McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Robert (“Robbie”) Barton represents individuals, families, charitable institutions and foundations, corporate trustees, and fiduciaries in litigation involving complex trusts and estates. He provides guidance on trust and estate administration, conservatorship and guardianship matters, and claims involving elder abuse. Robbie works with clients to develop creative and effective solutions that protect and advance their interests, representing them in high-profile and complex trust and estate disputes in federal, state, and tribal courts throughout the United States.

Widely recognized by his peers as a leading trusts and estates lawyer, Robbie has served on the California Lawyers Association’s Trusts and Estates Executive Committee and was the editor in chief for the Association’s Trusts and Estates Quarterly. Robbie is also the co-chair of the Probate and Fiduciary Litigation Committee as part of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section and is an Articles Editor for Probate and Property magazine. He publishes and speaks on new laws and cutting-edge legal issues. Robbie is co-leader of the Firm’s Private Client Disputes Affinity Group.

Allison Scher Bernbach is head of the firm’s Private Equity Regulatory Group. With more than 25 years of experience, she advises private fund advisers on regulatory and compliance matters, particularly under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. She regularly counsels clients on US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration, compliance program design and maintenance, SEC examinations, private fund formation, and acquisitions of investment managers. Her practice spans global asset managers and private equity sponsors, where she provides both strategic and practical regulatory guidance.

Before joining McDermott Will & Schulte, Allison served in senior in-house roles, including as managing director and chief compliance officer at a major private equity firm. She has also held associate general counsel and compliance officer positions across capital management companies, giving her a unique perspective on the operational and legal challenges facing investment managers.

Max P. Biedermann focuses his practice on domestic and international tax and estate planning. He has broad experience advising fiduciaries on the administration of trusts and estates – particularly with international complexities – counseling families on business succession, implementing succession plans, and assisting global clients with inbound and outbound planning and trust structuring.

Max works closely with a wide range of clients, including multigenerational families, family offices, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, investments bankers, private equity and hedge fund managers, and philanthropists, helping them identify their objectives and develop creative, pragmatic solutions tailored to their goals.

He regularly advises clients on estate, gift, generation-skipping transfer, and income tax issues, as well as trust and estate administration, wealth transfer strategies, and charitable planning.

Max currently serves as the Executive Editor of the International Estate Planning Treatise published by LexisNexis.

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.

Scott A. Bowman’s practice focuses on providing personal tax and estate planning counseling to wealthy individuals and families, advising them on structuring their wealth to minimize income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes over multiple generations. He advises on trustee and family governance structures throughout the estate and trust administration process to preserve business enterprises and manage potentially sensitive family circumstances.

Scott is experienced in handling international aspects of tax and estate planning for multi-national families, advising non-US citizens who are considering immigrating to the United States, investing into US financial and real estate markets or transferring wealth to US beneficiaries by gift or inheritance. Scott also advises US clients living or investing abroad and with regard to US expatriation.

Nathan R. Brown focuses his practice on counseling individuals, families and business owners in the development and implementation of estate planning strategies designed to maximize and protect the transfer of wealth to future generations. Nathan also acts as a senior adviser and “general counsel” to many family offices, coordinating a wide array of legal services.

In addition to advising clients on tax planning strategies, Nathan works closely with multi-generational families to design and implement business succession plans and family governance structures (such as private trust companies and family offices).

Nathan speaks frequently across the country on many estate planning topics and has published articles in The Florida Tax Review, The Tax Lawyer, The Florida Bar Journal, Probate & Property Magazine (American Bar Association), Estates, Gifts and Trusts Journal (Tax Management) and Trust & Estates, Taxes - The Tax Magazine and Estate Planning. Nathan focuses many of his speeches and articles on family office and private trust company structuring and planning with carried interest for investment fund principals.

In law school, Nathan served as an extern for the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez of the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

Leads firmwide strategy and culture as firm chairman

Advises healthcare clients on high-stakes mergers, acquisitions, and disputes, with a private equity focus

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.

