Director of studies
James A. F. Wadham (Hong Kong)
James Wadham is Chief Executive of The Fiduciary and Consulting Group, comprising several entities in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Caribbean, all aimed at providing highly specialised solutions to clients’ problems.
Mr Wadham was first called to the Bar of England and Wales by Inner Temple and later admitted to the Bar of Hong Kong where he has been based since 1976. He has practised as a trustee for over 20 years and has lectured at a number of tertiary institutions and professional conferences during much of that time. He is also a legislative advisor to several Governments, and author.
Daily chairpersons
Howard S. Fisher (United States of America)
Howard S. Fisher is a senior partner of the Beverly Hills-based law firm, Law Offices of Howard S. Fisher. He is a business transactional attorney (corporate, real estate, asset protection, and securities), with expertise in business and tax litigation. He has published more than a dozen articles, has spoken at over 100 conferences around the world, and has authored sections/chapters in several treaties. He is a past Chair of the California State Bar’s Taxation Section, the Beverly Hills Bar’s Taxation Section, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Beverly Hills Bar’s Business Law Section.
David Russell QC (Australia)
David Russell was admitted as a solicitor in 1974, and was called to the Bar in 1977. He is admitted to practice in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Papua New Guinea. He was first appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1986 and holds that office in all these Australian jurisdictions. He currently practices in Sydney. He has acted for Commonwealth and State Governments as well as individuals and corporations. He has lectured and written extensively on taxation related topics in Australia and overseas.
Donovan Waters QC (Canada)
Donovan Waters is counsel to Home Coupar, Barristers and Solicitors, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. After graduating from Oxford he taught in university law faculties for over 43 years, and in six countries. He is Professor Emeritus, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He lectures internationally and has written numerous law journal articles. His book, Law of Trusts in Canada, is now, with contributing editors, in its third edition.
David Chong (Singapore)
David Chong is the founder of the Portcullis Group of companies which in late 2004 acquired the TrustNet Group. He is the Senior Partner of David Chong and Co., Singapore and a director of Portcullis TrustNet (Singapore) Pty Ltd. He is qualified as a Barrister of England, as an Advocate and Solicitor of Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, as a Solicitor in Australia and as Barrister and Solicitor of the British Virgin Islands.
Oliver M. Silsby III (Taiwan)
Oliver M. Silsby III is the founding partner of the Eastgate Group Ltd. Hong Kong (established in 1985), a firm advising Asian families on international investments and multiple international planning issues. He is a graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. A United States lawyer and a member of the California Bar Association, he is also a member of the Hong Kong Trustee Association and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
Case study advisors
Barry Woods (Australia)
Barry Woods is a commercial law consultant in Melbourne specialising in taxation. He has over 40 years experience advising clients on domestic and international taxation, mergers and acquisitions, effective business structuring and re-organisation, capital raising finance, investment syndication, business succession planning and general commercial matters.
Dr H.L. Bernhard Vischer (Switzerland)
Dr Bernhard Vischer was admitted to the bar in Zurich in 1978 and today is a member of the Swiss as well as of the International Bar Associations. In 1988 he opened his own practice and now operates an office in Zurich. Professionally, Dr Vischer is active in commercial and banking law, including litigation.
David White (Hong Kong)
David White was admitted as a Solicitor in England in 1980 in Hong Kong in 1984. He was the principal corporate-commercial partner in a major Hong Kong law firm before joining Mees Pierson N.V. as Director of Trusts and International Private Banking. With Mark Lea he established Lea and White in 1998, with offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. He advises banks and trust companies on their operations and products as well as advising corporate and entrepreneurial clients on their business activities, and on the protection and preservation of wealth at shareholder level.
Nigel Goodeve-Docker (United Kingdom)
Nigel Goodeve-Docker is an English solicitor who has specialised in the law of trusts and tax, both in the United Kingdom and internationally for most of his practising career. Previously Senior Partner with London firm, Wedlake Bell, he continues his specialist work at his own practice in Hampshire, England.
Peter Harris (Jersey/France)
Peter Harris is an English tax barrister and has practised since his call in 1979 in both British and French tax law. He practiced in France for over ten years firstly as in-house Tax Counsel to Renault, and after a period in Jersey, Channel Islands, for four years in his own Chambers in Aquitaine, before moving to London in 1999, where he has since practised at the Revenue Bar. He spent eight years in Jersey, in various areas of the offshore scene, and served as the French Consul there in 1994-1995.
Case study judges
Trevor Carmichael QC (Barbados)
Trevor Carmichael was called to the United Kingdom Bar as a member of the Middle Temple in London and the Barbados Bar in December of 1977. He is a member of the International Bar Association, the Inter-American Bar Association and a Committee Member of the Inter-American Bar Foundation as well as an associate member of the Canadian Bar Association. He holds membership in the International Tax Planning Association, the International Fiscal Association. He is the Barbados Country Chairman of the International Litigation Committee on Business Law of the International Bar Association and a former Deputy Secretary General of the International Bar Association. Dr Carmichael has spoken to a wide range of audiences on international, commercial and tax matters and has authored over one hundred articles and monographs in the areas of Law, Economics and Public Policy.
Andrew de la Rosa (United Kingdom/United States of America)
Andrew de la Rosa is a practising English barrister and United States attorney at law and has held dual English/United States qualifications since 1981. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and a former Inner Temple Scholar. He is an experienced advocate who practises in commercial chancery and the main areas of the traditional equity jurisdiction. His litigation and advisory work has a large international element and includes partnership and other fiduciary relationships, domestic and offshore trusts, estates and probate disputes, English and foreign company and commercial law and professional negligence.
Shân Warnock-Smith QC (United Kingdom)
Shân Warnock-Smith is a barrister specialising in trusts and wealth structuring, both in England and internationally. She has appeared in a number of the leading trust cases in England and in the offshore world. Shân is a regular speaker at international conferences and is a writer and broadcaster on trust issues.
Donovan Waters QC (Canada)
Refer to biography under Daily Chairpersons.
David Russell QC (Australia)
Refer to biography under Daily Chairpersons.