Angela is an experienced Guernsey trust lawyer with a particular focus on advising Middle Eastern business owners.
She is trusted adviser to several significant international families usually working with large numbers of family members across several generations to either establish Guernsey structures to hold the family business; enhance existing structures to ensure longevity; and/or help families exit structures as smoothly as possibly.
Experience
Before relocating to Guernsey in 2012, Angela worked in the Middle East, having previously practised law in both Singapore and the UK.
As well as advising family business owners, Angela also advises professional and personal trustees and protectors on various aspects of trust establishment and administration including employee incentive structures and pensions.
As a former trust litigator, Angela is also adept at navigating conflict and works closely with her trust litigation colleagues to help clients through difficult situations. She is approachable and builds rapport with clients quickly as well as being a highly robust and effective communicator if things become contentious.
Background
Angela has been a Solicitor of England & Wales since 2003 and an Advocate of the Royal Court of Guernsey since 2020.
She is regularly asked to speak at industry thought leadership events and to contribute to industry publications.
Angela is listed as a 'Leading Partner' in Legal 500 and ranked in band 2 in Chambers and Partners. She has also been recognised as a Thought Leader in the Lexology Index: Private Client and Offshore Services 2025.
Awards
Private Client Global Elite 2025, 2026 – 'Elite' category
Lawyer of the Year – Gold, Partner – Citywealth
STEP Legal Team of the Year – Midsize
Wealth Briefing Woman of the Year – runner up
Powerwomen – Citywealth
Memberships
• Law Society of England & Wales • Guernsey Bar • STEP – Full Member
"Being at the sharp end of the technical aspects of Guernsey trusts and foundations law is a given. Where I really add value is making those technical aspects easy for clients to understand and giving clients clear options and a roadmap to help them achieve their objectives."
Angela is my first choice in non-contentious trust matters. She is responsive, client focussed and always looking for practical solutions.
Client testimonial
Angela provides clear advice in an open and friendly manner that reassures the client that she is abreast of both the current legal position and the management of the client’s requirements.
Legal 500 2024 (UK)
Angela Calnan remains a star and stand-out performer in the non-contentious trust field. She not only has a good knowledge of the relevant law, she also appreciates the practical and commercial considerations.
Legal 500
Angela Calnan leads from the front with her team. She has a great sense of humour and can lighten even the toughest of situations. She also is incredibly hard working and knowledgeable and someone you can always rely on.
Legal 500
We really enjoy working with Angela. She is very responsive and adopts a very positive and pragmatic approach to instructions.
Chambers High Net Worth 2025
Very practical and approachable.
Chambers & Partners
Angela has a good understanding of private wealth issues. She is practical and provides good advice.
Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2021
Angela Calnan advises on the establishment and administration of Guernsey trusts and foundations. Calnan leads Collas Crill's international private client and trust team in Guernsey.
Chambers UK Guide 2026
Angela has proven to be excellent in matching the work requested with the outcome provided.
Legal 500 2022
Angela doesn’t just think outside the box, she simply refuses to believe there is a box. She’s a genuine pleasure to work with.
Client testimonial
Best of Breed.
Spear's 500 Private Client Guide
Angela Calnan is very dedicated to her clients and she forms strong relationships.
Chambers High Net Worth 2025
Angela Calnan has a great way of putting people at their ease while also filling you with confidence that she knows exactly what she is doing.
Legal 500
Very proactive in forging a relationship with our business and getting to know our people.
Client feedback
Every time I contact her on a matter she responds immediately. Advice is concise and timely.
Client feedback
Angela is a first-rate trust lawyer. She has a pragmatic approach and looks for solutions rather than problems.
Legal 500 2024 (UK)
Angela is readily understands case needs and delivers promptly – great trust knowledge.
Legal 500 (UK) 2023
Stays calm under pressure.
Chambers and Partners
Angela Calnan is very easy to deal with. She is responsive and pragmatic - she looks to solve issues rather than find problems. She works well alongside her litigation colleagues, showing their collaborative approach to matters.
Legal 500 (UK) 2026
Angela has great personality and presence – she’s dynamic, engaging, and highly commercial.
Client testimonial
Expertise
We advise internationally based companies and trustees on the establishment and operation of employee incentive schemes, addressing issues such as the funding and structuring of awards as between sponsoring employer and trustee, treatment of dividend entitlements for share awards and the formulation of the beneficial class of employee benefit trusts (EBTs) having regard to international legal and taxation requirements.
Dubai has no specific pensions law as such but Dubai-based companies do need to plan for and fund end of service gratuity payments. Instead of a pension, local laws require companies to make a severance payment when employees leave the business This can be a significant liability to fund and can often come at the most unwelcome of times such as during an economic downturn. Companies who have failed to set money aside to meet these payments have historically been unable to afford to reduce headcount as they have not planned or budgeted for severance payments.
