In episode 24 of our Family Business Stories Podcast, PwC’s Lisa Cornwell talks to Gilles Erulin, a longstanding family office practitioner and founder of Westwick Melrose & Cromwell (WMC), a hands-on consulting firm that supports families with family offices in managing extraordinary situations. Among other things, they look at Gilles’s learnings from decades at Financiere Pinault, the family office of billionaire businessman Francois Pinault and his children – including family office mergers and acquisitions and the challenges of succession in a wealthy business-owning family. A lot of family offices are well equipped to run their ordinary business. It’s when something suddenly pops up or starts nagging the family that they may not have the team in place to deal with the situation. In these circumstances, WMC can provide valuable expertise, such as supporting the family in navigating a merger or acquisition in an unfamiliar jurisdiction, or facilitating the transition from the first to the second generation. Gilles also talks about the challenges of ensuring proper corporate governance in family offices without detracting from the uniqueness of the family itself – in other words, preserving the family’s right to be different. Is your family office faced with a major transition or an extraordinary situation? Check out the podcast to find out how experienced practitioners can help you negotiate circumstances that depart from daily business.