Walter Andreoni

Partner, Mercanti e Associati

Walter Andreoni joined the Studio as a partner in 2017 and deals with all areas of tax law, including in particular corporation taxation, international taxation, transfer prices and Community VAT.

After completing his degree in Economics at the University of Turin, Walter specializes in attending Master's (LL.M.) International Tax Law at the University of Leiden, Netherlands and has worked for several years with Studio Maisto e Associati.

He is a lecturer in primary post-university specialization courses on international taxation issues, author of tax publications and rapporteur at national and international conferences.

Vernon Dennis

Partner, Howard Kennedy

A highly experienced specialist in business transformation, Vernon has over 25 years’ experience designing and implementing financial recovery and restructuring plans for business clients and is Head of the Business Recovery and Reconstruction group at Howard Kennedy.  

Leading our specialist group of experts he utilises the full resources available from within the firm, whether tax, employment, banking or real estate to provide pragmatic and commercially driven solutions for clients. And where applicable, he works in collaboration with leading industry experts.

Known for his technical expertise, but for making the complex, simple, Vernon advises insolvency practitioners, creditors, and debtors on a wide range of corporate recovery, reconstruction, and business rescue issues, both domestically and cross-border. He specialises in strategic and advisory support for company boards when planning programmes of business turnaround, restructuring, or transformation.

He has extensive experience in retail and restaurant distress, property portfolio restructuring, and cases known for their technical complexity.

Vernon is a Fellow of R3 (The Association of Business Recovery Professionals). A regular lecturer and commentator on insolvency, he is author of The New Law of Insolvency (2003), Insolvency Law Handbook (1st Ed 2005; 2nd Ed 2007 and 3rd Ed 2013), Administration (2010), Liquidation (2011), and Bankruptcy (2012). These have all been published by The Law Society.

2021 sees the fourth edition of his Insolvency Law Handbook published by The Law Society. This step-by-step guide carefully explains each of the main insolvency processes, highlighting the key decisions to be made, the options available and the potential pitfalls. The handbook continues to act as an essential asset for professionals called upon to advise debtors faced with personal or corporate insolvency, or their creditors.

If you would like to purchase the book, please visit The Law Society Bookshop.

Ben Bidnell

Principal, Shipleys LLP

Ben looks after the audit and accounting requirements of fast growing entrepreneurial businesses, which often need to draw on his corporate finance experience to move forward effectively. His expertise in this area includes financial and commercial due diligence, both for business owners contemplating an acquisition and lenders looking at a borrowing request, debt finance and restructuring and advising on the process of floating on markets such as AIM and Plus.

Evgeny Protasenko

Managing Partner, Tidal Wave Ltd

Evgeny has a BS in Applied Physics and Maths, MS in CS.  He switched to finance and spent 10 years in international M&A before getting back to tech in 2018.

He co-founded HPC Hub (rocketcompute.com), moved to SF and got admitted to Alchemist Accelerator Class XXI (the
top accelerator in Silicon Valley for b2b startups).  In parallel, he's advised other startups on matters of global strategy, relocation to the US, and fundraising strategy, which led to the founding of Tidal Wave, an investment syndicate focussed on early-stage startups.

In 3 years, Tidal Wave has invested in 11 companies ~$6.2m (incl. HyPoint, xRobotics, Abagy, GPU Audio, gauss.money, primeclass.io, etc).

In 09/2022 he exited his first investment, HyPoint (took a CFO role for 6 months to manage the deal).  Since then, he has focused on raising our first fund, focussed on early-stage deep tech. Fund’s main focus: Energy transition, Robotics & Real-life AI, Biomanufacturing & Agritech.

Liz Palmer

Partner, Head of Private Client and Family, Howard Kennedy

Liz advises a variety of clients about the establishment and structuring of trusts for the effective devolution of family wealth and tax mitigation. She has particular expertise acting for non-UK resident/domiciled individuals and specialises in the creation of off shore trusts and complex asset structuring for high net worth individuals.

Liz deals with all forms of inheritance tax and capital gains tax planning and also advises on wills and estate planning particularly for clients with interests and connections with the USA.

Liz is dual qualified being a solicitor and Chartered Tax Adviser (member of Chartered Institute of Taxation).

Lucy Greenwood

Partner, International Family Law Group

Lucy Greenwood is a Partner at iFLG. Lucy has a very broad depth of experience and knowledge in resolving family issues having specialised exclusively in the field of family law for the last 18 years.

For further information about Lucy, visit the iFLG website

Matteo Rapinesi

Senior Partner, LAWP

Matteo Rapinesi is a Partner at LAWP.  His practice mainly focuses on international tax law. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, joint-ventures, corporate finance transaction as well as in estate and succession planning. He is also involved in real estate transactions.

Author of publications on commercial and tax law, Matteo is the co-author of the Italian chapter of the volume International Tax Systems and Planning Techniques published by Sweet & Maxwell.

Lecturer at the postgraduate Master courses in Taxation and Business Law organized by Il Sole 24 Ore Business School.

Matteo is also a member to the scientific committee for the Scuola di Alta Formazione delle Tre Venezie.

Michael Lewis

Partner, EY Private Client Services, US/UK

Michael has over 23 years of experience in advising on US and UK private client tax issues.  He provides advice across a broad spectrum of areas including: US and UK interaction on personal income, capital and social security taxes, US gift and estate taxes, UK inheritance tax, and tax-efficient charitable planning. He also has a keen interest in the taxation regarding divorce cases.

Michael is a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) and a US Enrolled Agent (EA). Michael won Accountant of the Year in Citywealth’s Magic Circle 2021 Awards. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Politics from University of Warwick.