Although it is difficult for some smaller firms to set money aside to fund their entire historic liability, it is never too late to start setting aside at least some provision for this potentially large liability. If done well, these end of service schemes can be self-funding and can also achieve a company's ESG aims by investing in very worthy causes both within the region and more widely.
Whether set up for asset protection purposes, as part of succession or tax planning, or for family governance or confidentiality reasons, offshore private wealth structures are common and often large and complicated.
We assist wealthy individuals, family offices, family-controlled businesses and entrepreneurs, often working alongside their trustees, bankers, tax advisors, accountants and other professional advisers, with the legal support needed within private wealth structures. We work with a broad range of vehicles including family investment companies, family limited partnerships, trusts and foundations.
We can assist with all legal aspects of establishing, operating, restructuring, funding/leveraging, relocating and winding up such vehicles.
In a climate of increased transparency for structures, it is important for trustees to ensure that they have sufficient policies, procedures and processes in place in order to report the correct data to the correct authority at the correct time. This has been particularly challenging for some of our smaller independent trustee clients who do not have a dedicated compliance team.
What is the 'third sector' and how can we help?
The ‘third sector’ is an umbrella term that covers a variety of different organisations with different legal structures and purposes, belonging neither to the public sector (i.e. the state) nor to the private sector (profit-making private enterprise).
As a business, we are heavily focussed on supporting third sector organisations both in our local communities on local issues and also internationally. Charities, non-profit organisations (NPOs) and voluntary organisations are increasingly required to plug the gap and perform the social and cultural functions formerly carried out by the public sector.
The importance of the third sector to public life was brought into sharp focus by the Covid-19 pandemic with a significant increase in the demand for services supporting the health and wellbeing of society. During this time we saw activity levels in this space increase with organisations expanding and new organisations being formed.
Our clients in this area tend to either focus on a particular group in society (such as those suffering from a particular illness or condition) or on a particular issue or problem that needs to be solved (such as domestic abuse, access to education or climate change).
Many of our staff sit on the governing bodies of third sector organisations giving their time, energy and expertise to assist in the delivery of the organisations' purposes.
Ways in which we support this sector include:
provision of legal services – we draft constitutional documents, assist in the acquisition/sale of premises, draft employment contracts, deal with disputes, implement changes to the governing body, advise on compliance with law/regulation etc
trustee and administration services – our in-house trust and corporate services company already administers several local and international charities
Charity of the year –we select a charity of the year in each of our jurisdictions with whom we work closely and fundraise for. If you would like to nominate your organisation as our next charity of the year please get in touch here.
volunteering – each year our staff are given at least one day a year where they can devote their time in support of the third sector – recent examples include meals on wheels, beach cleans etc.
sponsorship – we often formally partner with, or sponsor, third sector organisations where their culture and values are aligned with ours.
profile raising – when we support third sector organisations in any of the above we will, where appropriate and with permission, share our experiences on social media and help to raise the profile of those organisations.
In April 2022 the legal landscape for charities and NPOs in Guernsey changed with the introduction of The Charities etc. (Guernsey and Alderney) Ordinance 2021 (Ordinance) and The Charities etc. (Amendments, Exemptions, Governance and Specified Amount) Regulations, 2022 (Regulations).
This brought welcome clarity to the definition of charitable purposes into Guernsey law and also introduced various formalities for the setting up and running of charities and non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Guernsey.
If you are looking to establish a charity/NPO in Guernsey, the process is very straightforward. We can advise you on which structures are available (trust/foundation/LBG) and the merits of each. We can also assist you in establishing your new charity/NPO either using our standard documentation or we can prepare something more bespoke for you.
Our Guernsey charities team is led by Angela Calnan. Please don't hesitate to contact Angela at any time.
For further information on the law please read this article.
Many individuals think of the traditional trust as being the best way to manage their estate planning needs and are unfamiliar with the alternatives that are available. These include foundations, private family funds, and increasingly, the family limited partnership (FLP). While initially developed offshore, the FLP was harnessed and developed offshore in the Channel Islands as a flexible investment structure and a viable alternative to the traditional trust due to its ability to transmit wealth to younger generations while allowing family heads to retain a sensible level of control. This is particularly important for clients using the FLP to transfer the family business or 'golden egg', where a loss of control is undesirable. An FLP is flexible enough to allow a very bespoke agreement to be out in place to meet the often very detailed and personalised demands of clients.
Developments, consolidations and regulation mean that effective risk management and mitigation has never been more important. Our advice is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution, but rather based on an individual company’s specific business model. By building a partnership with you we can provide trustees with a range of regulatory advice, administration support, products and services within a dedicated team approach, precedent development and on-going education and industry updates.
