Saffery Champness appoints eight new partners

Eight new partners have been announced at UK offices of Saffery Champness, in effect from April 1.

They are Martyn Dobinson, Simon Hall, Robert Mace, Barbara Marchant, Sean McGinness, David Sedgwick, Andrew Watkinson and Lucy Woodward.

The new appointments mean that Saffery Champness has 83 partners across its nine UK offices.

Martyn Dobinson, Manchester

Martyn, a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser, is a landed estates, farming and agribusiness specialist. He advises clients across the UK on matters including succession, restructuring, capital tax planning and general accounting and taxation. With an audit background and time spent in industry, he brings a commercial approach to traditional businesses. Martyn regularly writes and presents on rural tax matters.

Simon Hall, Peterborough

Simon works with a variety of commercial clients, including privately owned businesses, international groups, professional partnerships and not-for-profit organisations, advising on audit, accounting and tax matters. His experience includes restructuring, business planning, forecasting, international, acquisitions and disposals and business valuations. Simon is a chartered certified accountant and chartered tax adviser, which enables him to provide a seamless service to his clients, ensuring the needs of the business and the owners are considered in a tax efficient way.

Robert Mace, London

Robert joined the firm as a trainee in the London office in 2004. He is a chartered tax adviser with a client base that includes high net worth individuals, their families and their businesses. He specialises in advising non-doms, family offices and trustees on all aspects of their UK tax affairs, including onshore and offshore wealth structuring and property related transactions. Robert also has an interest and specialism in the taxation of cryptoassets.

Barbara Marchant, London

Barbara is a chartered tax adviser and advises individuals, trustees and beneficiaries, based both in the UK and abroad, in relation to UK tax, succession and estate planning. She is experienced in advising UK resident and non-domiciled individuals in relation to their UK tax affairs and structuring their wealth. Barbara also advises offshore trustees in relation to their UK tax obligations and has experience dealing with disclosures of offshore tax issues to HMRC. She was listed as a Rising Star by Spear’s magazine in 2018.

Sean McGinness, Edinburgh

Sean is a VAT specialist and advises clients across a range of sectors. He has a particular focus on commercial, residential and mixed-use property developments as well as land transactions. His clients range from small scale developers to large landowners and FTSE listed housebuilders. More widely, Sean advises clients on their VAT process and controls, assisting with HMRC enquiries, disputes and risk reviews. Sean is a Chartered Tax Adviser.

David Sedgwick, Bristol

David joined the Bristol office in 2008 and qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant and subsequently as a chartered tax adviser. He manages a diverse client base comprising landed estates & agribusinesses, owner-managed businesses and high net worth individuals. He builds strong relationships with clients and provides pragmatic support and advice to meet their needs. He speaks regularly at industry events and has lectured at the Royal Agricultural University and Harper Adams University.

Andrew Watkinson, High Wycombe

Andrew trained and qualified at Saffery Champness in High Wycombe. He supports a wide range of commercial clients, individuals and not-for-profits providing advice on audit, accounting and tax matters, as well as business and financial planning. His clients range from new start-up ventures to well-established businesses including large international groups. As well as being a chartered certified accountant, Andrew is also a chartered tax adviser.

Lucy Woodward, London

Lucy is a chartered tax adviser and STEP member and advises on all aspects of private client tax, with a focus on ultra high net worth individuals and non-domiciled clients on the remittance basis of taxation. Lucy is particularly experienced in complex tax compliance and enquiries, as well as inheritance tax and trusts.

Matthew Burton, managing partner at Saffery Champness, said: “I am very pleased to welcome these eight outstanding individuals to the partnership, including three that began their careers with us as trainees. They have each proved they possess the very best technical knowledge and can consistently provide a high level of specialist support and advice to help our clients deal with complex issues.

“As a people-led business, we continually look to improve and enhance the training, career development, coaching and mentoring opportunities we provide to all of our people, to enable them to reach their full potential and deliver the exceptional service our clients expect.”