Related Areas

For nearly 100 years, BakerHostetler lawyers have advised and represented generations of clients in sophisticated, long-term planning for their families, their businesses and their philanthropies. With more than 30 practitioners in offices across the country, we are uniquely qualified to counsel clients whose critical legal needs require the cross-disciplinary resources of a broad-based national law firm. Our Private Wealth practice provides comprehensive experience in the areas of concern for high-net worth clients, including:

• Family legacy planning
• Business succession planning
• Charitable planning
• Trust and estate administration
• Fiduciary representation
• Tax controversy matters
• Family offices
• Formation and operation of private trust companies
• Family law issues

Unlike many large law firms, we continue to devote substantial resources to our Private Wealth practice. We understand the importance of these services to our clients and in maintaining longstanding client relationships built on trust. With families and businesses expanding geographically, our national footprint ensures consistent personal service of the highest quality in multiple jurisdictions. Rapidly changing state laws provide new challenges and opportunities to high-net worth families, making it more important than ever for clients to have access to legal counsel with regional knowledge, and the necessary contacts with local and state government bodies and court systems.

Often a clients needs require input from other legal disciplines and our Private Wealth lawyers operate as the gateway to our firms broad range of practice areas. We work collaboratively with our colleagues in the areas of real estate, business, securities, family law, and litigation to provide full-service and creative solutions in a cost-effective manner. In this way, we are able to serve as general counsel to high-net worth families and their businesses, helping coordinate their needs across multiple issues and legal disciplines.

Many of our clients have their own family office, and we have been pioneers in working together with family office personnel to efficiently serve the diverse needs of these sophisticated clients. We have a dedicated team of Private Wealth lawyers, and others from related disciplines, who work collaboratively to focus our substantial experience in structuring and servicing family offices. Our Family Office team has counseled clients in the formation and operation of their own private trust companies, providing them with the benefits of a permanent corporate trustee.

Trustees and executors rely on our substantial experience in representing fiduciaries. For nearly a century, we have represented individual and corporate fiduciaries in some of the largest and most complicated trusts and estates in the nation. If controversies arise in the fiduciary context, we use our deep understanding of tax law and business acumen to help structure practical and successful outcomes. If a resolution cannot be obtained through negotiation, we collaborate with experienced BakerHostetler litigators to effectively represent our clients in court.

Learn more about how we partner with our clients in the areas of:

• Counseling Fiduciaries and Beneficiaries
• Family Office and Private Trust Companies
• Private Wealth Planning