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.

Jay E. Rivlin has extensive experience advising ultra-high net worth individuals and families on all aspects of their personal legal needs, including domestic and international estate, gift and tax planning, administration, cross-border issues, and controversy resolution; family office administration; business succession planning; family dispute resolution; charitable giving and private foundation administration; acquisition and ownership of private aircraft; as well as guardianship and planning matters for incapacitated persons. Jay is co-head of the Private Client practice in the Firm's New York office.

He also works extensively with family offices on family office formation, administration, and governance matters. Jay blends his real-world knowledge, technical expertise and practical approach to achieve clients’ goals as simply and efficiently as possible.

Neil T. Kawashima is the head of the Firm’s Private Client Practice Group and has a diverse practice, representing wealthy individuals and families in matters related to philanthropy and assisting clients with estate and wealth transfer planning, business succession and governance, and estate and trust administration. Neil’s clients include philanthropists, owners of privately held businesses, beneficiaries of long-term trusts, fiduciaries and entrepreneurs.

A significant portion of Neil’s practice is focused on philanthropic matters. He counsels individuals and families on charitable giving strategies, helping them to create tax-exempt entities, including private foundations, operating foundations, public charities, supporting organizations and social welfare organizations.

Neil also has significant experience counseling his clients on the design and implementation of charitable gift and pledge agreements, split-interest charitable trusts and other charitable giving strategies. He advises clients on issues concerning donative intent, “mission drift,” long-term governance of philanthropic vehicles and charitable components of family offices and family investment structure.

On behalf of his clients, Neil has negotiated major gifts with charitable organizations and has helped his clients identify, formulate and enforce their charitable goals. Neil has significant experience advising clients on state and federal audits related to charitable organizations and charitable giving.

Neil frequently speaks and writes on matters involving philanthropy.

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.

Elise J. McGee advises high-net-worth individuals and business owners on all aspects of wealth-transfer planning, including estate and trust administration, leveraged wealth-transfer techniques, tax matters, cryptocurrency and QSBS planning, real estate transactions and closely held business matters. Elise has extensive experience working with owners of closely held businesses to develop governance and succession plans, and on corporate, tax and compliance matters relating to those businesses.

Elise specializes in the formation and operation of private trust companies, and has advised clients on these structures in multiple jurisdictions. Elise has worked with state regulators to develop customized private trust company structures for clients, including for international families. Most recently, she co-drafted Wyoming’s 2019 trust company legislation including 2021 legislative updates. Elise has analyzed SEC and regulatory compliance issues facing private trust companies, and has helped clients develop policies and procedures for their private trust companies. She also advises clients on the litigation and regulatory risks facing private trust companies and their decision-makers.

Elise works with clients, including registered investment advisers and multi-family offices, to establish and transition trusteeship to retail trust companies. She also advises retail trust companies on cryptocurrency custody matters. She helps clients structure the multi-jurisdictional relationships between trust companies, family offices and closely held businesses.

Elise speaks frequently on the subject of estate planning, state income tax strategies, digital assets and trust companies. She has lectured at the University of Wyoming College of Law and serves on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Committee.

While in law school, Elise was an executive editor for The Michigan Journal of Race & Law. Prior to law school, she worked as a senior research analyst for Lexecon, where she performed research and statistical analyses focusing on the application of economics to litigation.

Thomas (Tom) P. Ward advises high-net-worth individuals and business owners on the income tax, corporate and compliance aspects of complex business and investment transactions, with a focus on family office management companies, private investment funds and complex incentive equity programs.

Tom has extensive experience in establishing and working with family offices and investment entities, ranging from first-generation entrepreneurs to multi-generational families, with net worth from $40 million to many billions of dollars, including a number of individuals listed in the Forbes 400. Tom works closely with the entire advisor team to implement the optimal structure for a particular situation and has extensive experience working with private trust company, airplane, transfer tax and security law considerations.

