STEP BAHAMAS CONFERENCE
SCHEDULE
7:45am-9:15am
Registration & Breakfast
8:30am-12:00pm
TOPIC
STEP/EDLS Moot Competition
Robert became a partner of Delaney Partners as of April 2022. He initially joined the firm as a consultant attorney in 2020, having previously headed the litigation and dispute resolution practice group of another major commercial firm.
Highly regarded as one of the leading litigators in The Bahamas, Robert has a broad range of experience handling complex commercial and civil disputes, litigation, and arbitration. He has argued several appeals before the Privy Council and regularly appears as lead counsel in cases before The Bahamas Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
10:30AM-10:45AM
Coffee Break
10:45AM-12:00PM
STEP/EDLS Moot Competition Cont'd
Joseph Kellogg works with families to make informed decisions for their wealth enterprise. As partner of WE Family Offices, he works with clients to identify their unique objectives and challenges and to implement a comprehensive planning strategy in coordination with their estate and tax planning professionals.
Madelayne Cordero is the chair of the STEP Miami Branch and is also the Chief Fiduciary Officer – Head of Trust with Amerant Bank. She is responsible for fiduciary and estate planning services to its private wealth clients both domestic and international.
James specialises in advising multi-generational and multi-jurisdictional families on their investments, family governance, wealth preservation, and philanthropic strategies.
(MODERATOR)
12:00PM-1:20PM
Lunch
1:20PM-1:30PM
Dr. Seymour started his medical career journey at Peking University Health Science Center. He underwent postgraduate training at the University of the West Indies, the University of Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. With over 15 years of experience, Dr. Seymour is the first Bahamian in history to obtain membership and fellowship at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. He has special training in Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine, Critical Care, Remote and Offshore Medicine, Diving Medicine, and Major Incident Medical Management. Dr. Seymour is an Advanced Practitioner Member of The Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care (RCS Ed), the former Medical Director and National Team Physician of the Bahamas Aquatics Federation, the former Medical Team Head of the Royal Nassau Sailing Club, a clinical tutor for Queen’s University Belfast, and a clinical associate professor for the Western Atlantic University School of Medicine. Away from his practice, Dr. Seymour enjoys acoustic guitar, open water scuba diving, mixed martial arts, and Shakespearean literature.
1:30PM-2:15PM
Erin M. Hill is a Partner at Mckinney, Bancroft & Hughes who is well-versed in a variety of practice areas, including banking and finance, corporate and commercial litigation, and trusts/private client litigation.
Erin attended Davidson College, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Literature and Language and a minor in Philosophy in May 2012. While at Davidson College, she spent a semester abroad in Salamanca, Spain, where she studied at the University of Salamanca while fully immersed in the local culture. During her time there, Erin became fluent in Spanish and acquired an in-depth of knowledge in Spanish literature and culture.
She currently serves as Secretary of the STEP Bahamas Branch
2:15pm-3:00pm
TOPIC
Tax Planning For The International Client
Our speaker will discuss and explore the following sub-topics: (i) saving defective exercises of powers, (ii) trustees’ remorse: I wish I hadn’t done that, (iii) many ways to skin a cat: some less than obvious trustee options, (iv) variations on a theme: express, indirect and statutory variations and (v) is it time to review standard trust deeds?
Brian Cohen is a partner and lawyer in Gowling WLG’s global Private Client Services Group. He is also co-leader of the firm’s National Private Client Services Group. Based in Toronto, he assists clients in the areas of estate planning, trusts and personal taxation, with a focus on advising high net worth individuals on succession planning alternatives.
Brian also advises donors, charitable organizations, public and private foundations, and not-for-profit organizations regarding the tax implications of formation, registration, governance and planned giving strategies.
In addition, Brian frequently advises clients on estate litigation matters.
Ariel Fleischer is a member of the Wealth Advisory team at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Mr.
Fleischer advises individuals and families in Latin America on tax-efficient strategies and wealth
planning solutions. His areas of expertise include offshore and cross-border estate planning for
individuals, such as trusts, corporations, partnerships and pre-immigration planning.
Before joining J.P. Morgan in 2012, Ariel worked as a partner at a boutique law firm in
Argentina, where he provided legal counsel to individuals and companies on matters related to
family, commercial, and labor law.
Ed Powles has considerable experience in complex succession and trust law issues, and advises UK and international individuals on UK personal tax. He regularly advises individuals and families with connections to the Middle East on complex cross-border succession, trust and tax issues. He also advises charity trustees, counterparties and donors on charity law and philanthropy.
In addition to his wider private client practice, Ed has a keen interest in the law relating to art, and has led the firm’s Art and Cultural Property team since 2019.
Jennifer is a highly experienced tax attorney with extensive expertise in handling the tax and succession planning needs of high net worth clients for domestic and cross-border families. Her broad practice covers international and domestic tax and estate planning issues, pre-immigration tax planning, expatriation tax planning, private trust company structuring, cross-border estate administration, tax structuring for real estate funds with foreign investors, and other tax structuring for investment into the United States, and the acquisition, maintenance, and sale of U.S. real estate by foreigners.
