressed the care funding crisis effectively, people are turning to more desperate methods of trying to protect their assets from being used to pay for care. I frequently become involved in having to unwind trusts and other schemes that were mis-sold or provided to clients with poor advice leading to hefty, unexpected tax bills. Part of the education I provide to my clients is helping them to understand that they should not set up legal structures or trusts without fully understanding the practical, personal and tax consequences.

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

The theme is constant. Clients want to protect assets from being lost paying tax, care fees or other claims on their estates while ensuring they have sufficient resources to see them through the rest of their lives. Working closely with financial advisors to ensure clients properly understand their wealth and therefore can comfortably give away assets during their lifetime is key. Clients prefer this joint approach from the financial and legal side as they can see all professionals are working together to their common aim and it ensures I can provide well thought through rounded solutions.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

I acted for a client with early onset dementia who suffered from severe anxiety. He was obsessed with financial worries, withdrawn in the care home and would not engage with social activities. His anxiety meant he was overwhelmed by what many of us would consider simple tasks such as paying a utility bill. He was desperate to make a power of attorney so that he could pass the day-to-day administration to someone else.

Sadly, he had previously been ‘written off’ as lacking capacity by a mental capacity assessor on the basis his anxiety prevented him from managing his finances. I disagreed with the assessment because I did not feel his anxiety equated to lack of capacity (a finer, technical point of the test of capacity) and was keen to ensure he had autonomy and choice. By spending time with him over several weeks, breaking down queries into simple bite size chunks and taking the time to reassure him I was satisfied that he did have the requisite capacity to make a power of attorney. For the avoidance of doubt, I involved an independent assessor who agreed with my view, and he was able to put in place a Lasting Power of Attorney.

Once the power of attorney was in place my client became so much more relaxed and was able to focus on more important areas of his life and joined in with activities in the care home and developed his own social group. Sadly, he passed away relatively shortly afterwards but I was so pleased that he was able to enjoy his last few months free of worry.

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

Patience and understanding. We all have different challenges, come from different walks of life, have different needs that drive us. It is crucial to take the time to listen to people and find out what is important to them. By doing so you can understand their drive, provide goals that are meaningful and offer the right support at the right time when they are most uncertain.

Who do you most admire and why?

Sir Terry Pratchett had an amazing imagination and an unbridled talent for story-telling. I never enjoyed reading as a child, but I became a fan of his prolific writing during my teenage years and Sir Terry’s ability to play with the English language and convey complex moral and scientific ideas in witty prose was, in my view, unrivalled. He was able to face his own mortality and debilitating Alzheimer’s’ dementia diagnosis head on with stoicism and his trademark dark humour. I was lucky enough to meet Sir Terry in his later years and was struck by his wit, intelligence, emotional strength, and passion for his beliefs despite his diagnosis. His lasting literary legacy will, I hope, inspire future generations to also develop a love of the written word.

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

We had a family holiday in Cornwall over the summer. I do not tend to travel abroad often and feel that Great Britain has so much to offer. To me, Ireland counts as “overseas”!  There is nothing like sharing with young family the experiences of the majesty of the mountains of Glen Coe, the mysteries of Merlin’s Cave and Tintagel or hunting the hidden paths in the forests of England for the odd dinosaur, fairy, or goblin!

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

Computer programming, without a shadow of doubt. I love the logic and problem solving that writing a computer program involves. It is rather like drafting a complex Will. Defining the variables (definitions in the Will), structuring if … else queries (substitution clauses in the Will), and setting out the default provisions if all else fails. The only difference is that you can, generally, test if a program works straight away. Wills tend to need to wait for someone to die!

How do you relax after a long day?

I try to ensure a good work-life balance which is made all the easier by working with such a supportive team. At the end of the day (assuming the chores have been done, homework has been finished and they have brushed their teeth) I love to settle in to read a bedtime story to my children (I even do the voices!). It is so rewarding, particularly around Christmas, when their imaginations come alive. If I haven’t dozed off with them then, perhaps some time on the bike, before doing a bit more on my computer programming projects.