City firm Withers will open an office in Zurich to cope with increasing demand from high-net-worth clients, the firm said today.

The new office, set to open in April, will be headed by UK tax and trust partner Judith Ingham. The firm, which opened an office in Geneva in 2005, said that it will announce ‘significant lateral hires’ in the coming months.

Withers cited increasing demand from high-net-worth clients, including clients from Russia, eastern Europe and Israel who use Zurich as a financial base, as the reason for the move.

US tax and trust partner Jay Rubinstein, and corporate partner and central and eastern Europe specialist Olga Boltenko, will join Ingham in Zurich. Geneva office managing director Justine Markovitz becomes head of Swiss operations. Withers managing director Margaret Robertson said: ‘Our international expansion strategy is to have a presence in the business centres most important to our clients. Switzerland remains the jurisdiction of choice for the internationally wealthy, and Swiss financial institutions continue to manage one-third of the world’s private wealth.

Ingham said: ‘As well as advising upon international tax and trust matters, we expect a strong demand for advice on UK tax compliance work and US regulatory matters arising as a result of onerous new legislation such as the HIRE Act and the Dodd-Frank Act.’

The Zurich office will initially focus on cross-border personal and corporate tax planning; US tax compliance and regulatory advice; structuring and succession planning for international families; fiduciary and trust advice for families and institutions; and associated corporate and litigation advice. The office will not practise Swiss law.

Withers will have nine offices once it opens in Zurich. The firm has opened offices in Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands in the past three years.