Tom is a frequent speaker on trends impacting family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

Ranked as “Band 1” by Chambers High Net Worth in its national Family Offices & Funds Restructuring category, clients praise Tom for being “a very thoughtful and knowledgeable attorney that truly understands the needs of an SFO. Tom's approach is very thoughtful and always tries to find creative ways to accomplish his client's goals."

While in law school, he was an editor of the Michigan International Law Journal.

Jeanette Suarez Hunter advises high-net-worth individuals, families, family offices and business owners on a wide range of tax, business, succession planning and charitable-giving matters. Jeanette takes a holistic approach to helping her clients preserve their legacies and transfer wealth to future generations, while giving care to each family’s unique dynamics.

Jeanette has extensive experience working with families on ownership issues involving their privately owned business, including governance issues, succession planning, privacy protection and shareholder agreements. She also regularly counsels younger generation family members on learning to be responsible stewards of wealth.

Jeanette frequently counsels her clients on the formation and operation of family offices and private trust companies. She also has significant experience advising individual and corporate fiduciaries and trust beneficiaries in complex estate and trust administration matters.

Jeanette speaks to local and national audiences on tax and estate planning topics. Jeanette is the head of the Chicago office’s Private Client Practice Group and serves as an elected member of the Firm’s Management Committee.

Victoria (Tori) Pambianco Ose advises high-net-worth individuals and families on all aspects of wealth-transfer planning, including estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax matters, estate and trust administration, business succession and charitable giving techniques.

Tori has extensive experience designing customized estate plans for individuals and families and implementing complex wealth-transfer techniques. She also has significant experience advising clients on a variety of philanthropic issues, including the development of charitable giving strategies, structuring and negotiating large charitable gifts, and the formation and operation of charitable trusts and foundations. In addition, Tori has experience advising families with international ties and non-US business interests.

Tori regularly speaks to regional and national audiences on issues related to philanthropy and on a variety of other topics in estate planning.

Karen Van Meter advises clients on all aspects of estate planning and estate and trust administration. She has significant experience counseling families on the minimization of estate and gift taxes, sophisticated estate planning techniques, the creation and operation of family partnerships and investment entities, planning for closely held businesses and charitable giving. Karen works extensively with several family offices on a wide variety of tax, securities and other matters. She also has spoken frequently at the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education's Estate Planning Short Course.

Elyse G. Kirschner advises clients on domestic and international tax and estates planning matters. Elyse’s areas of experience include charitable giving techniques, the formation and taxation of private trust companies, tax-exempt organizations and the taxation of foreign trusts.

Elyse has published and lectured on topics relating to domestic and foreign income and estate tax planning. While in law school, she was an executive editor of the New York University Law Review.

Jonathan W. Motto focuses his practice on counseling families, family offices, business owners, executives and individuals on all aspects of estate and gift planning, wealth transfer issues, estate and trust administration, and business succession issues. His experience includes preparation and administration of wills and trusts, formation and reorganization of closely held corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, implementation of leveraged wealth transfer techniques, and formation and operation of family offices and private trust companies.

While in law school, Jonathan served as the editor in chief of the Children's Legal Rights Journal, president of the Student Bar Association and president of Phi Alpha Delta International. He also received a Tax Law Certificate for extensive course work in the areas of income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax.

Ian M. Schwartz is the global co-head of investment management and co-head of private equity funds at McDermott Will & Schulte. He focuses his practice on advising investment firms and private equity sponsors on the formation and marketing of their funds and investments. Additionally, Ian is highly skilled in counseling private fund clients in connection with structuring fund investments, including general partner-lead secondary transactions and co-investment structures.

