About
Francis’s legal practice involves advising HNWIs, family offices, PE and VC firms, financial institutions and trustees on their international structuring, tax and trust planning, and investment planning, with a particular focus on advising on bilateral investment and tax treaty structuring, global tax minimisation, and asset protection (expropriation) aspects. His practice involves corporate tax and particularly on advising on M&A tax aspects and investment rounds; in recent years, his practice has focused on international structuring and investments involving family offices and funds, as well as advising HNWIs, executives and families respecting their international assets and relocation planning.
Francis has extensive experience in trust and estate planning, particularly involving Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Dubai and Switzerland, and more particularly on tax residency and relocation planning using pre-immigration trust structures for families in Asia and the Middle East intending to relocate or to invest in other jurisdictions.
Francis is admitted to practice in Quebec, Canada and is registered as a foreign lawyer with the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Law Society of England and Wales, and the Ordre des avocats de Geneve. He was previously a tax partner with Baker & Mckenzie and Withers. He is based in Hong Kong, and was previously in Switzerland, Dubai and Canada. He is a member of STEP, the International Fiscal Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Canadian Bar Association, amongst others. Francis also sits on the various company boards.
