Lighthouse
Approach

Forty-four years
of quiet practice.

The firm’s lineage extends across four decades and three generations of practice. Through statutory revisions, judicial reinterpretation, and the rise and fall of competing jurisdictions, our discipline has remained singular: the durable preservation of wealth.

I

Nine locations. One practice.

The firm is a continuous practice resident in nine jurisdictions — Belize, Nevis, Wyoming, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Marshall Islands, Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Each office was opened because its surrounding legal infrastructure protects the structures we administer, or because its operational footprint serves clients across a particular region. A network of this kind is harder to build, and easier to defend, than a single office in a single capital.

II

We helped write the laws we work under.

When the asset-protection statutes that govern the structures we administer were drafted, members of our team were in the room. The firm originated the asset-protection LLC — the protective formulation of the limited liability company that creditor-shield jurisdictions later codified — and introduced the concept of the LLC protector, now a standard feature of LLC planning worldwide. The 2015 revisions to the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance and the Nevis Limited Liability Company Ordinance bear the marks of that same involvement, as do related provisions elsewhere. We do not merely operate within the law — we have, in several cases, helped author it.

III

The custodial problem the industry has not solved.

International asset-protection planning depends, finally, on the willingness of a credible bank to hold the assets. That willingness has narrowed sharply in the last decade. Heightened regulation, automatic exchange of information, and the cost of compliance have driven most foreign banks to refuse asset-protection clients altogether — and the small number that still accept them refuse anyone in litigation, with a growing tendency to freeze assets if litigation arises during the relationship. The protective architecture of a trust or LLC matters very little if no bank will hold the corpus. Over years, the firm has cultivated a set of proprietary custodial relationships specifically for clients in adverse circumstances, including those already in active litigation. To our knowledge, no other international trust company maintains comparable arrangements.

IV

One fee. No surprises.

Establishment and annual administration are covered by a single fee, fixed at the moment you engage us. The economics of your structure are visible at the outset and remain visible thereafter. We have found that the discipline of transparent pricing concentrates the relationship on the work, not the invoice.

V

Roots to 1982.

The practice has watched a great deal change since its founding — currencies, treaties, regulators, the rise and decline of entire offshore centers — and a few things not change: the elementary problem of preserving wealth across generations, and the elementary discipline of choosing the right jurisdiction, the right vehicle, and the right administrator for the task. Forty-four years is a long time to listen to that problem.

A representative grouping of the practice's professional staff in a paneled walnut reception room, lit by a soft north window and brass picture-lamps.

The practice

Resident in nine jurisdictions.

The line of practice

1982

The year the practice began. Forty-four years of statutes, cases, courts, and structures since.

  1. 1982

    The practice begins.

    Multinational trust roots take hold across two generations of fiduciary practice.

  2. 1992

    Belize Trusts Act enacted.

    Belize codifies one of the most absolute creditor-shield trust statutes in the common-law world. § 7(6) refuses recognition of foreign-judgment claims against trust property; § 7(7) excludes foreign fraudulent-transfer law altogether. The Act is later revised in 2020.

  3. 2011

    Belize office · Belize LLC Act.

    The firm establishes continuous presence in Belize alongside the Belize International Limited Liability Companies Act, which introduces the capital-contribution exclusion from fraudulent-transfer law and a substantial creditor-bond requirement.

  4. 2012

    Nevis office.

    The firm establishes continuous presence in Nevis under the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance and the Nevis Limited Liability Company Ordinance.

  5. 2015

    Nevis legislation drafted.

    Members of the firm participate in drafting the 2015 amendments to the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance and the Nevis Limited Liability Company Ordinance — the legislation we operate under, in this jurisdiction, was drafted with our involvement.

  6. 2019

    In re Rensin.

    A U.S. Bankruptcy Court confirms the structural resilience of properly established Belize trusts: creditors cannot reach Belize-domiciled trust assets without joining the Belize trustee, which Belize law makes substantially impossible.

  7. 2021

    Wyoming DAO LLC supplement.

    Wyoming supplements its 1977 LLC Act to admit decentralized autonomous organizations as registered LLCs — the first U.S. domestic statute to recognize the form. The firm extends DAO LLC formation work into its Wyoming office.

  8. 2022

    Marshall Islands DAO LLC Act.

    The Republic of the Marshall Islands enacts a dedicated DAO LLC statute, providing an offshore complement to Wyoming's domestic supplement under the same charging-order tradition. The firm extends presence into the Marshall Islands to administer this work.

  9. 2026

    Nine locations, one practice.

    Belize, Nevis, Wyoming, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Marshall Islands, Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines — each office selected for the specific protection its statutes afford or the operational footprint it serves.

Forty-four years

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