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09 February 2024 / Emma Cooper-Hedges
Issue: 8058 / Categories: Features , Profession , Wills & Probate , Tax
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Book review: Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts: A Modern Approach (15th Edition)

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
"It will occupy an important place in the library of both seasoned and aspiring trust lawyers"

Author: James Kessler KC, Amy Berry, James Davies, Michael Ranson & Chris de Beneducci

Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell

ISBN: 9780414111844

RRP: £140

As Virginia Woolf said, ‘Words… are the wildest, freest, most irresponsible, most unteachable of all things.’ Drafting can be deceptively difficult as a result. Trust and will drafting is no exception. As Kessler et al note, not only does this type of drafting demand a good grounding in trust law, succession law, tax law, some property law, and a dash of insolvency and family law, but also empathy and the ability to communicate. This might seem a long list of ingredients, but adopting a precedent without understanding it or appropriately tailoring it to the client’s circumstances is a recipe for trouble. Fortunately, Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts: A Modern Approach equips practitioners with the knowledge they need to prepare tightly drafted legal documents, written in

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NEWS
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A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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