Dawn is senior counsel in the trust, estate and inheritance disputes team.
Hailed as the doyenne of trust litigation, Dawn has specialised in this field for over 30 years. She was the first litigator admitted to the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (and was voted Trusted Adviser of the Year in 2013) and is a founding member of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists. Previously a divorce lawyer, Dawn also specialises in the impact of divorce on trusts, such as in Charman v Charman (England, Bermuda) and is co-author and co-editor of International Trust and Divorce Litigation, 3rd Edition (Lexis Nexis).Dawn's cases include probate disputes, claims for discretionary relief under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act and acting in a variety of disputes as to how and by whom an estate should be administered.
She has been involved in numerous international cases where the laws on succession differ from one country or system of law to another, including conflicts between Koranic or Civil law and Common Law. Such disputes often arise over trusts, sometimes created with the intention of defeating entrenched inheritance rights under the law of the settlor's nationality, residence or faith.
She also advises and litigates for beneficiaries, trustees, protectors, Family Offices and adverse claimants in connection with a wide range of problems/ claims affecting trusts. Examples include claims relating to the interpretation and/or management of trusts, allegations of breach of trust and fiduciary duty, fraud, insolvency or removal of trustees and protectors.
Dawn is CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) accredited and is on the ACTAPS (Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists) panel of mediators. She has represented trustees, executors, beneficiaries and heirs in mediations to resolve probate and estate administration disputes, international succession claims and a wide variety of English and international trust disputes. Dawn has also experienced being a party to a mediation herself.
Dawn's career in trust and succession disputes, trusts and divorce (she used to be a divorce lawyer), acting as a fiduciary and advising family offices and UHNW families has given her insight into the practical as well as legal issues which can arise when she is acting as mediator. Most importantly, she has had considerable experience of working alongside clients in their grief, anger and the hurt that often accompanies such disputes. Her aim is to bring two essential qualities to a mediation: empathy and support for all the parties at a particularly difficult time and an ability to inspire ideas outside the box. Combined, they can unlock these highly- charged disputes and enable the parties to move on with their lives.
One of her specialisms is helping create more robust structures to better withstand attack, whether on family breakdown or – increasingly– from states or governmental bodies in an environment where political risk concerns have rarely run so high. Having attacked or defended many asset holding structures she is able to advise on creating or reconfiguring into structures better able to withstand attack. She also advises how best to manage such structures to reduce risk and preserve family assets.
Dawn, who is admitted and practising in England & Wales, is also admitted to the Paris Bar as Conseil Juridique Étrangère and admitted (but not practising) in the British Virgin Islands and in Eire.
She is recognised across legal directories for her expertise, ranked as a senior statesperson for private wealth disputes in Chambers HNW and listed in the Hall of Fame for contentious trust and successions disputes in Legal 500.
Recent recognition
Me in a minute
I wished to become an opera singer.
The reluctant litigator.
One miserable day longer ago than I care to remember I attended an interview with the Law Society who were to decide whether, as one of the youngest students and in a minority of 10:1 men to women at law school I was a fit and proper person to be admitted to the profession.
Uninspired by the inevitable ‘ Why do you want to become a solicitor?’ I replied that I didn’t: I wished to become an opera singer. Shocked, the interview panel searched for an explanation for my presence there, eventually lighting on my engagement ring and enquiring, ‘ Your fiancé- he is a lawyer?’
‘No. He’s a conductor!’
After this inauspicious start I decided that perhaps it was worth trying and found that I took to the law. Having begun my career in a country practice as a commercial litigator and divorce lawyer (sometimes known as Surrey’s Iron Lady) I was fortunate enough to join Withers and to set up and develop the Contentious Trust and Succession Team, now called the Trust, estate and inheritance disputes team.
At Withers life has rarely been dull: some cases resemble an opera libretto or a Greek tragedy. Withers is all about people: how they live, marry, look after their children, buy property, migrate, create and run businesses, set up charities, interact with each other and need help when that interaction breaks down. The work is intense and demanding but fascinating: complex legal issues often crossing cultures and borders; difficult family or business relationships giving rise to dispute and the rigour of the justice system (or several concurrently in a multi- jurisdiction dispute).
In recent years I have taken on fiduciary appointments, enabling me to see life as a charity trustee or director of a private trust company from those very different and instructive angles. I also advise on risk reduction and mitigation for trustees and other fiduciaries, using my experience of what goes wrong to help avoid it. Stress testing is another example of a poacher turned game keeper: having had a reputation as a trust buster it is not difficult to see the fault lines in a proposed or existing structure and advise on how to strengthen it.
Outside Withers I spend most of my time with my family doing almost anything creative or artistic, particularly renovating ruined properties.
Occasionally, I still sing.