Lisa M. Richman focuses her practice on international dispute resolution matters, with a particular emphasis on international commercial arbitration and public international law.

She has experience representing clients in a broad range of matters, including in the areas of international commercial and investment arbitrations, securities enforcement, securities litigation, general commercial litigation disputes and insurance coverage.

Lisa’s clients have included investors, governments, corporations, corporate officers and directors, and individuals in disputes seated in common law and civil law jurisdictions worldwide. Her work has included disputes conducted under ICC, ICSID, ICSID AF, AAA/ICDR, SIAC, HKIAC, JAMS, DIS, LCIA, CPR, Swiss Rules and UNCITRAL Rules as well as pure ad-hoc arbitrations. She has handled disputes in a wide variety of industries with a particular focus on disputes relating to energy, oil and gas, intellectual property, pharmaceutical, infrastructure, licensing, securities, telecommunications, joint ventures and construction.

Lisa also has represented corporations, corporate officers and directors, and individuals in international and domestic arbitrations and litigations in the US and around the world. Complementing her dispute resolution expertise, Lisa has managed internal investigations worldwide and has helped a variety of companies to resolve government investigations, including World Bank Sanctions proceedings. Lisa is listed on the arbitrator list of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC), in the LCIA’s database of neutrals and is a member of the SIAC Users Counsel, the ITA Americas Committee and the DIS Rules Revision Committee. She is a native German speaker, and also speaks Spanish and French.

She has received recognition for her expertise as a dispute resolution specialist by, among others, Global Arbitration Review, Who’s Who Legal, Benchmark Litigation, the Commercial Arbitration Expert Guide, the National Law Journal, the American Lawyer, Juve, Super Lawyers and Law360.

While in law school, Lisa was a notes and comments editor for The Tax Lawyer. Following law school, Lisa was a law clerk for the Honorable A. Franklin Burgess, Jr. of the District of Columbia Superior Court.

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.

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.

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.

Mary Kay McCalla Martire focuses her practice on a wide variety state and local tax issues. She advises clients on matters related to sales tax, with an emphasis on the sale of digital products. In addition, she advises business clients on income tax apportionment and remote employee withholding obligations. Mary Kay counsels individual clients on residency and income sourcing questions, and frequently advises captives and their insureds on direct procurement tax issues. She also has experience with state and local utility and telecommunications tax matters.

Mary Kay has an extensive litigation background in state and federal court, as well as administrative tribunals. She has particular experience in the defense of qui tam (whistleblower) claims filed in the state tax arena and has won the dismissal of many Illinois False Claims Act cases. Mary Kay played a key role in many of the reported decisions issued by the Illinois appellate court in this area. She also has experience defending clients against class action and consumer fraud claims.

Mary Kay also has represented clients in a number of state insurance tax litigation matters, including serving as the principal trial attorney for a group of insurance companies that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Illinois Privilege Tax (Milwaukee Safeguard Ins. Co. v. Selky, 179 Ill.2d 94 (1997)).

Mary Kay serves as Co-Chair of the Chicago Office Pro Bono Committee. She is actively engaged in a number of pro bono matters, including the representation of not for profits seeking sales and property tax exemptions, and serving as a guardian ad litem in child custody disputes. In 2014, Mary Kay was awarded one of McDermott’s Chicago Office pro bono service awards. In addition, she is an editor of the Firm’s State Tax Blog, InsideSALT.com.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mary Kay McCalla Martire focuses her practice on a wide variety state and local tax issues. She advises clients on matters related to sales tax, with an emphasis on the sale of digital products. In addition, she advises business clients on income tax apportionment and remote employee withholding obligations. Mary Kay counsels individual clients on residency and income sourcing questions, and frequently advises captives and their insureds on direct procurement tax issues. She also has experience with state and local utility and telecommunications tax matters.

Mary Kay has an extensive litigation background in state and federal court, as well as administrative tribunals. She has particular experience in the defense of qui tam (whistleblower) claims filed in the state tax arena and has won the dismissal of many Illinois False Claims Act cases. Mary Kay played a key role in many of the reported decisions issued by the Illinois appellate court in this area. She also has experience defending clients against class action and consumer fraud claims.

Mary Kay also has represented clients in a number of state insurance tax litigation matters, including serving as the principal trial attorney for a group of insurance companies that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Illinois Privilege Tax (Milwaukee Safeguard Ins. Co. v. Selky, 179 Ill.2d 94 (1997)).

Mary Kay serves as Co-Chair of the Chicago Office Pro Bono Committee. She is actively engaged in a number of pro bono matters, including the representation of not for profits seeking sales and property tax exemptions, and serving as a guardian ad litem in child custody disputes. In 2014, Mary Kay was awarded one of McDermott’s Chicago Office pro bono service awards. In addition, she is an editor of the Firm’s State Tax Blog, InsideSALT.com.

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.

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.

Advises health insurers, HMOs, provider organizations, and private equity funds on complex regulatory matters and healthcare M&A  

Counsels clients on Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, and Medicaid managed care programs  

Helps innovative companies navigate state risk-bearing regulations and structure transactions involving federal and state healthcare programs  

Advises healthcare companies on District of Columbia certificate of need (CON) laws, including CON approvals for new services, ownership changes, and facility closures

Laurent Ayache is co-head of the Regulatory Practice in the Firm’s Paris office. He advises clients on public, administrative and regulatory law, including issues in connection with competition and public-sector matters. He focuses his practice on government contracts (public procurements, public service concessions, public-private partnerships and government property leases), public corporations (governance, privatization and changes in status) and on antitrust and industry regulation issues. His practice also includes litigation related to regulated industries such as energy (electricity and gas), electronic communications, airports, transportation (railway, road and sea), public housing, drinking water and sanitization.

Laurent teaches a course in public contracts and administrative law (Theory of Administrative Law and Public Service Concessions) in the Magistère degree of Law and Economic Activities, and a course on hydroelectric power law in the Energy Law Master, at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Laurent is the author of a book entitled “Droit de la concurrence et secteur public” (Antitrust Law and the Public Sector) published by LexisNexis, is a contributor to the annual chronicle on state aids and subsidies in the Quarterly European Law Review, and is a regular contributor to the “Concurrence, Régulation et Secteur Public” chronicle of the Contrats, Concurrences, Consommation law review. He has also authored numerous articles on government contracts.