2017 Family Office Symposium

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.

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.

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.

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.

Joan-Elisse Carpentier provides legal representation in all areas of immigration and nationality law affecting individuals, corporations and other businesses. She has worked on evaluations of immigration practices of corporations, development of corporate policies and procedures for handling immigration matters and obtaining immigrant and non-immigrant visas, as well as citizenship and expatriation. Joan-Elisse assists businesses with I-9 compliance programs and provides representation during government audits and in settlement negotiations. She also provides advice concerning immigration issues during mergers and acquisitions.

Joan-Elisse represents clients in a wide variety of industries, including finance and banking, publishing, entertainment, broadcasting, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, manufacturing, technology, hospitality and energy. She works with entrepreneurs developing US businesses, and also works on behalf of US citizens and foreign nationals to obtain visas for other countries.

Joan-Elisse has written and lectured on business immigration topics for many different audiences. She has written articles on foreign hiring for Human Resource Executive Immigration Advisor and Management News, and was recently interviewed for Realtor magazine regarding EB5 foreign investments in real estate projects. Her article on employer sanctions and I-9 compliance was recently published in Bloomberg BNA - Workplace Immigration Report. She has been a featured speaker at human resources conferences and meetings sponsored by a number of clients. Joan-Elisse was a guest lecturer in 2012 and 2014 for Northwestern University School of Law's Tax LLM Program for the International Estate Planning course. She was a featured panelist on diversity at the American Immigration Lawyers Association New York Chapter Winter Conference and participated as a roundtable speaker on practices and pitfalls of remote work for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

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.

David P. DeYoe focuses his practice on transactional matters, with emphasis on the acquisition, disposition, financing, regulatory compliance and management of aircraft for non-airline corporations and individuals. David also advises clients on commercial real estate leases, sales and acquisitions, development and financing. He is the head of the Firm's Aircraft Acquisition and Operation Group.

David represents individuals, partnerships, financial institutions, and privately and publicly held business entities. A significant portion of his practice today involves counseling clients with respect to the acquisition of whole and fractional ownership and leasehold interests in aircraft, the financing of those acquisitions, and the management and regulatory issues associated with private ownership of aircraft such as Gulfstreams, Falcons, Challengers, Citations, Global Expresses, and other jet and turbo-prop aircraft. As the leader of the aircraft team, David coordinates the purchase, ownership structure, management and operation, and tax and regulatory aspects of aircraft ownership with other members of the group. He has represented clients in connection with the unwinding of lease and financing agreements when aircraft ownership was no longer desirable. Taking advantage of his strong real estate background, David also has assisted clients in the structuring and closing of Section 1031 aircraft exchange transactions, including straight exchanges and deferred and reverse exchanges.

David's practice includes providing advice to clients on issues related to commercial and industrial leases, sales, acquisitions and exchanges of commercial and industrial properties, construction and financing of commercial and industrial facilities, land use and zoning, residential and commercial development, and sports marketing and structuring. In recent years, he has represented tenants in several of the largest office lease transactions in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, and in leasing transactions throughout the United States and in Western Europe. Although his real estate leasing practice primarily involves the representation of tenants, David also represents landlords in many parts of the country.

David speaks frequently on a variety of aviation and real estate-related topics, and has written articles for professional organizations. Most recently, he spoke at the Second Annual China Aeroleasing Summit in Beijing on key legal issues affecting aircraft leasing transactions globally and in China and at the McDermott Will & Emery Family Office Symposium and The Northern Trust Company's Wealth Management Advice Summit on aircraft ownership and management issues.

Christen K. Douglas advises high net worth individuals and families regarding all aspects of their personal legal needs, including estate, gift, GST, and income tax planning, family dispute resolution, business succession planning, charitable giving, and trust and estate controversy matters. Drawing on her experience as a litigator, she is able to anticipate and avoid common missteps in planning clients’ estates that might otherwise lead to costly litigation. When litigation is necessary, Christen offers a unique perspective by understanding the highly technical aspects of estate and tax planning as well as the strategy of litigation.

Linda M. Doyle is a partner and serves as the firm’s general counsel. Previously, her practice focused on employment-related litigation and counseling.

She also previously served as the firm’s chief human resources officer, deputy general counsel, and hiring partner.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Trusted advisor to ultra-high-net-worth individuals, multigenerational families, family offices, founders, and business owners on estate planning, philanthropy, governance, and succession

Represents individuals, families, and their charitable entities on the design, implementation, funding, operation, audit, succession, and sunset of tax-exempt entities

Counsels clients on sophisticated estate and wealth transfer planning; business, fiduciary, and family office succession; and the administration of large and complex trusts and estates

Guides families and family offices during critical times, including major family life and business events, transitions, and succession

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Advises single-family offices on formation, restructuring, incentive equity structures (i.e., profits interests, co-investments, and phantom equity plans), private trust companies, and investment fund creation

Counsels family offices and other investors on buy-side and sell-side transactions

Handles complex tax planning for high-net-worth individuals, families, and closely held businesses

Advises on tax controversy matters

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.

