From drafting family constitutions to addressing digital threats, private wealth management goes beyond money to shape lasting legacies

“How They See It” is where we delve into the minds of those steering the ships of today’s most dynamic companies. In this instalment, we ask Suzanne Johnston about the work that she and her colleague, Yi Lee, do as Partner and Managing Associate respectively in the Private Wealth Team of Stephenson Harwood. She shares about her and Yi’s initial struggles in the legal industry, how they complement each other, and how what they do as private wealth lawyers goes far beyond money into shaping legacies and positively influencing the future. Click here for more interviews with business leaders.

Unfortunately, a lot of the initial conversations we have with our clients at Stephenson Harwood tend to start with death. We get them to think about what they have planned for after they’re gone, what will happen to their assets, and how they want to make sure that their children or business is taken care of. 

This is only one part of what Yi Lee and I do as lawyers and co-founders of Stephenson Harwood Singapore's private wealth team. We work with families and individuals to plan for their future by advising them and helping them draw legal documents. Our clients often have considerable wealth, which may be inherited, or because of a successful enterprise or company, but have yet to think about issues that lie ahead, so we help break things down for them and provide a solid yet flexible foundation for the uncertainties of the future. 

Or as Yi puts it: we help people to think, solve problems, build enduring legacies, and preserve wealth.

Balancing my career while undergoing fertility treatments and IVF for my second child was challenging. I had to give myself injections during lunch breaks, hiding them in my lunchbox, and kept my struggle private. Once, just before a major presentation, I received news from my doctor that I was miscarrying, but I had to carry on. That was a pivotal moment.

Now, with my family complete, I can focus more fully on my career. I was upfront during job interviews about my priority as a mother, and Stephenson Harwood embraced that, valuing the unique perspective I bring from my experiences.

Yi’s side of the coin

Yi’s career hasn’t been smooth sailing either. As a young girl she wanted to be a doctor and only became interested in law as her studies progressed. Yi has worked in both Australia and Singapore and for a variety of firms. She started off as a legal executive and worked her way up the career ladder – in short, Yi's path in law has not been linear and she wants to give hope to lawyers starting out that there is no "right" approach to being successful in law.

However, Yi has always worked very hard and she’s picked up a wealth of experience in various sectors of law. I also think she’s a good person, and that’s allowed her to find mentors who believed in and nurtured her, and now we’re working together.

Yi and I work well together. I’m much more detail-oriented and zealous, so I tend to get lost in the intricacies, while Yi is more conscious of the bigger picture and often reminds me that small setbacks aren’t the end of the world. This is especially important because Yi and I were creating something from scratch; the business that we have now only exists because we actively reached out to people and built a network.

Despite our differences, Yi and I have never fought. We handle disagreements with respect and focus on finding solutions. I’m proud of our achievements — Stephenson Harwood went from having no private wealth team in 2021 to being ranked Tier 1 in Legal 500 shortly after, the highest accolade. Legal 500 evaluates law firms from over 150 jurisdictions based on the innovative and creative counsel they offer.

Addressing misunderstandings 

There are many misconceptions about private wealth law. As a UK tax specialist, people often assume I help clients "shelter" money, which is untrue. The UK’s non-dom regime, for example, is a legal tax structure allowing those who live outside the UK to pay taxes only on income earned within the country, subject to a complex set of rules. Our clients aren’t evading taxes; they simply want to manage their wealth responsibly and within the law.

In fact, our clients often come to us worried that they’ll do something illegal without realising it. While they don’t want to pay more tax than necessary, within the law, they are not trying to evade payment. They just want to manage their wealth responsibly.

Yi and I also find the term “Trust Fund Babies” misleading, especially in Asia, where most wealth is first-generation. Our clients are often entrepreneurs, professionals, and business owners who have built their own fortunes, and they’re grounded, pleasant individuals.

Another misconception we often encounter is that private wealth is exclusively for the ultra-rich. However, many of our clients are salaried professionals, including lawyers from other firms. Our services are about helping people — whether they are multi-millionaires or everyday individuals — protect and manage their assets for the future.

The foundation of the work

Needless to say, clients often come to us after a trigger event, such as marriage, the birth of a child, or the death of a parent. 

Positive events like starting a family prompt clients to ensure their loved ones are cared for in the future. Conversely, difficult experiences, like dealing with a parent’s complicated estate, motivate clients to organise their own affairs to spare their children from similar challenges.

These moments, whether joyful or challenging, often lead to deeper connections with our clients, allowing us to build long-lasting relationships that go beyond just legal advice. This personal aspect of the work is something I find deeply fulfilling, especially after starting my career in a more corporate, large-scale setting where the human connection was often missing. 

Today, as a private wealth lawyer, I deal with difficult but pertinent issues with meaningful outcomes, such as the possibility of marriage or divorce, how to protect a child in a vulnerable situation, or helping people to plan for what will be done if they were to die or lose capacity. 

Modern problems, modern solutions

Beyond the usual scope of our work, part of the reason why we received such a positive ranking in Legal 500 has to do with the way we are actively bringing up modern-day issues with our clients. We live in a digital age now, and correspondingly, there’s been an evolution of what matters to clients.

Digital assets are one example. We will ask our clients what they want to do with the data in their Cloud. Online platforms all have different policies about what happens after death, so we usually have to research all the platforms that our clients have. For instance, those with an Apple account can nominate someone to access their Cloud and other digital assets after they have passed.

We also guide clients through the unique challenges posed by digital assets, particularly for influencers whose social media accounts are valuable business assets. We help them consider succession plans—whether to pass on their accounts, keep them as legacy profiles, or delete them upon death. 

Beyond this, clients are increasingly concerned about their children’s online presence, especially since high-profile families are at greater risk of fraud, social media manipulation, and blackmail. Addressing these concerns requires creative legal approaches, as traditional tools often fall short in managing modern digital threats.

Family-oriented services

Another service we provide is advising clients on managing family disputes by drafting family constitutions — mission statements that outline how a family should approach various matters. These documents help shape future interactions and minimise conflicts by setting principles around integrity, kindness, and even the treatment of staff. In family businesses, a stable household is crucial, as the strength of the family often underpins the business itself.

And even if a family member is not good at business, we try to encourage our clients to involve them in other ways — maybe put them at the head of the charitable arm, or in charge of other things, like planning family get togethers or taking care of the wellbeing of the family holidays. The role of the peacemaker in a family cannot be undervalued. This way, people will feel a sense of belonging and ownership of their household.

In addition to advising families, we draft legal documents like trust documents that outline how a trustee should take care of and manage a family's wealth into the future. Our close relationships with clients also allow us to engage in deeper conversations, including topics like sustainability. While succession planning is important, it holds little value if the next generation inherits a compromised world. By highlighting this, we encourage families to consider more responsible investment choices that align with their long-term legacy.

Having these conversations and seeing how they manifest into tangible change gives me hope that in this role, we can shape the future little by little.