By Ellie Blow, Legal Content Editor, CLTI
Wondering what it’s like to work in trusts and estates, and whether it’s the right career path for you? Look no further! We’ve collected just some of the reasons why this career path could be a rewarding one. And you don’t just need to take our word for it – we’ve asked the experts, practitioners with long and successful careers in trusts and estates, why they love it so much, too.
1. Work in a growing industry
According to the 2024 Forbes World Billionaires List [1], there are over 2,700 billionaires in the world today, and that number is growing. There’s a growing need for trust and estate practitioners, as well as wealth managers, so there are plenty of opportunities available to carve out a meaningful and rewarding career.
At the same time, demand for complicated estate planning is growing amongst the middle classes, too. In the recent CLTI Spotlight Report, Your career in 2025: Trusts and estates, one of CLTI’s expert practitioner tutors, Julie Bell, said: ‘Family set-ups are more complex than ever; second and third marriages, cohabitees and blended families are all circumstances which are more likely to give rise to Will challenges. The increasing numbers of people living longer and developing dementia will inevitably lead to more challenges based on capacity.’
2. Make a real difference to your clients
‘As a private client lawyer, you have the amazing privilege of getting to know your client – getting to know families, problems, etc. – which you don't get in corporate work,’ says Iris Wuenschmann-Lyall, private client practitioner, author and CLTI tutor. ‘I really enjoy the interpersonal side of private client work...being able to add value to families.’
If you would like to be able to have a close relationship with your clients, trust and estate work could be for you. Unlike some other areas of law, you’ll often be working with the same clients for a considerable period of time – even, in some cases, over generations. You might need to assist in conflict resolution, or even help prevent conflicts occurring in the first place.
For example, when writing Wills, ‘a well-educated practitioner, familiar with the different avenues of attack, can help clients to take preventative action to avoid challenges,’ Julie Bell points out. You can feel like you’re really making a difference to people’s lives, and helping them in their time of need.
3. Work on what interests you
Trust and estates work is not a monolith, and a successful practitioner – especially one with professional recognition such as STEP membership – can choose to specialise in whatever they are most interested in.
Gavin Holt TEP, CLTI author and Head of Charity Probate at Foot Anstey LLP, chose to concentrate on charity work. He says of his decision: ‘It's an incredibly interesting area of practice, which touches on many of the different areas of trust and estate work, both in the contentious and non-contentious sense. It can be highly technical, and I have a particular interest in ensuring that charities make the very best use of their tax exemptions when inheriting under Wills, and helping them to navigate the complex rules around inheritance tax in partially exempt estates. It's so rewarding to know that the work I do helps to maximise funds for some truly wonderful charitable causes.’
4. The world is your oyster…
STEP is a global organisation, and many of CLTI’s experts have practiced or currently practice overseas. If you join the industry, you’ll have colleagues all over the world.
‘If you want to work overseas, get into the wealth management industry!’ offers Mike Parkinson, one of the founding authors and tutors on the popular International Trust Management pathway to the STEP Certificate and Diploma, who has worked all over the world in offshore trust management. ‘Wealth itself is mobile – it can go anywhere. So wealth managers are mobile as well. All of these major offshore financial centres are always recruiting. If you want to experience alternative cultures, then this is the business for you.’
Why not consider combining your passion for travel with your career, and working wherever takes your fancy?
5. Challenge yourself on a daily basis
‘Being a TEP [trust and estates practitioner] entails a commitment to flexible and lifelong learning’, says CLTI author and subject matter expert Donald Pearce-Crump. The unique challenges that make up a career in this field of law, he says, are ‘intellectually stimulating – both learning tax law and keeping abreast of the many changes that characterise the discipline’.
If you’re interested in the kind of career that involves constant learning and being challenged, trusts and estates might just be the field for you.
Whatever your reasons for picking trust and estate work to make a career of, STEP membership will help you to make a success of it. STEP membership is recognised and trusted globally as a benchmark of quality.
If you’re new to the area, why not have a look at our selection of Certificate qualifications? Specially designed for professionals in the early stages of their career who are looking for an introduction to a specialist topic, they will help you understand the core areas of trust and estates planning, anti money laundering, international trust management, and fund administration, giving you a headstart on getting the career you want sooner.