Marianne Kafena

Spear's Review

With a particular expertise in matters with a connection to the Middle East, Harbottle & Lewis partner Marianne Kafena works with multinational families and their private offices on a range of legal and practical issues.

She advises on the establishment of family offices, as well as the structuring of international personal and business assets.

The complexities that arise from cross-border tax and succession matters are a particular area of focus, and Kafena emphasises the importance of implementing a family’s plan, ensuring maximum discipline and practicality.

Hired in 2020, Kafena described Harbottle & Lewis as ‘a firm full of talented people advising talented, creative and high calibre clients’.

Adviser Profile

A formidable private client partner at Harbottle & Lewis – where she has a particular specialism in advising Middle Eastern multinational families and their private offices on a range of legal and practical issues that arise – Marianne Kafena arrived at the firm in 2020 as part of the expansion of its private capital offering, during which the law firm described her as a ‘tier 1 private client lawyer’.

Her practice is diverse, covering all aspects of the private client area of law, from family office structuring and support to international asset structuring, as well as cross-border tax and succession. As work often crosses into areas other than her own expertise, she often works collaboratively, both with other lawyers and the clients’ advisers who are from different fields of service. One of the most important aspects of her work is ‘ensuring that those involved in implementing a family’s plan maintain the enthusiasm and discipline required to see it through as practically and simply as possible’.

‘Clients have described my style using words like “clear”, “responsive” and “engaging”,’ she says. She believes in the power of clear and cohesive communication between lawyer and client, especially when English is not their first language. ‘They have to understand my advice and feel they can make the difficult decisions now to help prevent disharmony later,’ she says.

This manner of advice forges trust, which is all-important in her highly complex field, where high-value assets and intergenerational issues are involved. ‘Working responsively is as important as advising competently, because it helps people believe they are in safe hands. Interacting in an engaging way makes every relationship more enjoyable. Why should work be any different?’