Bath solicitor Raquel Ugalde is on top of the world after achieving the highest mark in an international legal qualification.
Raquel, pictured, a member of law firm Stone King’s specialist international and cross-border team, won the Worldwide Excellence Award for her performance in the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Advanced Certificate in Cross-Border Estates, a specialist legal qualification on cross-border estate planning and succession.
STEP Worldwide administers the awards twice a year to recognise the top-scoring student at distinction level.
Raquel specialises in international and cross-border wills and succession, and advises clients who have assets in the UK and abroad on estate planning, inheritance tax, domicile issues, will preparation and powers of attorney, as well as administration of multi-jurisdictional estates.
She said: “I am honoured to have scored the highest mark in this paper. The advanced certificate was understandably very difficult, but it has helped my professional development and ability to advise clients with confidence.”
Raquel qualified as a solicitor in 2012, having completed her legal studies at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). After practicing in wills, trusts and probate for five years, she joined the Stone King’s international and cross-border team in 2017.
All Raquel’s colleagues in the team, which is dedicated to international succession, cross-border planning and overseas probate work, hold the same qualification with distinctions – fact that Stone King says reflect their expertise in this niche legal field.
Stone King provides specialist legal advice to clients in the four sectors of education; charity and social enterprise; business; and private client from its offices in Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds and London.