Ian has served as legal counsel in numerous multibillion-dollar and middle-market private investment fundraisings for institutional and boutique sponsors across a spectrum of investment strategies, including buyout, real estate, loan origination, debt, credit, fund of fund, healthcare, infrastructure, region specific, secondary, venture, growth equity, distressed/special situation, energy, funds-of-one, seeding, and co-investment. He also has extensive experience advising investment firms and private equity sponsors on hybrid, semi-open ended, and other bespoke fund structures that align the fund’s liquidity profile and terms to the liquidity and characteristics of the underlying investments.

He also regularly assists fund sponsors with their internal operational matters, such as the organization and documentation of their firm governance arrangements, carry plan structuring, and employee co-investment vehicles and structures. Ian also counsels fund managers on a wide range of regulatory and compliance matters.

Ian is ranked as a leading investment funds lawyer by numerous publications, including Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 US, and IFLR1000.

In addition to fund sponsors, Ian’s clients include top institutional limited partners, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and senior investment professionals.

Todd A. Solomon focuses his practice on designing, amending and administering pension, profit sharing, 401(k), employee stock ownership and 403(b) plans, as well as nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. He also counsels privately and publicly held corporations and tax-exempt entities regarding fiduciary issues under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), employee benefits issues involved in corporate transactions, executive compensation matters and the implementation of benefit programs for domestic partners of employees.

Todd has significant ERISA Title I experience and has counseled plan fiduciaries with respect to investment policies, private equity, hedge funds, and other alternative investments, prohibited transaction issues, investment management agreements and payment of expenses from plan assets.

He advises multinational clients on global employee benefits matters and compliance issues. Todd is a council member of the International Bar Association Global Employment Institute (GEI) and serves as editor of the GEI’s Annual Global Report on global legal issues impacting human resources.

Todd represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service on issues such as Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) filings, Audit Closing Agreement Program (CAP) negotiations, benefit plan audits and applications for determination letters. He negotiates with the Department of Labor in connection with benefit plan audits and Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program filings, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in connection with 4062(e) events and plan terminations.

Todd is the former head of the Firm's Pro Bono & Community Service Committee. He received the 2008 McDermott Will & Emery award for Outstanding Achievement and Commitment to Pro Bono and Service to the Community. Additionally, he is a member of the McDermott's Diversity and Inclusion Committee and has been involved with evaluating the Firm's domestic partner benefits policies and working with businesses in Chicago in jointly advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the workplace.

Todd is a fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, which recognizes attorneys who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the employee benefits field for at least twenty years. He is also ranked among the nations’ leading employee benefits and executive compensation lawyers by Chambers USA and The Legal 500 United States.

Carlyn S. McCaffrey provides legal counsel on domestic and international tax and estate planning for high-net-worth individuals. She also advises individuals and institutions on charitable planning matters. Carlyn is co-head of the Private Client practice in the Firm's New York office.

A frequent lecturer on subjects relating to tax law, trusts and estates, foreign trusts and matrimonial law, Carlyn is also an extensively published author on these topics.

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.

Adam K. Sherman provides legal counsel on a wide range of wealth transfer, tax, estate planning and business succession matters for high-net-worth individuals and business owners.

Adam has extensive experience structuring and implementing sophisticated wealth transfer techniques and working with owners of closely held businesses to develop customized succession plans. Adam also advises clients on a range of issues relating to the formation and maintenance of family office and private trust company structures.

Adam counsels executors, trustees and beneficiaries in all aspects of estate and trust administration, including the preparation of federal estate tax returns and judicial and non-judicial trust accountings. He has also been involved in numerous estate and gift tax audit proceedings before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and has successfully obtained favorable private letter rulings for his clients on a range of income and transfer tax issues.

On international matters, Adam has advised multinational families on compliance with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and counseled US-based clients participating in the IRS's Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP).

Adam has spoken extensively on estate planning topics, including wealth transfer planning, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax reporting, and exercising powers of appointment.

While in law school, Adam was a staff member of the Chicago Journal of International Law, in which he has his note (on the international legal status of drone operators) published in 2004.

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.

