Philip Marcovici

Philip Marcovici is recognized for his expertise in international taxation, wealth management, and family business governance. As a partner at Baker McKenzie, which he joined in 1982, Marcovici focused his legal career on international tax law. Before joining Baker McKenzie, Marcovici began his career as a tax lawyer in New York with Chadbourne & Parke, now Norton Rose Fulbright. He spent 12 years in the Hong Kong office of Baker McKenzie before relocating to the Zurich office, and also practiced law in New York and Vancouver, British Columbia. Marcovici holds law degrees from Harvard Law School and the University of Ottawa and is admitted to practice in Hong Kong, the State of New York, the Province of British Columbia, Canada, and England and Wales.

During his tenure at Baker McKenzie, Marcovici held several leadership roles, including chair of the European tax practice and the steering committee of the firm's international wealth management practice, which he helped to establish. He was also a founder of the Baker McKenzie Asia-Pacific tax practice and participated in various firm and practice group management functions. His legal practice involved advising multinational corporations, financial institutions, and families on international and domestic aspects of Canadian, Hong Kong, and U.S. taxation, as well as on commercial issues related to cross-border transactions. Marcovici also served as a non-executive director of Rothschild & Co in Zurich.

After retiring from law practice, Marcovici continued to consult with governments, financial institutions, and global families on tax, wealth management, and family business governance. He focuses on issues faced by wealth- and business-owning families, including governance strategies and asset ownership structures. Marcovici is a member of the adjunct faculty at Singapore Management University, where he teaches taxation, wealth management, and family business governance. He also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Tanoto Center for Asian Family Business and Entrepreneurship Studies and was a founding advisor to the 21st Century Family Business program at Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education. Additionally, Marcovici consults with the CFA Institute on private wealth management and co-authors readings on the subject for the institute.

Marcovici is the author of "The Destructive Power of Family Wealth" and "The Transformative Power of Family Wealth," both published by John Wiley & Sons. The first book explores global taxation regimes, evolving bank secrecy laws, asset protection, and the psychology of wealth within families. He has published numerous articles on tax and wealth management and is active as a speaker on international taxation, wealth management, and family governance.

Marcovici's work has been recognized with several honors, including the Citywealth Magic Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, the Wealth Management Innovator award for his role in the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, the Russell Baker Award from Baker McKenzie, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from WealthBriefing. He is a past member of the Public Policy Committee of STEP, former chair of its Responsible Stewardship of Wealth thought leadership group, and has chaired the tax committee of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce.