Professional advisers spend their careers helping clients navigate change, yet many firms struggle with the very challenges they counsel others on. This session will explore succession planning within firms and chambers, the irony of failing to follow our own advice, and the growing challenge of attracting, developing and retaining talent. We will also examine how clients are choosing advisers today, what successful client transition looks like, and the differing pressures faced by specialist boutiques and multidisciplinary firms as they adapt to a changing market. 

Families face increasingly complex decisions as wealth, expectations and societal pressures evolve. This session will consider how families make decisions during periods of crisis, whether family constitutions genuinely deliver on their promise, and how different generations can remain strategically aligned as goals and values shift over time. Discussion will also address questions around the timing of wealth transfers, the relationship between wealth and mental health, and the importance of building exit strategies into family governance structures before they are needed. 

As family offices continue to evolve, what will they look like a decade from now? This session will explore the future of the family office model, including the balance between outsourcing and insourcing functions, increasing demands for transparency, and the growing importance of cybersecurity. Participants will also examine the competing forces of globalisation and fragmentation, as well as critical questions around data ownership, access and control in an increasingly digital environment. 

Reputation has become one of the most valuable (and vulnerable) assets for wealthy families and their advisers. This session will examine both internal and external dimensions of reputation, from operating in an increasingly anti-wealth environment and defending the rule of law, to managing client expectations and public scrutiny. We will explore whether family reputation should be viewed as an asset class or a risk category in its own right, the influence of social media and the Instagram generation of wealth, and the evolving expectations surrounding philanthropy across jurisdictions. The discussion will also consider legacy beyond wealth: what families want to be known for, and how they can build resilience in the face of reputational crises. 

Family disputes can be costly, public and deeply damaging, making prevention as important as resolution. This session will focus on practical ways to anticipate and mitigate the consequences of intrafamily litigation. Topics will include ensuring wishes are expressed as clearly as possible, strengthening contemporaneous evidence of capacity and freedom from undue influence during life, and the role and effectiveness of in terrorem clauses. The discussion will consider how advisers can help families reduce the likelihood of conflict while preserving relationships and long-term objectives.