Matt Duncan

Matt Duncan is a Partner and Head of the Private Wealth team at Druces LLP in the City of London, and his team has been recognised at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026 as Private Client Team of the Year in the UK. The award celebrates practices that deliver outstanding advice to high net worth individuals, families, trustees and entrepreneurs on the preservation and orderly transfer of wealth.

About Druces LLP

Druces LLP is a long-established London law firm, described on its own website as “founded in 1767 and flourishing, more than 250 years later.” The firm is based at 99 Gresham Street in the City of London (EC2V 7NG) and combines modern legal expertise with a partner-led approach across its principal practice areas: Corporate & Commercial — including banking and finance, capital markets, M&A, employment and intellectual property — alongside Real Estate, Dispute Resolution and Private Wealth. Its Private Wealth practice covers both UK and international clients, spanning wills, estate planning, trusts, probate and wealth management.

Matt Duncan’s practice

According to the firm, Matt Duncan leads the Private Wealth team and focuses on complex tax planning for high net worth individuals and trustees, estate and succession planning — with particular emphasis on entrepreneurial clients and family businesses — and contentious probate, trust and disputed wills work. His expertise extends to UK and international private client matters, trust and estate administration, personal tax planning, and Court of Protection deputyships.

His professional credentials reflect this focus: he is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), a registered will draftsman in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Wills and Probate Registry, and a professional deputy for the Court of Protection. The Legal 500 has described him as “a leader in his field, best private client lawyer – a true rock in any situation,” noting his good personal skills in contentious trust and probate work.

Private client work in the UK

Recognition as Private Client Team of the Year in the UK reflects the breadth and sensitivity of modern private wealth practice. Advising individuals and families on their wealth calls for technical mastery of tax and succession law combined with genuine understanding of personal and family dynamics. Typical private client work includes:

• Wills, estate planning and succession, including for family businesses and entrepreneurs
• The creation and administration of trusts, and ongoing advice to trustees
• Complex UK and cross-border personal tax planning
• Probate and estate administration, including contentious probate and disputed wills
• Court of Protection deputyships and support for vulnerable clients

London’s role as an international centre for wealth means that UK private client teams frequently advise clients with assets, family members or interests in more than one country. Matt Duncan’s DIFC will-drafting registration is one illustration of that international dimension, allowing coordinated planning for clients with connections to the United Arab Emirates alongside their UK affairs.

A team recognised

That this is a team award is significant. Private client matters — particularly the administration of estates and trusts, or hard-fought probate disputes — depend on the depth, continuity and collaboration of a whole team rather than a single adviser. Under Matt Duncan’s leadership, the Druces Private Wealth team combines tax, succession, trusts, probate and contentious capability within a firm whose corporate, real estate and dispute resolution strengths can be drawn upon when a client’s affairs demand it.

It is against this backdrop that the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026 recognition of the Druces private client practice as Private Client Team of the Year in the UK, led by Matt Duncan, should be read: an endorsement of considered, partner-led private wealth advice delivered by one of London’s oldest law firms.