Pinsent Masons expands tax team with Singapore hire

Working closely with Pinsent Masons’ market-leading Tax Investigations team, Valerie will build a tax practice in Singapore and lead the firm’s Tax and Private Wealth offering in Asia.

Valerie specialises in tax, trust and fund work, particularly in the context of private wealth transfer and succession planning matters in Asia Pacific. She joins from Rothschild Trust Group where she was an Asia based Senior Wealth Planner. Prior to that she spent 15 years in private practice as a tax and trust lawyer, including as a Partner at Lee & Lee / Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee.

Ian Laing, head of Asia at Pinsent Masons said: “Valerie’s arrival at Pinsent Masons underlines the firm’s continued growth in Asia.  Singapore’s significance as a regional financial centre and Pinsent Masons’ international experience and local presence puts the firm in the best possible position to help clients looking to Asia for opportunities.”

Jason Collins, head of the tax team at Pinsent Masons, added: “Following Valerie’s arrival Pinsent Masons will have a tax presence in all the major geographies in which the firm operates, including in the Gulf through the recent hire of Ian Anderson. Valerie’s hire further demonstrates Pinsent Masons' commitment to being a "one stop shop" for all tax services. We are seeing a lot of opportunities in Singapore and these are set to grow further as financial services businesses prepare for the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard which comes into effect on 1 January 2017 - and all multinational businesses adjust to the new realities of Country By Country Reporting and closer cooperation between tax authorities.”

Valerie’s appointment is the latest in a string of significant hires for Pinsent Masons’ international tax team. Last year the firm announced the appointment of Franck Lagorce in Paris, Ian Anderson in Doha, Werner Geisselmeier in Munich and Matthew Taylor in London.