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.

Michael (Mike) Morgan is recognized as one of the nation’s leading lawyers in cybersecurity and data privacy. He has guided clients through some of the largest and most complex data breaches, breaches involving more than 50 million records, incidents affecting persons in over 100 countries around the world, and incidents involving sensitive defense-related information. He counsels clients on compliance with US and international regulations relating to cybersecurity and data privacy, including compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and China’s Network Security Law. Mike leads the firm's Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity Group.

Mike has particular experience on complex legal issues arising from advanced technologies. He represents companies on privacy and cybersecurity issues arising from vehicle autonomy and connectivity and is an expert on the fast-changing regulatory environment relating to autonomous vehicles and in the US and around the world. He also advises clients on matters relating to international data transfers (e.g., EU model clauses and Privacy Shield), cryptocurrency, e-commerce security and blockchain applications. He represents clients in a range of industries, including financial services, big data, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance and automotive, as well as defense contractors and subcontractors subject to requirements under DFARS and the CMMC Framework.

Mike has handled scores of privacy and cybersecurity-related cases, including more than one hundred lawsuits involving claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA); unfair, deceptive or abusive acts and practice (UDAAP) statutes; and consumer protection statutes. He has particular expertise in the defense of cases involving claims for statutory damages and advises clients on mitigation of legal risks arising from the CCPA’s statutory damages provisions applicable to data breaches. He has defended against government investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Communications Commission and state attorneys general. Mike is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sarah advises high-net-worth clients on a broad range of testamentary and inter vivos estate planning matters. She has extensive experience drafting and customizing wills, revocable trusts and irrevocable trusts. She is fluent in the administration of complex estate planning strategies including GRATs, CLATs, QPRTs, installment sales, intra-family loans, closely-held companies, charitable vehicles and leveraging techniques. She excels at designing transactions with unique assets or to accomplish specific planning objectives. Sarah also has experience administering large and complex estates and trusts.

Sarah enjoys working with numbers and using financial models and tax projections to guide clients in their planning. She develops complex models to project the impact of wealth transfer transactions, or assess the interaction between clients’ balance sheets and their estate plans. She uses those models to spot issues that may arise during the administration phase, such as liquidity shortages, and devises and implements solutions to those problems.

Sarah distills complex transactions and concepts into simple terms, and explains them to clients in summary fashion, whether through graphics, diagrams or bullet points.

Sarah is highly approachable and adept at developing relationships with clients of all ages and backgrounds. She is well-suited to advise multi-generational families, and particularly enjoys educating younger family members about estate and asset protection planning. Sarah regularly prepares premarital agreements and advises on other family law matters that may intersect with a client’s estate planning.

While in law school, Sarah was awarded the Edward H. McDermott Scholarship. She was president and founder of the Real Property/Trust & Estates Club. She was also a co-chair of the Northwestern Student Bar Association Admissions Committee and a member of the Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy.

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.

Designs, amends, and administers pension, profit sharing, 401(k), employee stock ownership, and 403(b) plans, as well as nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements

Counsels plan fiduciaries on ERISA Title I matters, including investment policies, private equity, hedge funds, and other alternative investments

Advises multinational clients on global employee benefits and compliance issues

Represents clients before the IRS, Department of Labor, and PBGC on benefit plan audits, corrections, and plan terminations

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.

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.

Jeremy White represents a wide range of clients in complex litigation matters in the wage and hour, employment discrimination and public accommodation areas.

Jeremy has specific experience in collective and class actions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act (EPA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other federal and state statutes concerning employment-related claims. He has defended employers before federal, state and local agencies, courts and courts of appeals.

Jeremy counsels employers on a full spectrum of workplace issues, including personnel policies and practices, employee classifications, separations, terminations and layoffs, performance management, internal complaints and investigations, restrictive covenants and dispute resolution measures.

Jeremy also has experience defending companies against lawsuits brought under Title III of the ADA, California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, the Florida Civil Rights Act, New York State Civil Rights Law and other similar state laws. These matters have involved a broad range of accessibility issues, including but not limited to architectural barriers, mobility devices, websites, service animals and communication technologies.

Jeremy maintains an active pro bono practice, and has represented clients, including disability rights organizations, in various matters.