McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

William (Bill) J. Butler focuses his practice on estate planning and probate administration matters. Bill counsels family groups and individuals on all aspects of wealth transfer planning, with an emphasis on formulating estate plans that maximize and protect wealth while minimizing transfer taxes. Bill formerly served as an elected member of the Firm's Management Committee and is the immediate past global head of McDermott's Private Client group.

Bill represents many large, multigenerational family groups, and also advises with their family office executives on family office administration and structure issues. Bill regularly counsels younger generation family members on learning to be responsible wealth managers. He also assists a number of families on all legal issues involving their privately owned business, including governance matters, succession planning and shareholder agreements.

Julie Miraglia Kwon advises wealthy individuals, families, closely held businesses, charities and corporate fiduciaries on all aspects of estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax planning, trust and estate administration, business succession, charitable planning and governance, and contested trust and tax matters.

Julie formerly was the Philanthropic Advisor for Stanford University, where she collaborated with the Office of General Counsel and Stanford Management Company regarding endowment and charitable trust investment, complex gifts and bequests, and contested matters. Previously, she also was a national director with Bernstein Global Wealth Management, where she developed quantitative research regarding the effect of investment volatility on wealth transfer, and was the fiduciary counsel and Legacy Planner for the Midwest Region for Bessemer Trust Company. Julie is a former member of the board of directors of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest in the country.

Julie co-authors the tax treatise, Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (by Harrington, Plaine, Zaritsky & Kwon, for Warren Gorham & Lamont), and the Tax Management Portfolio titled Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (by Harrington & Kwon, for Bureau of National Affairs). Julie speaks frequently before and writes regularly for professional publications and organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Dow Jones, Journal of Taxation, Trusts & Estates, the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Internal Revenue Service, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute and numerous regional organizations.

While in law school, Julie was executive editor of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities.

Nicole M. Pearl advises clients on estate planning, wealth transfer planning, marital property agreements, business succession planning and post-death administration. Her clients include family offices, entrepreneurs and business owners, real property investors, private equity fund managers, and entertainment industry figures.

Nicole helps high-net-worth individuals pass wealth to the next generation, while minimizing their tax burden. To that end, she creates estate plans and charitable giving programs designed to meet her clients' family succession and wealth management objectives. She also advises families in the creation and ongoing administration of their family offices, and works with business owners to maintain control of their companies through buy-sell agreements or to relinquish control via responsibly conducted transition of ownership to family members or employees.

Nicole primarily works with clients throughout Southern California, but also maintains a statewide practice that includes a strong Northern California client base.

Katrina (Katy) Crafton Fluet advises ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families and charities on all aspects of federal and state estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax matters, charitable planning, estate and trust administration and succession planning for closely-held companies. Katy frequently counsels clients on the structure and implementation of complex, leveraged wealth-transfer techniques, often with a focus on state income tax planning. In addition, she has extensive experience in planning for qualified small business stock (QSBS) and cryptocurrency.

Katy currently serves as the Hiring Partner for the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Offices, and participates in McDermott’s Diversity & Inclusion and Pro Bono & Community Service committees. In addition, she currently serves on the California Lawyers Association’s Trusts and Estates Executive Committee.

Katy has lectured to regional and national audiences on a broad variety of topics in estate planning, tax reporting, the effect of spousal rights for property law and tax purposes and the impact of state legislation specific to same sex couples for federal and state transfer and income tax purposes. Katy was a recipient of the Firm’s Pro Bono and Community Service Award in 2010.

While in law school, Katy was an editor of The Elder Law Journal and a Harno Scholar.

Laurelle M. Gutierrez has a diverse practice representing high-net-worth individuals and their families with respect to all aspects of gift, estate and generation-skipping wealth-transfer tax planning, as well as trust and estate administration.

Laurelle has extensive experience in the design and implementation of sophisticated intergenerational wealth-transfer planning strategies. She advises domestic and multinational high-net-worth clients and families to develop and orchestrate innovative solutions around wealth transfer, philanthropic giving and multifaceted estate planning needs. She has advised trustees and executors with complex probate and trust administrations, including successfully representing clients in estate tax and gift tax audits.

While in law school, Laurelle served on the University of San Francisco Law Review. She frequently writes and speaks on sophisticated estate planning and fiduciary income tax issues for professional organizations, including the American Law Institute, the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the State Bar of California and CalCPA.

Marcy Jo Mandel focuses her practice on state and local tax (SALT) controversies, in addition to advising clients of federal tax controversies, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and provides state tax strategies for clients on a full range of state tax issues.

Before returning to private practice in January 2015, Marcy Jo served as Deputy State Controller, Taxation, representing the California State Controller, a statewide elected constitutional officer, on the State Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board. Additionally, she represented the Controller on the California Streamlined Sales Tax Project Board of Governance. Marcy Jo represented the Controller on the California Commission on Tax Policy in the New Economy during its two-year existence, and also represented the Controller on other boards and commissions, including specifically the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee and the State Lands Commission, on an as needed basis. In her role, Marcy Jo occupied the highest appointed tax position in California and served three consecutive State Controllers. As senior advisor to the Controller, she testified before the IRS Oversight Board. She also testified before California legislative committees on tax matters.

Marcy Jo previously was a tax litigator involved in federal, state and local tax for more than 15 years. She was a law clerk for the late Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and was an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School for five years and is a former Chair of the California State Bar Taxation Section.

Charles (Chuck) Moll focuses his practice on state and local tax (SALT), primarily concentrating on the resolution of tax controversies. He regularly appears before the various California tax authorities—including the State Board of Equalization, the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and the Office of Tax Appeals—as well as local authorities such as assessors and assessment appeals boards. He has litigated at all levels of California's courts, the US Tax Court, and the US Supreme Court.

Chuck’s practice includes tax matters in other states, as well as federal tax controversies, including representation of clients in federal courts and at appellate hearings before the Internal Revenue Service.

Troy Van Dongen focuses his practice on the resolution of state and local tax (SALT) controversies through negotiation and litigation. He advises clients across the country in a variety of state and local tax matters, including income, franchise, sales, and use taxes, and he has a particularly strong background in property taxation.

Troy’s experience includes a wide range of industries, including: manufacturing and software; banking and finance; biotechnology; hospital management; non-profit organizations; commercial office leasing; solar and geothermal power production; lodging; education; security services; oil and gas; telecommunications; paper manufacturing; and sports and entertainment. He also counsels clients on the tax consequences of new forms of communications technology and the unique tax challenges in the telecommunications industry.

He is also a member of our legal cannabis industry group. Our Cannabis Industry group is a multidisciplinary team of lawyers providing clients with regulatory, litigation, intellectual property, trade and tax services with respect to their investments and participation in the cannabis industry, all subject to the Firm’s obligations under federal and state laws and bar licensure rules.