Together with our multi-disciplinary risk and regulatory team, we advise on anti-money laundering laws and the regulation of trust companies and can assist in the creation and improvement of straightforward operating procedures, including checklists, designed in conjunction with the needs of a trustee to ensure that all members of staff, no matter what their experience, can provide consistent and accurate back office services.
Changes of trustee documents (DORA or IORAs) usually contain indemnities from the incoming trustee to the outgoing trustee which are often hotly negotiated and can be complex. A change of trustee also presents a good opportunity for the incoming trustee to undertake a due diligence exercise by reviewing the trust documents, ensuring that the previous chain of trusteeship is intact and ensuring that the outgoing trustee ratifies or rectifies any flaws in the trust or the trust documents before the trusteeship is handed over. We have considerable experience in narrowing the issues in these negotiations. We are also well versed in assisting our trustee clients in mitigating risk by spotting (sometimes very significant flaws) in trusts before they are taken on and by ratifying previous discrepancies in a commercial manner – commonly without necessitating the involvement of the court.
Alongside companies and wills, family trusts are still a very popular tool for estate planning and asset protection – perhaps even more so in the light of the envisaged changes to the UK non-domiciled regime. Family foundations are proving to be a popular new tool for families looking to ensure their wealth and assets are protected for future generations. We establish trusts and foundations for local and international families to preserve family businesses and ensure appropriate succession planning. We work closely with tax advisers in order to ensure that any new family trust or foundation fits with a family's overall tax position and will be a workable long term, cost efficient structure. Discretionary trusts are still the most popular but we can also advise on fixed trusts, will trusts and pension trusts.
The role of a modern trustee has never been more complex. Trustees must satisfy the needs and desires of their beneficiaries, manage complex assets and navigate an ever-changing legal and regulatory landscape.
We know that trustees can need assistance and advice on how best to satisfy their duties and to meet their legal and regulatory obligations. We understand and have a great deal of experience in working with trustees to get ahead of any potentially difficult situation and resolve it in a way that minimises risk and conflict.
Demand continues to rise for legal professionals with a strong knowledge and understanding of Shariah law concepts continues, a reflection of the growth in Islamic finance products and services for institutions and private clients.
Our team of experienced finance lawyers regularly works with onshore law firms, banks, managers and service providers to assist clients in the UK, the Middle East and Asia, as well as trust and corporate service providers servicing clients in this area.
We advise internationally based companies and trustees on the establishment and operation of employee incentive schemes.
We address issues such as the funding and structuring of awards as between sponsoring employer and trustee, treatment of dividend entitlements for share awards and the formulation of the beneficial class of employee benefit trusts (EBTs) having regard to international legal and taxation requirements.
When considering a move offshore, it's essential to seek advice from experienced advisers who know the market inside out.
Our partner-led real estate team regularly helps newcomers in acquiring new homes and/or business premises and guiding them through the relocation process. We act for many high-net-worth individuals and high-value residents.
We believe that communication and responsiveness are the key to a stress-free experience which is why we're always on hand to listen, offer assistance and pick up the phone to keep you informed at every stage of your move. We are consistently praised by clients for our calm, proactive and hands-on approach, ensuring all transactions are completed as swiftly and smoothly as possible.
Some of our people have first-hand experience of relocating themselves, affording them a unique insight into the challenges and opportunities you are likely to face.
We can assist you or your company with all forms of certificates and permits and out-of-scope applications, specifically short-, medium- and long-term employment permits, out-of-scope applications, permanent residence certificates and residence permits.
We can also assist with indefinite leave to remain, tier 2 visas, entrepreneur visas and British citizenship.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing regions in the world. With diversifying markets and governments keen to enact strategies and legislation to bring further innovation, MENA is primed for further transformation and growth.
The demand for professional advisers who understand this rapidly changing environment and the opportunities and challenges it brings has never been higher or more important.
Regional clients with worldwide investments as well as international clients conducting business in the area trust Collas Crill to guide them through their business dealings and wealth planning, with expertise in Shariah-compliant products allied with decades of experience using traditional structures to meet the needs of clients wherever their focus lies.
The Middle East is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing regions in the world. With diversifying markets and governments keen to enact strategies and legislation to bring further innovation, the region is primed for further transformation and growth.
The demand for professional advisers who understand this rapidly changing environment and the opportunities and challenges it brings has never been higher or more important.
Regional clients with worldwide investments as well as international clients conducting business in the area trust Collas Crill to guide them through their business dealings and wealth planning, with expertise in Shariah-compliant products allied with decades of experience using traditional structures to meet the needs of clients wherever their focus lies.
As the global legal and regulatory landscape becomes ever more complex, managing wealth across generations, succession planning and transferring control of assets has never been more challenging. That's why it's important to work with lawyers who can offer solutions that are tailored to your unique circumstances.