Richard (Dick) A. Lang delivers the Firm’s wide array of legal services to many of the wealthiest individuals and families in the United States. He concentrates on wealth transfer and income tax planning for venture capital and entrepreneurial clients, as well as counseling for family offices.

Dick has extensive experience fashioning customized trusts and navigating the many issues that arise in “decanting” old, irrevocable trusts into new trusts that better reflect clients’ current goals. Additional areas of experience include charitable planning and planning for owners of art. His decades of work helping high-net-worth individuals and families address their myriad personal and tax issues have placed him on a national short list of practitioners with the experience and judgment suitable for the most demanding private clients.

Dick maintains an office in the Firm’s Chicago office and is a frequent visitor to the Firm’s Silicon Valley and New York offices, enabling him to provide efficient and effective counsel almost everywhere his clients have financial, professional and personal interests. He lectures frequently on a variety of estate planning subjects and was an early contributor to the development of zCalc™, an Excel add-in that delivers sophisticated spreadsheet functions for estate planners.

David A. Baker advises clients in the areas of estate, trust, and guardianship litigation; probate, estate, trust, and guardianship administration; and charitable foundation and exempt organization administration and litigation. He also practices estate planning.

David founded the firm’s Estate, Trust and Guardianship Controversy practice more than 30 years ago. He led a group of private client and litigation attorneys who, together, have 80 years of experience in this unique field, one that combines substantive property law and tax background with litigation skills. David and this group achieved attention-getting results in high-profile matters involving defense of fiduciaries in investment and general liability cases, defense of fiduciaries in will and trust contests, and other diverse matters, including the highest-exposure transfer tax litigation cases in the United States. Representative matters include the following:

• Successfully defending the corporate fiduciary managing an Indiana trust, who was subject to a $100 million investment liability claim, and achieving a no-liability outcome, following by a court order taxing the cost of the litigation to the plaintiff beneficiaries
• Successfully defending will, trust and tort claims brought against the estate of the owner of a long-standing Chicago grocery store chain, with alleged damages in excess of $100 million, including obtaining full dismissal of all claims and sanctions against the plaintiff's attorneys
• Successfully defending the surviving spouse of a Michigan decedent, in a case involving the largest federal transfer tax deficiency ever sought by the Internal Revenue Service, and ultimately preserving, in its entirety, the surviving spouse's significant share of the decedent's estate and trust

David also handles appellate cases, and was the lead counsel on 10 published opinions in the courts of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, including Americans for the Arts v. Ruth Lilly Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust No. 1, 855 N.E. 2d 592 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006), a leading case on a trustee's duty to diversify investments

David has authored articles and outlines for the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) and the Chicago Bar Association, as well as for the Probate and Property Journal of the American Bar Association. He is the editor and primary author of the 2002 edition of the IICLE's Handbook on Estate, Trust and Guardianship Litigation (formerly Contested Estates), which he organized, authored and edited as a new publication for IICLE. He also speaks before these organizations on topics including contested estates, trusts and guardianships, estate planning and tax litigation. In law school, David served as an associate editor and contributor of the Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal.

Frequent speaker for Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Institute on Continuing Legal Education and local Bar Associations regarding estate, trust and foundation administration and litigation involving estates, trusts, and guardianships.

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.

Leigh-Alexandra Basha focuses her practice on domestic and international tax and estate planning. She counsels an affluent international client base on a wide range of sophisticated matters, including estate and trust administration, family wealth preservation, foreign trust planning, tax compliance, as well as business succession, expatriation, and pre-immigration planning. Leigh is head of the firm’s Washington, DC, Private Client Practice Group.

Leigh was an adjunct professor of wills, trusts and estates at American University Washington College of Law. She lectures and has written extensively about international tax and estate planning issues, and is editor of A Guide to International Estate Planning: Drafting, Compliance, and Administration Strategies, Second Edition.