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.

Counsels private fund managers on regulatory compliance, with a focus on the Investment Advisers Act of 1940

Guides clients through SEC registration, examinations, and enforcement matters

Designs and enhances compliance testing programs and trainings

Advises on regulatory considerations for blockchain technology, digital assets, and virtual and digital currency business initiatives

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.

Co-Head of Hedge Funds. Advises on all matters related to the formation and structuring of single-strategy and multi-strategy hedge funds, the design of upper-tier deals, and compliance and regulatory requirements for well-pedigreed emerging and veteran private capital managers.

Peter has advised on many of the leading single- and multi-strategy hedge fund launches over the past 20 years. His clients include well-pedigreed managers launching their first funds and some of the largest veteran hedge fund managers. Having previously served as the General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of a buy-side firm, Peter has a unique understanding of his clients’ goals and the nature of their interactions with investors, regulators, employees, auditors, administrators, and outside counsel.

He also has vast experience in insider trading determinations, including the purchase, analysis, and use of alternative data.

Peter serves on the Board of Directors of the Managed Funds Association (MFA), the voice of the global alternative asset management industry.

Business Insider recognized Peter as one of “the 29 bankers, advisers, and lawyers to know if you’re thinking about starting your own hedge fund.”

He is recognized as a leading investment funds lawyer for his work in the hedge funds space by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and The Legal 500 US, with clients stating that “he is the lawyer that I rely most heavily on and he is a really good resource for commercial legal advice” and “an exceptional lawyer” who “combines an excellent business sense with a strong legal background.”

Peter is also the chair of the Board of Directors of The Acceleration Project, a woman-founded, woman-led nonprofit providing consulting services to empower under-resourced small-business owners to create a more inclusive economy while channeling talent back into the economy.

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.

Daniel Hatten focuses his practice on private client matters, advising clients on a range of estate and wealth planning transactions, including the preparation of estate planning documents, lifetime gifting, multigenerational planning, estate administration and fiduciary litigations.

Dan also assists clients on issues relating to their retirement plans, charitable giving, change of domicile and life insurance, including split-dollar life insurance. He works with clients in a range of industries, including insiders of public companies, hedge fund managers, private equity principals, real estate developers, entrepreneurs, art dealers and art collectors, and helps clients navigate issues specific to their assets and situations.

Dan handles complex fiduciary litigation matters and disputes with the IRS. He has helped clients to obtain favorable private letter rulings from the IRS and navigate estate tax audits initiated by the IRS. He has been involved in all aspects of fiduciary litigation proceedings, including briefings in Surrogate’s Court proceedings, appeals and settlement negotiations of interfamily disputes.

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.

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.

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.

Co-Head of Investment Management Regulatory and Enforcement. Advises private funds on regulatory and compliance matters, particularly the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Kelly supports clients undergoing SEC examinations, including by handling deficiency letters and enforcement referrals and uses that experience to assist clients with exam preparedness.

She practices in the intersection of regulation and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, alternative data, web scraping and electronic communications.

Kelly also advises clients on data privacy and cybersecurity.

She regularly conducts client training sessions and is a sought-after presenter at leading industry conferences.

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.

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.

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.

Annie L. Mehlam advises in the areas of estate planning and administration, trust administration, charitable giving and sophisticated income, gift and estate tax planning.

Annie advises individuals and families on strategies to maximize wealth preservation across generations, including succession planning, insurance planning and planning with business interests, hedge fund and private equity interests and real estate interests. She represents executors and trustees in estate and trust administration matters. Annie works with clients on their philanthropic planning and legacy, including advising on the administration of trusts and estates with philanthropic interests and creating and administering private foundations.

Annie also works with high-net-worth individuals in family law matters, including the negotiation of prenuptial, postnuptial and separation agreements, and individuals and fiduciaries in trusts and estates disputes.

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.

