Laytons ETL promotes Simrun Garcha to private client and charities partner

Laytons ETL, the City of London-based international commercial law firm, has promoted Simrun Garcha to the position of partner in its private client and charities team. Previously an associate partner, Ms Garcha has been with Laytons ETL since joining as a trainee in 2012.

Ms Garcha, who qualified as a solicitor in 2014, specialises in estate planning, probate, trust and charity law. She is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and a member of the Charity Law Association and the Association of Contentious Probate Practitioners.

Her expertise includes estate planning for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, setting up and administering trusts, and dealing with probate and succession, including cross border estates. She also advises charities and trustees on a broad range of governance issues.

Commenting on her promotion, Ms Garcha said, “The private client and charities team at Laytons ETL is highly respected both by our peers and our clients. We work on some genuinely fascinating, highly complex matters and, as a partner, I am really looking forward to continuing to build my practice and support the team’s work.”

In tandem with Ms Garcha’s promotion, longstanding partner Ian Burman has returned full-time to the role of head of Laytons ETL’s private client and charities team. Mr Burman, who founded the department in 1989, stepped back from the head of department role last year to focus on his own practice.

He has now returned to spearhead growth across Laytons ETL’s private client and charities department, as the firm embarks on an expansion drive.

Mr Burman is a leading authority in private client and charity law, and was chair of the London Central Branch of STEP from 2007 to 2011. He was a STEP committee member for 20 years.

Both Mr Burman and Ms Garcha are co-authors of Tolley’s Administration of Estates, the leading legal textbook in the field of estate administration.

In common with the rest of the firm, many of the matters handled by the private client and charities department are international in nature. In addition to its capabilities in estate planning and administration, contentious and non-contentious probate, trusts and charities law, the team is also able to call on the expertise of the firm’s tax practice, led by head of tax Marc Selby.

Ian Burman said, “The private client and charities team at Laytons ETL has undergone significant expansion and, with stretching but exciting growth targets in place firm-wide, it now feels like the right time to return to the head of department role. We have an incredibly strong team, with a wide range of capabilities, and are in a great position to take advantage of the many growth opportunities we are creating firm-wide.

“I would also like to congratulate Simrun on her well-deserved promotion to partner. I know she will play a key role in the continued development of our practice over the years ahead.”