Hands-on, at the moments that matter most.

Families with a family office are rarely short of advice. What they are often short of is someone who will actually do the work.

The problem

Advice is not the problem. Execution is.

The families we work with are well surrounded. They have lawyers, bankers, trustees, investment consultants, experienced advisers who know their field and know the family.

When something complex has to change (a transition of power, an office that no longer fits, a structure that has slipped from the family's grip), advice can map the territory but cannot walk it. Someone has to take the project in hand, carry it through from the first conversation to the last decision, manage the people involved, hold the difficult moments, and stay until the work is done.

That is what Westwick does. We go in. We sit alongside the family, work at their pace, and we do not leave until the outcome belongs to them, not to us.

No one else on the market is built this way. Most advisory firms give recommendations and move on. We give recommendations and then execute them.

The usual arrangement
— Paid on assets under management. — A recommendation, then a report. — A team is sent; the partner is not seen again. — The office is the client.
Westwick
— Fixed fee. No commission, no AUM fee. — We execute what we recommend. — One partner commits, and does the work. — The family is the client, and its sole measure.
Where we intervene

The three moments we exist for.

We engage at three specific inflection points, moments when the family cannot move forward on advice alone, when someone needs to be in the room, carrying the work.

i.

Generational transition

A critical moment in the life of a family, and one that can leave deep, lasting damage when it is not handled with care. We understand what a family is and how family dynamics work, and we work alongside every generation to put in place decisions that serve the whole family.

About our approach to transition
You may recognise this if
— The founder still signs everything, and no one has said so out loud. — The next generation has opinions, but no mandate. — Two siblings read the same structure differently.
ii.

Resetting the family office

Whether the office is being created from scratch after a liquidity event, or rebuilt because it has drifted from what the family needs, the work is the same: we listen first, then build the structure that fits: governance, staff and advisers, jurisdictions, capital allocation.

About our approach to resetting
You may recognise this if
— A liquidity event closed, and the office was assembled in a hurry. — The office serves its own processes better than it serves the family. — No one can say plainly who decides what.
iii.

Taking back control

When something the family owns has slipped from its grip (a board seat that has gone its own way, a direct investment whose governance has weakened, an external mandate that has stopped serving the family), we step in to put the family back in charge.

About taking back control
You may recognise this if
— A board seat that reports to the family in name only. — A direct investment whose governance has quietly weakened. — An adviser the family no longer instructs, only receives.

How a mandate works.

A beginning, a middle, and an end. We take on a small number of mandates each year, by design.

01

An introduction

Usually from a family, a trustee, or an adviser who knew our work. A conversation commits the family to nothing.

02

A partner commits

Each mandate is led by a partner. We do not send a team and disappear; the partner who commits is the one who does the work.

03

The family's tempo

Some mandates move fast, because a crisis forces a decision. Others take longer, because the family needs a decision it can live with.

04

We leave

We are always on the family's side, and we leave when the work is done. Mandates are strictly confidential.

If you recognise the moment, we should talk.

We take on a small number of mandates each year. Most begin with a single conversation.

Contact us