Michael has a passion for philanthropy, in terms of personal fund raising via sponsored cycle events, through to his focus on pushing for a reform of the tax system to help develop a bigger culture of giving in the UK. Michael is an avid supporter of donor-advised funds, and speaks regularly on their tax benefits, and how they help energise family gifting. He believes strongly that the tax system should be reformed to encourage more innovative gifting arrangements.

David Piesing

Consultant, Tenn Capital

David joined Tenn Capital as a Consultant in a part-time role, focusing on deal origination from among his large global network of connections in the private client industry.

He has 40 years’ experience in the private wealth industry and has successfully built many loyal, long-standing relationships with clients and advisors.

David’s long career has involved a heavy fiduciary BD element – he will also continue as a part-time consultant in that industry.

Catherine Jewell

Partner, Beck Greener

Catherine Jewell is a Partner at Beck Greener LLP and provides patent-related services in the chemical field, from initial advice on patentability, to drafting and filing applications and their prosecution, including opposition and appeals. She has a particular interest in the new unitary patent system which is expected to come into force in Europe in 2017.

She is also a Chartered and European Trade Mark Attorney and has advised on a variety of issues in relation to the use and registration of marks, from clearance searches and pre-filing advice, through to opposition and invalidity/revocation actions.

The majority of her experience relates to European patent and trade mark applications, but she has also handled global portfolios covering countries such as the US, China, Korea, Japan and Canada.

Catherine worked in solid-state and materials chemistry before joining the IP profession, concentrating on the synthesis of inorganic materials and manipulation of their structure and properties.

Roy Saunders

Founder and Chairman, IBSA

Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1967, Roy Saunders has accumulated a wealth of commercial experience working independently in commercial property, international tax, advertising and other industries. He is the Chairman of IFS, a boutique international tax practice based in central London. Academically, he is known throughout the world for his many books and publications, the foremost being his red book, International Tax Systems & Planning Techniques published by Sweet & Maxwell. Roy has also taught an MA Course on International Taxation at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London.

Roy is very proud of the fascinating client base of entrepreneurial individuals that he has built up at IFS. He feels strongly about the role that ethical tax structuring plays in the growth of an economy, and that this needs to be better understood by the public at large. Roy founded the IBSA to enable business professionals around the world to discover new business relationships and promote best practice by creating sustainable business structures compliant with international transparency, corporate governance and social responsibility.

Maurizio Marullo

Senior Partner, LAWP

Maurizio Marullo is a Partner at LAWP.  His practice focuses on commercial, corporate, international tax law and criminal tax law. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, joint-ventures, corporate finance transaction as well as in estate and succession planning, insolvency and restructuring procedure. He is also involved in real estate transactions.

Author of publications on commercial and tax law. Maurizio is the co-author of the Italian chapter of the volume International Tax Systems and Planning Techniques published by Sweet & Maxwell.

Lecturer and speaker at seminars and conferences on commercial law and tax criminal law; lecturer at postgraduate Master courses in Taxation and Business Law organized by Il Sole 24 Ore Business School.

Admitted to practice before the Italian Supreme Court since 2015.

Jose Aguilar Shea

Partner, Squire Patton Boggs

Jose Aguilar Shea is a partner of the Tax Strategy & Benefits department in our Madrid office. He has broad experience as a tax lawyer with particular expertise in the international tax practice including investment planning, reorganizations and joint ventures and commercial transactions.

Through secondments in Lisbon and Sao Paulo, Jose has been able to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the Brazilian tax and legal system.

Jose lectures in the international tax master’s program of Centro de Estudios Financieros in Madrid and is a regular speaker at various international legal forums and conferences.

Philip Baker KC, OBE

Field Court Tax Chambers

Philip Baker KC joined Chambers in 1987, having been a full-time lecturer in law at London University from 1979 until then. He has maintained some links with academia, and is now a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.  He took silk in 2002.

He specialises primarily in international aspects of taxation, which covers both corporate and private client matters. He has a particular interest in taxation and the European Convention on Human Rights, and is the author of a book on Double Taxation Conventions.  He has appeared in cases before courts and tribunals at virtually every level from the Special Commissioners (now the Tax Tribunal) to the House of Lords, Privy Council and European Court of Justice.

He is a former member of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, and remains a member of several committees of the CIOT and of the International Tax Sub-Committee of the Law Society.  He is a member of the UK Committee of the International Fiscal Association and a member of the Permanent Scientific Committee of IFA.

He is married with twin sons and a younger daughter.  His children are now too old for bedtime stories, but his ambition is to get home each night in time to prise them away from various screens and get them to bed.
In 1997 he was awarded an OBE for work with Chinese political refugees in the UK.

Derren Joseph

Partner, Moores Rowland Asia Pacific

Derren is a part of an international tax team that works with 6, 7 and 8 figure International Entrepreneurs, Expats and Investors to legally minimize their global tax burden and protect their wealth. Strategies include second citizenships, second residencies, trusts, foundations, insurance wrappers and other offshore structures.

Aside from successfully completing the Comparative Tax Program at Harvard University, Derren is an EA (Enrolled Agent). As an EA, he has been admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to represent taxpayers in all 50 states and internationally. He has 2 Masters Degrees in Economics and a Certified Diploma from the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the UK).

Derren has done Executive Education with Columbia Business School, and has completed Advanced Tax coursework at both New York University and the University of London.

His views have been published in the Singapore Business Review, Forbes Asia, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, the International Business Structuring Association (in the UK), Offshore Alert, and the (Trinidad) Guardian. And I have given "in person" seminars on tax issues in the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Portugal, Hong Kong, UAE, and the Caribbean.

Currently Derren is a member of the Briefing Group advising The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor of the City of London on current and emerging international tax issues. Finally, he has published 3 books on taxation, one of which was an Amazon Best Seller in 2020.