Anthony Poulton
Biography
Anthony is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Dispute Resolution Department and head of the firm’s market-leading Private Wealth and Trusts Disputes team in London. He specialises in advising clients engaged in disputes related to private wealth, succession, trusts and private banking. In such disputes, he acts for trustees, executors, protectors, beneficiaries and interested third parties and is a familiar name in all the major offshore jurisdictions, where he regularly litigates cases.
Anthony is recognised as a Band 1 lawyer by Chambers for Private Wealth Disputes, who describe him as “the best in the business” with “an imitable combination of unmatched experience, pragmatism and considerable intelligence” as well as “a master strategist and superb technical lawyer.” Anthony is ranked in Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for Contentious Trusts and Probate, noting he is “the pre-eminent offshore trusts litigator in London” and “an industry veteran with a highly analytical and consistently level-headed approach”. Legal 500 also emphasises of the team that “market-leading reputation aside, what makes this team stand out from its competitors is the quality of its members. Without exception, they are exceptional - clever, responsive and engaging. They all really support each other.” He is also a “Global Elite Thought Leader” for Private Client and is recommended for Asset Recovery in Lexology Index. Anthony co-led the team to win Contentious Trusts & Estates Team of the Year at the Chambers High Net Worth Awards 2025 and the Law Firm of the Year – London Award at Citywealth Awards 2025. In 2024, Anthony was part of the team awarded the prestigious STEP International Legal Team of the Year. In 2023, Anthony personally won the Editor’s Choice Award in Citywealth’s Magic Circle Awards.
Anthony is a founding member of the Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association and a member of the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS). He has been a member of the Executive Committee of ACTAPS since 2018.
Practice Focus
Representative Legal Matters
Anthony has 30 years of experience of managing large scale litigation before various courts (first instance and appeal) including those of England and Wales, USA, Bermuda, Jersey, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, BVI, Singapore, Switzerland and the Isle of Man. In these cases he has advised on numerous aspects of trust and succession disputes, including:
- ADR and Mediation
- Acting for professional trustees in connection with
- Validity issues
- Disputes with beneficiaries
- Investment disputes
- Valuation issues
- Asset restructuring
- Tax enquiries
- Family governance
- Corporate governance disputes.
- Advising on mental capacity issues affecting family members and office holders.
- Trustee and Protector removal applications
- Trust document disclosure and rights of beneficiaries to access information
- Fraud
- Unfair Prejudice Petitions (minority shareholders)
- Asset Recovery
- Trust “busting” and validity challenges
- Sham Trusts
- Undue Influence
- Insolvency disputes
- Mistake and rectification claims
- Rescission of trusts, based on mistake
- Challenges to Purpose Trusts
- Probate disputes, including challenges to Wills and issues arising from the appointment by the English Court of a Deputy to manage the financial and property affairs of a UK resident, non-domiciled spouse suffering from Alzheimer’s.
- The defence of trust assets in the context of divorce proceedings.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS) - Executive Committee member
- Commercial Fraud Lawyers' Association - founding member
- London Solicitors Litigation Association - member
Admissions
- England & Wales~United Kingdom (1995)
Education
- College of Law (L.S.F.) (1993)
- University of Sussex (C.P.E.) (1992)
- University of York (B.A., Honors) (1991)
Languages
- English
- French