Some Law Firms In US Expanding Trusts And Estates Business

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

12 June 2003

According to a recent report from the New York Law Journal, despite what amounts to an industry-wide dismissal of the sector - and the high profile and exceedingly messy intergenerational dispute over trusts established by the Pritzker family, owners of the Hyatt hotel chain - several major law firms in the United States are expanding their trusts and estates practices.

The NYLJ explained that:

'Guiding these efforts is a belief that a revamped trusts and estates - or, as many firms prefer to call it, wealth management or private client - practice can not only be highly profitable on its own but can also, by giving large firms access to the nation's rich and powerful, generate business across the firm and potentially beyond.'

Firms which maintain large trusts and estates practices, according to the NYLJ, include: Morrison & Foerster; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; Sullivan & Cromwell; Schulte Roth & Zabel; Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal; and McDermott, Will & Emery.

Over the past 10 years, the trend amongst large law firms has been to reduce emphasis on trusts and estates, which has not traditionally been a particularly profitable area. According to some observers, its popularity is likely to decline still further following the implementation of further changes to the US estate tax regime.

However, speaking to the Law Journal, New York-based senior chairman of Sonnenschein's 30-lawyer trusts and estates practice suggested that the trick is to target HNWI wealthy enough that estate taxes remain a concern. He went on to reveal that more than 80% of his clients are worth more than $20 million, and at least 25 are worth more than $1 billion.

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