Basil Zirinis is a partner of the Firm’s Estates and Personal Group, leading the international private client practice from London and New York. He represents individuals, fiduciaries and family-controlled businesses throughout the world in a broad range of matters, including domestic and international estate and trust planning, family business governance and transition, estate and trust administration and litigation. He speaks regularly at international conferences regarding U.S. and international tax and estate planning.
He also has extensive experience in trust and estate litigation and has been involved in many of the leading litigations in this area in the last 25 years in the United States and abroad. Recently, for example, Mr. Zirinis and S&C have been counsel in the highly publicized litigation involving Chicago’s Pritzker family in the United States and the Bahamas, the America’s Cup trust litigation in New York, and multi-billion dollar trust litigation in Europe and the Caribbean.
Basil is the contributing editor of Chambers Global Practice Guides: Private Wealth 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and was the author of the U.S. chapter in this guide in several editions. He also co-authored the U.S. chapter of The Private Wealth and Private Client Review (2nd to 12th editions) as part of The Law Reviews series.
He is a member of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (“STEP”), and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”). He has been a trustee of the Leeds Castle Foundation and a member of the board of trustees of the American Foundation for the Blind.
Speaking engagements
- “Managing Cross-border Families: Navigating the Sea of Options”, Citi Private Bank EMEA Family Office Executive Forum (November 2024)
- “Key Trends in International Trusts and Estates Litigation”, Cambridge Forum Conference on International Wealth Disputes (October 2024)
- “Global Trust and Estate Litigation Trends”, The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law Annual Meeting (May 2024)
- “Are Sophisticated Tax Planning Structures Under Pressure?”, the increasing challenges of using “offshore” structures in tax planning across multiple jurisdictions, Cambridge Forum International Wealth Advisors Forum (April 2024)
- “Total War: Fighting Dirty”, the hostile tactics used in international trust and estate litigation, 17th Annual Private Client Global Elite’s Trust & Estates Litigation Forum (February 2024)
- Co-chairing the 20th Annual International Private Client Forum held at the Villa d’Este (2013-2023)
- Co-chairing the Transcontinental Trusts: Bermuda 2024 Conference (July 2024)
- “Busting Offshore Trust and Corporate Structures”, Cambridge Forum Conference on International Private Client Enforcement (March 2023)
