Today's Bedell is made up of law firm Bedell Cristin and fiduciary services provider Bedell Trust. Together they employ over 280 staff, covering seven different jurisdictions.
Bedell Cristin’s co-founders were both at the forefront of legal developments in Jersey. Advocate George Bedell set up in practice at 21 Hill Street, St Helier in 1939. He had previously been commissioned to introduce income tax to the island, and was appointed first Comptroller of Income Tax for Jersey in 1928. After moving back to England during the war, he returned to Jersey and set up in partnership with another prominent lawyer, Dick Cristin – founding Bedell and Cristin, as it was then known, in 1958.
Dick Cristin helped pioneer the abolition of the statutory 5% cap on interest rates in 1962. Later that year he was involved in the opening of Jersey’s first merchant bank, M Samuel & Co – which later became Hill Samuel.
Bedell Trust is one of Jersey’s longest established independent trust companies. It was founded in 1971, coinciding with the increase in trust work and the growing banking presence in the island. Bedell Trust has since expanded in response to client demand, opening offices in Guernsey, London, Geneva, Dublin and Mauritius.
