Areas of Expertise
Nicholas is global head of Maples and Calder’s Trusts & Private Client team and is based in the Maples Group’s Cayman Islands office. He is considered by all of the major rankings including Chambers & Partners, Spears and the Legal 500 to be one of the world’s best private client lawyers. He specialises in international and offshore trusts and estates work. Nicholas advises on the settlement or establishment of trusts, their administration and complex issues arising during the life of the trust as well as the trust’s final distribution. He is also regularly consulted about estates work including the drafting of wills and estate plans, power of attorney, grants of probate, resealing of foreign grants and challenges to estate plans.
Nicholas joined the Maples Group in 2024. He began his career in Vancouver, British Columbia with Harper Grey in 1996, before qualifying in Ontario in 2001 and becoming a partner with the firm WeirFoulds LLP. In 2008, Nicholas had his first stint in another international law firm in the Cayman Islands, after which he qualified in England and became the Head of Contentious Trusts and Estates with Bircham Dyson Bell. In 2014, he joined the Private Client department of McDermott Will & Emery in London, UK where he remained until he joined the Maples Group.
- Chair, University College London, Denys Holland Scholarship Committee
- Director, LexisPSL Private Client Consulting Editorial Board
- Former Co-Chair, ALM/LegalWeek Global Elite International Trusts and Estates Litigation Forum
- The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (TIAETL)
- Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
- Law Society of British Columbia
- Law Society of Ontario
- Law Society of England and Wales
- University of Toronto Alumni Representative
- Former University College, University of Toronto Alumni President
Bar Admissions
1997 – Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in British Columbia (not practising)
2001 – Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Ontario, Canada
2008 – Admitted as an attorney-at-law in the Cayman Islands (not practising)
2010 – Admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales
2019 – Admitted as a solicitor in Ireland (not practising)
Education
University of Toronto, BA, (Hons), 1993
University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Bachelor of Laws, 1996