Fiduciary Duties

Produced in partnership with Keith Bruce-Smith of Sinclair Gibson LLP and Oliver Bishop of Sinclair Gibson LLP

Practice notes

Fiduciary Duties

Produced in partnership with Keith Bruce-Smith of Sinclair Gibson LLP and Oliver Bishop of Sinclair Gibson LLP

Practice notes

STOP PRESS: On 19 March 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal from the Court of Appeal 2023 decision in Recovery Partners GP Ltd v Rukhadze. On 21 March 2025, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part from the High Court 2024 decision in Expert Tooling and Automation Ltd v Engie Power Ltd. This Practice Note will be updated shortly to reflect these developments. Meanwhile, see Recovery Partners GP Ltd v Rudhadze [2025] UKSC 10 and Expert Tooling and Automation Ltd v Engie Power Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 292.

This Practice Note covers identifying a Fiduciary, Fiduciary duties and obligations, the no conflict rule, the no profit rule, the fiduciary’s duty of confidentiality and what remedies are available for breach of fiduciary duty.

Who is a fiduciary?

There is no comprehensive list of the relationships which give rise to the existence of fiduciary duties under Common law. Some relationships are automatically fiduciary, eg those between trustee and Beneficiary, solicitor and client, principal and agent, business partner and

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Keith Bruce-Smith

Partner, Sinclair Gibson LLP

Keith Bruce-Smith is a highly experienced private client trust and tax lawyer. He has over 40 years’ experience in the area of trust and estate planning for wealthy UK and foreign families and has a well-earned reputation for his innovative approach in advising clients.

He is listed as a leading specialist in Chambers & Partners and is ranked in the Legal 500 ‘Hall of Fame’.

Oliver Bishop

Solicitor, Sinclair Gibson LLP

Oliver trained at Sinclair Gibson and qualified into the private client team in February 2019.

Oliver works with the partners in the department to advise clients on a wide range of private client matters, including succession planning and the restructuring of estates post-death; advising beneficiaries and trustees on the UK trust and tax issues of both onshore and offshore trust structures; and advising on both the creation and administration of charitable trust structures. Oliver also has experience with dealing with a wide range of contentious matters relevant to the firm’s work, including litigation in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Court of Protection.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Fiduciary definition

What does Fiduciary mean?

A person, or entity, who acts for the benefit and on behalf of another person or group of persons. A fiduciary holds a legally enforceable position of trust.

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