Bill is the Managing Director of CLT International and is responsible for its global education and training policy and initiatives. From a legal and university teaching background he still lectures at international conferences and on the MBA programme at the University of Manchester.


Former positions include Principal and Managing Director of a distance learning college and several university posts, including academic and directorial positions. Bill has written extensively in the field of trusts, estates and international law and has lectured around the world.


Bill is the general editor of the CLT International course manuals and materials and designed and edited the education courses and qualifications for the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and International Compliance Association courses.

Michael S Parkinson, Solicitor, TEP

Mike Parkinson is admitted to practice law in the US and UK, but gained his international experience in the Cayman Islands. He was admitted as an Attorney-at-Law in that jurisdiction in 1985 and practiced law with the law firm of Ritch and Conolly, Grand Cayman, specialising in litigation and financial services.

In 1999, with CLT International, Mike helped to establish the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioner’s (STEP) offshore trust training programme, which is now recognised in 20 of the leading international financial centres as the industry standard. He has written extensively for STEP, including ‘‘Trust Creation: Law and Practice’; ‘Company Law and Practice’; ‘Trust Administration and Accounts’; and ‘Trustee Investment and Financial Appraisal’.

Niall R. Brooks

Niall is the Managing Director and founder of Castlegate Investment Services Limited (‘Castlegate’), a fund administration company domiciled and physically located in the British Virgin Islands. Prior to forming Castlegate in 2004, Niall was the former head of Bank of Butterfield International (Cayman) Ltd.’s Mutual Fund Department and a former executive member of the Cayman Islands Funds Administration Association (CIFAA). He joined Butterfields in August 1994 and held the position of Department Head from January 1998 to March 2002.

Niall has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the offshore fund services industry, having been involved for many years in the structuring, launch, supervision, provision of directorships, compliance and ongoing administration, of a wide variety of offshore fund vehicles. He is a qualified chartered accountant by profession and prior to joining Butterfields served with Coopers & Lybrand in the Cayman Islands for two years and Nottingham, England for four years. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, was elected in 2008 to the executive committee of the BVI Mutual Fund Practitioners Association and represents the association on the BVI Financial Services Institute Advisory Council.

Mr. Brooks holds a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree from Loughborough University, England and is a British Citizen.

Joseph Pancratius, Course Director - Hedge Fund Administration (North America)

Joseph Pancratius is a Hedge Fund Sector Specialist with over 25 years experience in the Investment Funds Services industry. Joseph started his career in the United Kingdom, where he held progressive management positions in the Fund Services Industry before migrating to Toronto in 1990. In 2001, he moved to Bermuda to assume the position with Bank of New York as the Head of Hedge Fund Accounting Services. Back in Toronto, he started and established the Alternative Investment Fund Services Department for Citigroup, and held the position as the Senior Vice President.

Joseph believes in continuous learning, and currently writing his Doctoral Thesis in an effort to analyze and improve the contribution and growth of the Alternative Investment Services Industry in Canada. Joseph is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (U.K) and a Certified Management Accountant (Canada). He obtained his M.B.A in Finance from University of Manchester.