Lawrence Hiller‑Wood

Lawrence is an Associate in the firm's Private Wealth Disputes team in Mishcon Private.

Lawrence specialises in resolving disputes in relation to wills, trusts and estates, including those which are complex, high-value or feature an international element.

His work regularly involves claims concerning the validity or construction of a will; breach of trust and tracing assets; applications for the removal of executors and trustees; claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and associated professional negligence.

Lawrence is a contributor to the Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal and has written on reported cases in which he has appeared before the High Court.

Lawrence has been ranked as a Leading Associate for private wealth disputes in Legal 500 (2025) and a Star Associate in Chambers HNW (2024/25).

Alongside his work, Lawrence is a member of the National Association of Independent Administrators (where he sits on the Next-Generation committee); a member of the Contentious Trusts Association (ConTrA); is completing ACTAPS accreditation; and is a member of OpenWealth.

Key Experience

• Acting in the reported case of Hopes v Burton & Ors [2022] EWHC 2770 (Ch) in a contested Pitt v Holt application to set aside defective deeds on the grounds of mistake, avoiding catastrophic tax consequences.
• Successful defence of a £14m will validity challenge, brought by the excluded adult children of the Deceased. The claim was withdrawn pre-action.
• Advising remaindermen of two dynastic family settlements on historic breach of trust claims spanning three generations, and associated professional negligence.
• Acting for a class of beneficiaries in a contested professional executor/trustee removal claim affecting three family estates.
• Defence of an Inheritance Act claim involving a cohabitee and posthumously conceived child.
• Mediated settlement of a 9-year long Inheritance Act and will validity claim.
• Mediating a proprietary estoppel claim relating to a central London property held by an offshore company which was, in turn, owned by a Lichtenstein Foundation.

Career History

Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Associate, Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP
Solicitor, Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP
Trainee Solicitor, Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP
The University of Law, Legal Practice Course
University of Sussex, LLB (Hons)

Articles and Publications

• Trusts and Estates Law and Tax Journal: Tax: Operative mistakes and unintended consequences – Law Journals