Toni Ann Kruse has a broad-based estate and wealth transfer planning practice in New York. She advises ultra-high net worth individuals and families on estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax issues, trust and estate administration, state fiduciary income tax planning, and charitable gifting, as well as contested trust and estate matters. She has significant experience working with multinational clients on structuring efficient ways to benefit US persons as well as inbound and outbound planning opportunities. Toni Ann regularly works with family companies, advising on governance and succession issues between generations; drafts and administers complex estate plans; implements leveraged lifetime wealth transfer techniques; and counsels fiduciaries in complex trust and estate administration matters, often involving various asset classes across several jurisdictions.

Toni Ann has published articles in publications such as Trusts & Estates Magazine, Bloomberg Tax, Law360, and the New York Law Journal. She regularly speaks at estate planning conferences on various topics and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Reuters as an industry expert.

L. Timothy Halleron focuses his practice on high-net-worth tax and estate planning matters. Tim advises individuals and family offices in planning for the preservation and transfer of wealth within families without the imposition of gift, estate or generation-skipping transfer tax.

Tim’s practice includes:

• Advising on design and drafting of estate planning documents, including wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts (including charitable trusts), family limited partnerships, shareholder agreements, and intra-family sale agreements
• Pre-liquidity event tax planning, including leveraged sales of interests in private companies to dynasty trusts, transfers to grantor retained annuity trusts, and pre- and post-sale charitable planning
• Advising on investment diversification, asset protection, and corporate and family governance issues, including the reorganization of private companies to improve the tax efficiency of those organizations
• Counseling on the formation and administration of a variety of tax-exempt and charitable entities
• Transfer situs of trusts to more favorable jurisdictions to take advantage of tax efficiencies and modernized trust laws, and advise clients with respect to state fiduciary income tax issues
• Structuring and implementing judicial and non-judicial modifications of irrevocable trusts
• Advising on the structuring and formation of private trust companies in various jurisdictions
• Preparing and reviewing estate and gift tax returns, including complex reporting and valuation issues, and negotiate settlements with the IRS on audited estate and gift tax returns
• Advising on litigation disputes between trustees and beneficiaries and in contested trust and tax matters, and consult with fiduciaries in probate and trust administration

Tim is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”), and Tim frequently writes and speaks on a variety of tax and estate planning subjects.

Bobbi J. Bierhals has built her practice by developing creative and customized solutions for her clients. Her experience centers on tax and business planning for high-net-worth individuals and families. Her clients range from executives and first-generation entrepreneurs to multi-generational families, with net worth from $100 million to many billions of dollars, and include a number of individuals listed in the Forbes 400.

Bobbi’s breadth of experience across a wide range of client profiles enables her to help them identify and structure tax-advantageous structures for transferring wealth and business interests to younger generations. While many other estate planners focus almost exclusively on tax issues, Bobbi takes a holistic approach that balances tax and family considerations to fit each individual client’s goals. With a geographically diverse client base spanning the United States, Bobbi adeptly navigates the nuances of local law while addressing broader federal tax considerations.

Because of her extensive experience working with multi-generational, business-owning families, Bobbi is an expert in assisting owners of closely held businesses and their family offices with their unique planning needs. She advises her clients on private trust companies, corporate governance, succession planning, wealth transfer planning and family office structuring. She also coordinates other legal needs of family offices, from corporate transactions and real estate, to direct investing, employment law and aircraft acquisition, bringing in lawyers from McDermott or identifying external counsel as appropriate to provide the highest level of quality and service to her clients. Bobbi also has a particular interest in family law issues and has significant experience negotiating pre-marital agreements and partnering with family law attorneys to obtain desirable results in high-net-worth divorces.

Bobbi has received numerous accolades and industry recognitions, with Chambers High Net Worth reporting from its sources that Bobbi is “wicked smart and very strong technically…if you need the right answer and your life and company depend on it, you call Bobbi…her reasoning and attention to detail are industry-leading.” Leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week, MSN Money, Private Wealth magazine and Financial Advisor magazine have quoted Bobbi frequently on various family office and estate planning topics. A member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Bobbi has also taught legal research and writing at Harvard Law School.