Jennifer is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”), a professional organization of approximately 2,600 lawyers who have demonstrated the highest level of integrity, commitment to the profession, competence, and experience as trust and estate counselors. She is also a long-time adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law Tax LL.M. program, where she teaches different tax courses.
Kamala Richardson-Deal is a Senior Associate at Glinton Sweeting O’Brien, with over a decade of experience in trusts and fiduciary structures wealth management, financial services, and regulatory law. She regularly advises high-net-worth individuals, banks, trust companies, and family offices on complex fiduciary structures, and other wealth planning vehicles across jurisdictions. Kamala brings expertise in the Bahamian FATCA, CRS, and Economic Substance regimes, alongside significant experience guiding financial institutions on legal risk management. She has also advised on corporate restructurings and cross-border financing transactions, further strengthening her breadth of practice.
She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2012 and to the Bahamas Bar in 2013. Kamala holds an LLB in Law and Business Administration from the University of Kent, completed the Bar Professional Training Course at Northumbria University, and earned her LLM from the University of Swansea, where she graduated with the highest marks in her class.
Kamala regularly conducts training sessions on trust administration, CRS/FATCA compliance, and AML/CFT regulations. She has presented at major industry conferences and events, including STEP and the Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers. Additionally, she authored a white paper proposing various amendments to The Bahamas’ Trustee Act, which led to trust law reform in 2016.
(MODERATOR)
3:00PM-3:15PM
Coffee
Break
3:15PM-4:00PM
TOPIC
The Elephants In The Room
This expert panel will discuss the hot burning issues that are present in their respective jurisdictions and globally but are typically avoided.
Nuno Cunha Barnabé is a Partner and has been at Abreu Advogados since 2019, working in the tax area with a focus on Private Clients, Wealth and Succession.
With over 20 years’ experience in tax law, Nuno Cunha Barnabé is a specialist in wealth taxation and estate planning, advising private clients, family offices, private banks and asset managers in Portugal and Portuguese-speaking African countries and cross-border Switzerland, UK and US.
Nuno is a dual qualified lawyer in Portugal and Switzerland (EU Lawyer). He is also a founder of the Portuguese Tax Arbitration Tribunal.
Alexandra Hall is a Partner and Chair of the firm’s Government & Regulatory Affairs practice group and Deputy-chair of the firm’s Tax practice group. She is also a member in the firm’s Commercial Law and Private Client and Wealth Management practice groups. She has experience in local tax law, corporate and commercial law, legal issues relating to resort development and operations and gaming law and regulation. She has assisted in various aspects of commercial transactions including securing governmental and regulatory approvals for a variety of businesses. Alexandra regularly advises clients on day-to-day legal issues including licensing and compliance matters as well as other general corporate matters associated with the establishment and operation of a business in The Bahamas. In 2014 Alexandra presented to various stakeholder groups throughout The Bahamas on the introduction of Value Added Tax.
Anabella Murillo is Managing Director, Private Wealth, the Americas, and is based in Miami. She has more than 15 years of experience in the international and domestic area. Anabella focuses on developing and expanding the latam market with U.S. connections, and be a bridge between Latin America and the U.S. by offering U.S. trust/fiduciary services. She works with financial institutions and centers of influence to meet the cross-border needs of family and enterprise groups. She also brings experience in entity management, trustee, and financial services, working along with South American families with U.S. connections. In her previous role, Anabella spent more than three years as Director of Business Development working for a trust company, company management and fund service provider with a worldwide presence. Prior to that, she was the Director of International Wealth structuring for a financial institution, focusing on Mexico, Colombia and Peru. Anabella spent seven years specializing in entity management and financial services as a Business Development and Sales Manager at a professional trustee company. During her previous roles, she successfully developed new business opportunities with high-net-worth individuals in South America. She has worked in Caracas, Miami, New York, San Francisco and San Diego, and she has experience advising clients at Ernst & Young on their corporate and tax matters. Anabella received her Law degree (J.D.) from Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela. She is a certified Trust and Estate Practitioner by Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and a member of the board of STEP Miami. She speaks Spanish and English fluently.
(MODERATOR)
4:00pm-4:30pm
TOPIC
Awards & Recognition
Sponsors Draw
Anayah proudly serves as Director and Treasurer for the STEP Bahamas Branch. This is also her third consecutive year of managing the STEP Bahamas Conference.
She possesses over 12 years’ experience in the trust & estate industry; she previously worked in trust administration at JP Morgan Trust Company (Bahamas) Limited where she served for ten years before joining Butterfield Trust (Bahamas) Limited as a Trust Officer in 2024.
She obtained her MBA and BS in International Business and Hospitality Management from Lynn University in Boca Raton Florida, and obtained TEP designation in 2016. Passionate about financial literacy and event planning, she also possesses certifications in Financial Planning, Financial Education Instruction and Project Management.
4:30pm-6:30pm
Farewell
Reception
