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Justine is a senior partner in the private client and tax team. She is also head of the Swiss Practice and leads the firm's Community, Planet and Impact initiatives.
Justine joined Withers in 1999, becoming partner in 2004. She founded Withers' Swiss Practice in Geneva in 2005 and has led it since that date. She co-headed the firm's Global Private Client and Tax team from 2016-19, when she was voted into the position of Chairperson. She has a very successful practice as a leading tax, trusts and estates adviser, working with international families on their succession planning and the structuring of their personal assets and business interests.Justine's day-to-day work focuses on advising global families, their family offices and their trustees on generational transition and family governance. She works with families on international tax and estate planning matters to implement their long-term succession plans. Justine also helps families and their trustees to navigate their way through international tax enquiries and other contentious matters. Justine assists her clients to create structures and other legal solutions to help protect their families and their assets and to manage their business risk in an ever more transparent world.
Justine is closely involved with many of her clients' philanthropic endeavours, both in an advisory capacity and as a board member for their charitable organisations.
Recent recognition
Talks
- STEP Cayman, The rise and rise of the family office, Cayman Islands, 19 January 2023
- Citi Bank - Family Office Executive Forum, Managing a Global Family: Key considerations for the future, Geneva, 15 November 2022
- STEP Tel Aviv, Israel, Advising navigating in the turmoil, Israel, 20 September 2022
- Centre for Comparative Law (European and International), University of Lausanne, Switzerland, International succession - Executors and administrators under English and US law, Switzerland, 15 September 2022
- STEP Alpine Conference, Trust law in Switzerland, Switzerland, 5 May 2022
- PCD LATAM Panel, Trust and estate planning in Switzerland for Latin American families, Switzerland, 14 October 2021
- 13th Global Law Leaders Conference, The New Normal: Changing Stakehoder Dynamics in Law Firms, London, 8 October 2020
- Spears Wealth Insight Forum 2020, Generation Game : The Shifting Priorities of HNW Families, Online, 21 September 2020
- Withers, Everything You Need To Know About Brexit, Investing & Planning, Greenwich, CT, January 2020
- 12th Global Law Firm Leaders, Legal Tech Innovation, Talent: Creating and Agile Law Firm, State of the Market: In Flux and In Play, London, 3-4 October 2019
- Transcontinental Trust Geneva Conference, Operating businesses as trust assets practical issues and pitfalls, Switzerland, 1 May 2019
Insight
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External publications
'Law Firm Leaders: Withers' Justine Markovitz,' Law360, July, 2019
'Movers and Shakers: Markovitz to Chair Withers, and More,' The Deal, June, 2019
'Growing Withers Names Switzerland Partner Next Chair,' The American Lawyer, May, 2019
'Wake Up Call,' Bloomberg Big Law Business, May, 2019
Admissions
England and Wales, 1996
Education
London Guildhall University, Law
University of Manchester, BA (Hons), History
Languages
- English
- French
Memberships
Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (Suisse-Romande branch), Vice President
International Tax Planning Association
Law Society of England & Wales
International Fiscal Association
Key dates
- Year joined: 1999
- Year became partner: 2004