Member Q&A - Jennifer Wioncek TEP
Tell us about your career
I was an athlete in school and always liked challenges, which may be part of the reason I gravitated towards law. As for working in my specific practice area, it started in law school when I was forced to take a US tax class, which was the most intellectually challenging of all my classes. I continued with a focus on tax planning during the rest of law school and naturally gravitated to the individual planning situations. I was then fortunate to have started my legal practice at one of the largest law firms in the world focusing on international private client work.
You were recently awarded STEP’s Geoffrey Shindler Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. What does this award mean to you?
To have been chosen for the award was deeply humbling. The STEP community is comprised of extraordinarily talented and accomplished practitioners working at the forefront of the most sophisticated international private client issues.
The judges were impressed with your work on the US Corporate Transparency Act. Can you share a bit about your work on this?
I think it is vital for practitioners to use their voices for important legal and policy decisions that can change the landscape for ourselves and our clients. The enactment of the US Corporate Transparency Act was one of these key areas because it will drastically reshape the way in which many businesses and organisations will be required to report to the US federal government regarding their structure and beneficial owners, as well as those persons that create those companies. I organised and led efforts by the Florida Bar to write two sets of detailed comments to FinCEN regarding various key issues but, most importantly, those related to trust structures and the responsibilities of professionals under this new law. Clients are going to need a tremendous amount of education and help on how to report under this law. Professionals globally will need to be educated on their responsibilities, and I have continued to play a role by giving a number of presentations to peers and writing articles.[1] I was also active on the STEP USA Policy Committee and provided commentary to its comments on the new law.
What do you think makes a successful, trusted advisor?
A client told me once that they liked me because I was ‘scrappy’. I took that to mean that I am willing to pull up my sleeves and work hard for my clients on issues of great importance for them. Professional success is inseparable from being a trusted advisor, which I define as those practitioners who cultivate lifelong relationships with their clients and families by working hard to listen to their clients and understanding their long‑term goals and needs. Clients then rely on your judgement to help guide them through different scenarios and options because, in the world of private clients, there is no one‑size‑fits-all solution to client needs and they need to know that you have their back.
What made you join STEP?
The knowledge‑sharing component was a key aspect for me. In law school, you learn out of a book, but as your practice matures in the professional world, you find yourself increasingly learning from fellow practitioners. STEP convenes the best of the best in our profession, and as the field of international private clients becomes more complex and multifaceted, professional development organisations of STEP’s calibre become more crucial.
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