Valerie Wu
Valerie set up the tax & private wealth practice for Pinsent Masons in Asia, recognised as Top tier practice by Legal S00 since 2018. She advises families, individuals, their family offices and service providers in tax, trust, funds and regulatory matters; acts as counsel to many UHNW individuals & families, on the tax considerations of family asset holding structures, to tailor solutions and provide ongoing advice for tax & succession planning needs, balanced with commercial, family dynamics & business continuity considerations.
She acts as counsel to many ultra high net worth individuals and families, on the strategic and tax considerations of the family asset holding structures, advice to licensed trustees and global financial institution clients, UHNW individuals and multinational corporations to tailor solutions and provide ongoing advice for tax and succession planning needs, balanced with commercial, family dynamics and business continuity considerations. Valerie is on the panels of and works with family offices as well as licensed entities such as trust companies, fund managers, private banks, wealth advisory teams for their cross border tax, regulatory and AML matters. She has a proven track record in managing tax & regulatory matters/ health checks for clients ranging from licensed trustees and global financial institution clients, UHNW individuals and multinational corporations to charitable organisations and educational institutions, as well as family-owned businesses in recent years in view of the rising tax compliance and regulatory requirements globally.
In view of her expertise on intricacies of succession planning &business continuity, Valerie is frequently consulted for her strategic advice on tax & regulatory matters re family businesses and family offices, customising family governance documents that meet the wishes of multiple generations, to managing cross-border tax & reporting considerations for families whose footprint covers multiple jurisdictions, as well as strategic advice/ risk management with a view to safeguarding the clients' position. Valerie and team also provide ongoing legal support to one of the largest private banks.
In January 2020, Valerie has successfully set up one of the first 20 VCCs (Variable Capital Companies) as part of a pilot program in collaboration with the Singapore regulator, Monetary Authority of Singapore. With this, she has enabled and continue to assist more institutional and individual clients from both the wealth management and fund management spheres to leverage on this new investment fund vehicle to better consolidate, organise and plan their investments and to augment the succession planning process for families and individuals. Since the VCC was launched in January 2020, Valerie and her team has built up considerable experience in advising institutional clients on utilising the new investment vehicle, be it from the regulatory perspective or the tax planning perspective.
Prior to joining the firm, Valerie held senior positions at law firms and wealth management funds - from Partner in private practice, to Head of Legal of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund's fully owned fund management subsidiary, and Director of Wealth Planning Asia Pacific for one of Europe's oldest trustees.
Legal S00 listed the private wealth practice setup by Valerie as Top Tier firm for Private Wealth in the Legal S00 Singapore Guide 2018 to 202S, and also recognised Valerie as a leading individual in private wealth in 2021 to 202S. The practice is also ranked for Tax in 2023 to 202S. Most recently, Asian Legal Business in Dec 2022 also listed Valerie as the Top 15 Private Wealth Lawyers in Asia. Valerie was also listed as a thought leader and global leader by Who's Who Legal for Private Client in 2018 to 2024, Citywealth's IFC Power Women List 2018, Citywealth Leaders List 2016 to 2018 and was also named in Legal Week's Global Private Client Elite 2018 / 2017, and the International Trusts and Private Client Elite, a list of 100 private client lawyers and advisors worldwide tipped to be "at the top of their field ." Valerie was selected for the Global Elite Directory, a list of the world's most respected lawyers advising UHNW clients.
Valerie is a Faculty at the Wealth Management Institute (WMI}. She is also nominated as a Senior Member of the WMI. She works regularly with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and was the only lawyer on Anti-Money Laundering Working Group.