Ellie Gibbison TEP Partner and Head of Private Client

Ellie Gibbison is a nationally recognised private client solicitor and Partner at Swinburne Maddison, where she leads the firm’s Private Client department with distinction. She qualified in 2015 following postgraduate legal training at the University of Law and holds both an MJur and LLB (Hons) from Durham University. Ellie is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), a Fellow of Durham University, and a respected voice in the national private client legal community.

Ellie’s practice is defined by her ability to deliver technically sophisticated, emotionally intelligent advice to clients navigating some of life’s most personal and complex decisions. She advises high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, business families, and high-profile figures across sport, media, and entertainment on all aspects of estate, tax, and succession planning. Her work often involves cross-border assets, sensitive family dynamics, and multi-generational wealth preservation.

As Head of Private Client, Ellie is known for her strategic leadership, collaborative ethos, and unwavering commitment to excellence. She works closely with clients’ wider advisory teams, financial planners, accountants, land agents, and others, to deliver holistic, forward-thinking solutions. Her values of integrity, empathy, respect, and kindness are evident in every client interaction, and she is particularly sought after for her clarity, discretion, and ability to simplify the complex.

Ellie is passionate about mentoring the next generation of private client professionals and is actively shaping the future of the field through her national leadership roles. She is focused on expanding the firm’s reach in the high-net-worth advisory space and welcomes clients with complex estates, business interests, or international considerations.

• Complex estate and tax planning
• Mental capacity and vulnerable client work
• Multi-generational wealth structuring
• Court of Protection and later life planning
• Trust restructuring and succession strategy

Ellie brings a wealth of experience from senior roles at leading regional and national firms. Her career has been defined by her ability to handle high-value, high-stakes matters with precision and care. She has administered estates valued in excess of £10 million, advised on bespoke succession strategies for clients with wealth approaching £40million, and supported vulnerable individuals through estate planning and nuanced Court of Protection processes.

Her recent career highlights include:

• Leading the administration of a complex landed estate with cross-border interests and business continuity planning
• Advising on succession planning for a high-profile entrepreneur with international assets and bespoke trust structures to coincide with complex prenuptial agreements
• Providing succession planning advice to a high-net-worth farmer going through a divorce in later life
• Advising on cryogenics and dovetailing estate planning advice, including the use of trust structures and other mechanisms, to ensure the client’s wishes may be carried out with future developments in this area
• Supporting professional deputies and trustees in managing assets for vulnerable beneficiaries, including those with disabilities or undergoing gender transition
• Unwinding unsuitable “family protection trusts” and restructuring legacy arrangements to better serve clients’ long-term goals
• Delivering national training, chairing the Law Society’s flagship Private Client Conference, and contributing to consultations around legal reform on a range of topics

• National Chair, Law Society’s Private Client Solicitors’ Section Advisory Committee – leading initiatives and content for England and Wales
• Committee Member, STEP North East and Cumbria
• Board Member, PS Magazine

• Ellie played a pivotal role in her former law firm’s success at the Northern Law Awards 2023, where the team won Private Client Team of the Year.

• Ellie is recognised in Chambers High Net Worth as “an exceptional lawyer in her field,” praised for her intelligence, warmth, and ability to deliver clear, strategic advice in emotionally charged situations.