Minister of Finance Eugene Cox will open the third annual Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Bermuda Branch Conference which hopes to attract more than 100 delegates this year.

And Premier Jennifer Smith will award students who have successfully completed their STEP exams with diplomas at the end of the one-day event.

"This is the third year we have held the STEP conference and we have a good line up of speakers who will be of interest not only to those in the legal profession, but also to people who do not work in the field," said event organiser Alison MacKrill, a trust attorney at Appleby, Spurling and Kempe.

The event will be held on February 21, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute and already has about 100 delegates signed up.

Most of the delegates are lawyers with interests in estate planning and trusts but the event is open to a wider audience and organisers say as many as 120 can be accommodated.

This year the main speakers are Professor Craig Hampton, Barbara Hauser and Denzil Lush.

"I believe some of the speakers, especially Barbara and Denzil, will appeal to people who are not lawyers and, for the cost of the conference, you get very good value," said Mrs. MacKrill.

Professor Hampton, an academic advisor to selected international institutions and firms, will speak on 21st century trust planning and touch on demographics, psychographics, client needs and the needs of the legal profession.

Ms Hauser, an internationally recognised lawyer in the field of international estate planning, will give a lecture entitled "A primer on family office services provided by offshore trustees" and will speak on the core role of family office, outsourcing services and logistics of location.

Mr. Lush, the Master of the Court of Protection that oversees the management of the estates of mentally incapacitated persons in England and Wales, will speak on "Enduring powers of attorney: uses and abuses" in which he will cover the purpose of enduring powers of attorney, the law in the USA and Canada versus English law and the laws of Japan. He will also speak about why abuses occur, difficulties in pursuing the abusers and ways to resolve the problem.

For more information on the event, e-mail jharperhtl.bm