Margaret E. Sanne advises ultra-high-net-worth individuals and multigenerational families, family offices, private trust companies, and corporate fiduciaries on trust and estate planning, helping them navigate complex planning and administration matters with proactive, strategic guidance.

Margaret counsels clients on all aspects of estate, gift, and charitable planning, corporate governance, and business succession strategies. She has extensive experience advising family offices and private trust companies on their unique planning needs, including structure and governance matters, succession planning, fiduciary risk management, trust and estate administration, transfer and income tax planning, and internal operations.

Additionally, Margaret advises individual and corporate fiduciaries on complex estate and trust administration, post-death administration, and probate and guardianship proceedings. She regularly represents clients in a wide range of private client disputes, including will and trust contests, beneficiary disputes, divorce-related trust issues, and tax and charitable controversies.

Michael (Mike) J. Sorrow focuses his practice on tax, estate planning, family business and trust and estate administration matters. Mike regularly advises wealthy individuals and families on all aspects of wealth and tax planning matters. In addition, Mike works extensively with families that control significant public and private businesses, counseling them and their family offices on matters relating to effective tax planning, succession and governance planning and the intra-family issues that arise in the management of a family business. Mike also has successfully represented taxpayers on tax controversy matters through audits, administrative appeals and litigation.

Mike is a certified public accountant. Prior to going to law school, he worked as a senior tax accountant for a Big Four accounting firm. While in law school, he served as an extern for the Honorable Amy J. St. Eve of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also worked for Northwestern's Small Business Opportunity Center, where he assisted small business entrepreneurs on a wide variety of legal and business issues confronting their start-up enterprises.

Mark E. Schreiber focuses his practice on cybersecurity, data breach response, Payment Card Industry (PCI), global privacy coordination, and AI governance. He advises entities facing cross-border data protection, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), privacy frameworks, strategic decisions, cyber assessments and investigations. Mark has led numerous multinational and cross-border matters and internal investigations, including those involving data breaches, data transfer and credit card/PCI matters. He has advised senior management, boards, and special board committees on a variety of investigations, including data breach prevention and response.

Mark has spoken around the world on topics related to data breaches and related defense litigation strategy, overlapping international data protection compliance, and other privacy topics. He has also given cyber, privacy, and AI presentations to delegations from some 80 countries during numerous State Department sponsored international visits. He helped found and was chair for over a decade of the Privacy and Data Protection Group of the World Law Group, an international affiliation of large law firms in some 65 countries, and received the “2012 World Law Group Practice/Industry Group Leader of the Year Award” in recognition of his privacy and data protection work, including managing two global data protection publications. In addition, Mark helped found and was co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Privacy Law Committee. He is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and has given a variety of presentations for the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

Mark has also practiced, written and lectured widely on topics related to employment law, including presentations to the Flaschner Judicial Institute for judges. Prior to entering private practice, he was the chief trial lawyer for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).

M. Read Moore provides legal counsel on all aspects of estate planning, estate and trust administration, tax controversy, and privately owned business governance and succession planning. He has considerable experience in the international aspects of the private client practice, including inbound investment and wealth transfers to the United States, the US tax and legal aspects of non-US private company and wealth management structures, and US tax compliance for clients with global investments and assets.

From his base in the San Francisco Bay area, Read works with clients across the United States and around the world on innovative planning and tax and non-tax controversies for private companies, domestic and foreign trusts, and wealthy family groups. Read speaks frequently at national and international conferences and is a recognized authority on domestic and international estate planning and tax issues.

Melissa (Moszkowski) Price focuses her practice on domestic and international tax and estate planning matters. She advises clients on estate, gift, generation-skipping transfer and income tax issues, trust and estate administration, wealth transfer techniques and charitable planning.