Arianne R. Plasencia focuses her practice on US & international tax and estate planning matters. She provides international and US income, gift, and estate tax planning for entities and high-net-worth individuals.

Arianne works closely with multijurisdictional families and advises on inbound investment planning. As part of this work, she counsels individuals investing in the United States, trustees of trusts with US beneficiaries, individuals moving to and from the United States, and families with members residing in multiple jurisdictions. Arianne also establishes family offices, private trust companies and charitable giving vehicles. To help clients achieve their charitable goals, she creates split-interest trusts and nonprofit entities.

Arianne regularly advises clients and speaks on US tax and US information reporting issues, including the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the Corporate Transparency Act.

While in law school, Arianne served as the managing editor for the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law.

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.

Caroline (Cary) Robbins advises ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, and family offices on sophisticated estate and tax planning matters. She designs and administers tax-efficient wealth transfer structures that support multigenerational succession, asset protection, and family governance. Cary represents clients with complex financial, investment, and ownership interests, including real estate investors, entrepreneurs, business owners, private equity professionals, and beneficiaries navigating the challenges of inherited wealth.

Complementing her estate planning work, Cary counsels clients on charitable planning and philanthropic initiatives, working closely with individuals and families to establish and manage private foundations and other giving vehicles tailored to their long-term objectives. She provides fiduciary services and advises individual and institutional clients on the administration of complex trusts and estates, drawing on extensive experience with federal and state tax and trust law.

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.

Audrey Scott focuses her practice on advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, and family offices. She counsels clients on a wide range of estate and tax planning issues, including multigenerational wealth transfer, business succession planning, philanthropy, and privacy planning.

Audrey works closely with wealthy founders and their families on cross-border transactions, international tax structures, and multijurisdictional estate planning. She is experienced in counseling entrepreneurs at every stage of their business lifecycle, from initial founding and fundraising to initial public offerings and other liquidity events.

Prior to joining the firm, Audrey served as general counsel for a single-family office, where she managed estate planning, governance, tax structuring, charitable planning, and succession planning. Her experience also includes more than a decade as a partner in large US law firms, where she served as practice head and co-chair of the family office group.

In addition to her law firm experience, Audrey worked at a registered investment advisory firm, focusing on the intersection of wealth planning and estate planning for high-net-worth clients. She also served on the board of a trust company, providing guidance on fiduciary matters and trust administration.

Counsels private funds on compliance with the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, other state and federal requirements and interfacing with regulators.

Tarik’s experience includes advising clients on establishing compliance policies and procedures, registering with the SEC and handling SEC examinations.

Before joining Schulte, he worked at the SEC, most recently in the Private Funds Unit of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, where he focused on regulatory examinations of advisers to hedge funds and private equity funds.

Tarik also worked in the SEC’s New York Regional Office, where he conducted regulatory examinations of registered investment advisers and registered investment companies.

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.

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.

Joseph advises clients on all matters pertaining to the intergenerational transfer of wealth, including estate planning, succession planning, tax planning, trust and estate administration, audits, examinations, controversy avoidance and litigation. He also guides clients on the formation, governance and operation of private trust companies and family offices. His clients are located throughout the United States and include high-net-worth individuals and families, private trust companies, family offices, family office executives and large banks.

Joseph has successfully argued before trial and appellate courts in multiple jurisdictions. Due to his unique background in tax, planning and litigation, clients turn to Joseph to advise them in complex disputes involving family members, spouses, employees and business partners. A significant part of his practice involves counseling family offices and private trust company executives on strategies and best practices for avoiding personal liability. Joseph is frequently able to favorably resolve disputes without litigation. If necessary, however, he vigorously defends his clients’ interests in the courtroom.

Joseph is a frequent contributor to the bar. In addition to publishing numerous articles and book chapters, he is the principal draftsman of the forthcoming Michigan Trust Company Act. He also assisted with drafting the Michigan Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act and the Model Civil Jury Instructions Regarding Undue Influence, among other legislative matters.

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.