Best Lawyers Near You in Chicago, Illinois for Trusts and Estates
David A. Handler is a partner in the Trusts and Estates Practice Group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He concentrates his practice on trust and estate planning and administration, representing owners of closely-held businesses, family offices, principals of private equity and venture capital funds, individuals and families of significant wealth, and establishing and administering private foundations and other charitable organizations. David is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estat...
Jeffrey A. Zaluda is a partner at Horwood Marcus & Berk and chairs the Trusts and Estates Group. He advises individuals, families, fiduciaries, closely held businesses and business owners with respect to estate planning, business planning, asset protection and preservation, estate and trust administration, tax planning, and estate and trust litigation. Jeff is a technically adept estate planner, comfortable with both the straightforward and the sophisticated. His clients value his ability...
Jesse A. Footlik is a Partner with Peck Ritchey, LLC. In addition to representing individuals and families as heirs and beneficiaries, Jesse represents corporate and individual fiduciaries, including financial institutions and healthcare providers. Further, Jesse regularly advises clients involved in various Power of Attorney (POA) disputes, breach of fiduciary duty cases, contested heirships, wrongful death dependency hearings, and will and trust construction or interpretation matters. For o...
Partner Nancy M. Spain, a founder of the firm, Spain, Spain & Varnet P.C., which joined Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP in 2022, focuses her career in general and probate-related law. She began her legal career in Cleveland, prior to relocating to Chicago in 1981 where she first worked in the trust department of the former Lake Shore Bank, prior to practicing law at Spain, Spain & Varnet P.C. Throughout her career, Nancy has been actively involved in drafting legislation and working with ...
Neil T. Kawashima has a diverse practice, representing wealthy individuals and families on matters related to estate and gift planning, business succession and governance, and estate and trust administration. Neil’s clients include owners of privately-held businesses, beneficiaries of long-term trusts, fiduciaries and entrepreneurs. Neil has advised his clients regarding traditional and novel uses of trusts, wealth transfer strategies, business control mechanisms such as voting trusts a...
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 $40 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 prof...
Jeanette Suarez Hunter advises high-net-worth individuals, families, business owners and family offices on a wide range of tax, wealth-transfer, succession planning and charitable-giving matters. Jeanette takes a holistic approach to helping her clients implement and manage comprehensive estate plans and business succession plans that meet their immediate and long-term goals. Read full biography: https://www.mwe.com/people/hunter-jeanette-suarez/
David A. Herpe is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, based in the Firm’s Chicago office. As a member of the Private Client Group, he counsels families, business owners, executives and individuals on all aspects of sophisticated estate and wealth transfer planning and related matters, including the preparation, administration and construction of wills and trusts, fiduciary income taxation, federal estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes, charitable gift planning, f...
Martin (Marty) Tish offers strategic counsel regarding asset ownership and structure, retirement planning and charitable planning for business owners, executives, entrepreneurs, traders, charities, family offices and individuals. He has administered estates and trusts ranging in size from $500,000 to more than $100 million. Clients rely on his aptitude for minimizing their tax burdens combined with the tact and discretion he employs in managing the sensitive human concerns that often arise du...
Peter S. Coorlas is a senior associate of the Chicago law firm Peck Ritchey, LLC . Peter was an Assistant State’s Attorney for Cook County for 30 years, serving in the Special Litigation and Municipal Litigation Sections of the Civil Actions Bureau. Although Peter served in various areas while at the State’s Attorneys Office, he has primarily represented the interests of Cook County in probate matters, spending much of his time on contested litigation, including will contests, con...
Stephanie advises on complex tax issues, investment structures, acquisitions and sales of special assets, trust and probate administration and charitable giving. She serves as a fiduciary consultant on litigation matters for corporate fiduciaries and interfamily disputes. Stephanie also represents taxpayers on contested tax matters, including federal and state audits and administrative appeals. Stephanie’s clients include high net worth individuals, family offices and corporate fiduciar...
Tye Klooster counsels high-net-worth families on how best to preserve their legacies and transfer wealth to future generations. A fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel, Tye serves clients who rely on him to design and implement sophisticated and personalized estate plans. Tye designs estate plans which allow high-net-worth individuals to leverage use of their gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax (GST) exemptions and to pass wealth to the next generation in ...
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 t...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.