Melissa has significant experience with international tax and estate planning. She advises trustees of foreign trusts with US beneficiaries, individuals moving to and from the US, and families with members residing in multiple jurisdictions. She regularly advises on US information reporting issues.

Prior to working at McDermott, Melissa worked in the corporate tax department at another large firm in New York.

Monica Asher focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation and private client litigation. She has represented clients in partnership disputes, breach of contract, antitrust and trademark infringement matters.

Monica also has a broad range of experience in estate and probate proceedings and has represented clients in will contests, trust disputes and guardianship proceedings, among other matters.

Monica has significant appellate experience, having handled multiple appeals at the federal court level and to the New York State Appellate Division and Court of Appeals.

Todd Harrison focuses his practice on white-collar and corporate defense, internal investigations, regulatory and compliance matters, and complex civil litigation in state and federal courts, including the defense of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases and the defense of companies and executives charged with violating various international sanctions regimes, including the US government sanctions on Iran. He has represented numerous companies facing government investigations, prosecutions and enforcement actions from both state and federal agencies, including the US Department of Justice (DOJ), US attorneys and state attorneys general offices, the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), various congressional committees of the US House and Senate, the Inspectors General of numerous federal agencies, the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB – formerly ATF), as well as the New York State Attorney General’s office, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Todd is a critical member of McDermott’s industry-leading Cryptocurrency practice. Todd has been instrumental in gaining favorable resolutions for numerous large companies in the cryptocurrency industry, in relation to fraud and regulatory investigations by the DOJ, the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Treasury Department.

Todd has been first-chair in more than forty trials in federal and state courts and has filed appellate briefs and conducted appellate arguments in more than a dozen cases in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Todd has been named a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation.

In August 2015, Todd was named the national “Litigator of the Week” by American Lawyer for the rare defense trial win he secured in a federal insider trading case. Todd's client was a hedge fund manager who faced 36 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy related to an alleged insider trading scheme. At trial in federal district court, Todd won a full acquittal of all 36 counts, vindicating his client and saving his client from a potential maximum of 25 years in jail. Todd has won on every single count of all 12 of the federal trials in which he has served as lead chair.

Previously, Todd served for more than five years as an Assistant US Attorney and Deputy Chief for the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and as an Assistant District Attorney for the New York County District Attorney’s Office. In 2003, the DOJ recognized Todd’s outstanding trial work in a racketeering case with the Director’s Award for Superior Performance by an Assistant US Attorney. He has handled complex and high-profile matters involving federal and state crimes, including insider trading, securities violations, sanctions violations, racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering, bank fraud, mortgage fraud, export control violations, tax fraud, bankruptcy fraud, bribery, environmental crimes, terrorist financing, mail and wire fraud, health care fraud, obstruction of justice, false statements, murder and public corruption.

From January 2011 to October 2012, Todd served as chief counsel of the Energy & Commerce Committee of the US House of Representatives, where he was responsible for oversight and investigations covering the energy, health care, telecommunications and environmental sectors. He oversaw complex investigations of private-sector companies and government agencies, including the US Department of Energy, the Federal Trade Commission, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US Department of Commerce, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Food and Drug Administration, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Consumer Products Safety Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Todd 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.

Ellen K. Harrison advises clients on a broad range of tax issues, including estate planning and administration, tax controversies, and income, gift and estate tax planning for individuals, businesses and charitable organizations. She has significant experience drafting wills, trusts, powers of attorney, prenuptial arrangements and buy-sell agreements, as well as a broad range of corporate documents and family partnership agreements. Her tax controversy and litigation experience includes Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits, IRS appeals, refund claims and US Tax Court litigation.

Previously, Ellen was an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center.

