Best Lawyers Near You in Northbrook, Illinois for Trusts and Estates
Julie Sirlin Pleshivoy advises high‑net‑worth families, family offices, and entrepreneurs on the full spectrum of wealth transfer and tax planning. Combining sophisticated tax knowledge with a background in investment management, she develops estate plans that safeguard family assets and support smooth transitions across generations. Leveraging her experience and an LL.M. in Federal Income Taxation, Julie brings a distinctive financial perspective to structuring business ventures, succession ...
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 ...
Adam Damerow is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Trusts and Estates. Adam, who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Adam is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
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...
Susan is a partner in the Private Wealth Services practice group. Susan focuses her practice on sophisticated estate planning for business owners, wealthy individuals and entrepreneurs. She helps her clients transfer wealth to younger generations to achieve tax efficiencies as well as protection for beneficiaries and counsels her clients in connection with complex intrafamily issues that wealthy families often face. In addition to helping clients structure their estate plans, Susan advises cl...
Larry is chair of the firm’s Private Wealth Services practice group. He facilitates successful legal strategies for entrepreneurs, tax-exempt organizations, fiduciaries and high-net worth families and individuals. This work involves estate, gift and charitable planning issues, including business succession, tax-efficient ownership structures, sophisticated tax-exempt structures, trust and estate administration, executive benefits, life insurance and international estate planning for wea...
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 ...
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...
Jim Hitzeman focuses his practice on estate and trust litigation, representing a wide range of clients, including corporate fiduciaries and charities. He has handled will and trust contests, construction actions, trust reformations, citations, actions involving contracts to make a will, accounting actions, and charitable cy pres and equitable deviation matters, in addition to a host of cases involving breach of fiduciary duty. Mr. Hitzeman has extensive experience dealing with family settleme...
Jordan Klein’s broad-based trust and estate practice encompasses all aspects of estate planning, trust and estate administration and settlement, wealth transfer, philanthropy and fiduciary counseling services. His clients include corporate executives, families with dynastic wealth, privately held business owners, professionals, fund managers, family offices and private foundations. Jordan has significant experience designing creative solutions to achieve his clients’ estate planni...
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...
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...
Described by clients as a "phenomenal practitioner and extremely bright," Michael Hartz advises on business succession planning, tax-efficient wealth transfer into trusts for future generations and strategies for fulfilling philanthropic goals. Michael is ranked among the leading lawyers for private wealth law in Chambers High Net Worth, where his practical, effective solutions to complex problems have led to consistent recognition. With 40 years of experience in trust and estate planning and...
David Allen helps high-net-worth individuals and families with all their legal needs. With an approach that seamlessly integrates estate planning, tax minimization and concierge lawyering, David's advice allows his clients to spend less time managing advisors and more time focusing on their passions, their businesses and their families. From restructuring valuable art collections to coordinating legal services for multibillion-dollar family businesses and family offices, David is often the fi...
Andy Gelman is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Chicago office. He concentrates his practice in estate planning and estate and trust administration and controversies and is the immediate past chair of the firm's Illinois Private Wealth Services Practice Group. He counsels individuals, executives and business owners on the use of wills and insurance and inter vivos or living trusts and powers of attorney for property and health care in their estate planning. Often his advice is in the are...
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...
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.