Jake Townsend focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital transactions and general corporate representation. He is experienced in matters involving mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, private equity and venture capital financing, and complex commercial transactions involving multiple jurisdictions for a broad range of private and public clients. He also provides continuing general corporate legal advice to a number of the Firm's clients. Jake focuses on the delivery of efficient and cost-effective corporate services and products at the highest level of quality that integrates multiple jurisdictions and multiple practice areas.

Jake also focuses his practice on representing family offices and family-owned businesses. Jake has a broad range of experience assisting owners of closely held businesses and their family offices with the full range of corporate and transactional needs. He regularly advises family and family office clients on corporate transactions, recapitalizations and other liquidity events, direct investing, corporate governance, general commercial counseling, succession planning, wealth transfer planning and family office structuring. In addition, he frequently counsels family investors in connection with their investments in private equity, venture capital and hedge funds. Jake regularly teams with McDermott colleagues in the Private Client and Tax Practice Groups to create cross-disciplinary solutions for families and family offices.

Jake frequently represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies in their acquisitions, recapitalizations and exit transactions. In addition, he counsels investors in connection with their investments in private equity, venture capital and hedge funds.

James H. Cundiff advises clients on family wealth and business planning, federal estate, gift and generation-skipping tax planning, and estate and trust administration. James represents entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and other business leaders and wealthy individuals on estate and tax planning matters.

Counseling closely held businesses and family members, James is actively engaged in the structuring of family businesses as well as business control and succession planning, multi-generational wealth transfer planning, and estate plan design and implementation. James works with several single-family offices on the creation and administration of private investment pools and private trust companies. As a certified public accountant, James bridges the gaps between financial, tax and legal issues. James frequently writes and speaks on a variety of tax and estate planning subjects.

Stanley (Stan) H. Meadows, PC, advises clients on public and private offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate restructuring. He is a former member of the Firm's Management Committee.

Stan represents acquirers of financially distressed companies and lenders and debtors in negotiating debt restructuring, health care companies in joint ventures, and insurance and energy companies in acquisitions, debt financing and public offerings. He provides legal counsel to clients in a wide variety of industries, including construction, food and beverage, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and publishing.

Patrick J. McCurry concentrates his practice on the corporate and tax aspects of complex business and investment transactions, with a particular focus on transactions involving single-family offices, private equity funds and other financial sponsors (on both buy and sell-side), emerging businesses, partnerships and strategic joint ventures, limited liability companies and closely held corporations.

Patrick has extensive experience in working with single-family offices in connection with the formation and/or restructuring of family offices and private trust companies, the creation of investment funds, the establishment of incentive equity programs for key employees and related income tax planning.  He also routinely works on complex tax planning for high-net-worth individual and families, tax structuring healthcare services transactions and tax controversy matters.

Patrick is Co-Leader of the Firm’s Closely Held and Passthroughs Affinity Group.

Ranked as “Band 1” by Chambers High Net Worth in its national Family Offices & Funds Restructuring category, clients praise Patrick for being “a lucid communicator, even of incredibly complex tax and legal concepts.” Other clients note that Patrick “brings a level of knowledge and expertise in family office and partnership taxation” and he “never brings up an issue without thinking about multiple potential solutions.”

While in law school, Patrick served as an extern for the Honorable Ronald A. Guzman, US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also was a member of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal.

Carol A. Harrington advises clients on a variety of matters, including estate, gift and generation-skipping tax issues, closely held businesses and succession planning, family office structures and issues, private trust companies, private foundations, trust and estate administration, and contested trust and tax matters. Carol is the former global head of McDermott's Private Client Practice.

As a national authority on the federal generation-skipping tax, Carol has advised attorneys, tax professionals, executors, trustees and other nationwide on this issue. She is co-author of a tax treatise, Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (Harrington, Kwon & Zaritsky), the author of the BNA Tax Management Portfolio, Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax, and has published many articles on the federal generation-skipping tax. Carol speaks frequently before professional and industry groups on tax, estate planning and succession issues.