Best Lawyers in Illinois, United States for Trusts and Estates
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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...
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...
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...
Jason S. Ornduff advises high net worth families, business owners, executives, professionals and celebrities on state and federal laws regarding wealth transfer to the next generation, including estate planning, estate and trust administration, and estate and gift tax issues. Jason also counsels closely-held companies on various legal issues, especially in the areas of succession planning. Jason is a past president of the Greater North Shore Estate and Financial Planning Council. He is also a...
As an advisor and counselor to entrepreneurs, closely held businesses, and wealthy families and their family offices, Steve Gustafson draws upon multiple disciplines to provide integrated tax, business and financial advice. Steve’s practice has a substantial emphasis in the areas of tax and financial transactions, including structuring corporate, joint venture, commercial and real estate transactions, as well as assisting family businesses with tax and financial planning matters. He als...
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...
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-generat...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
Louis S. Harrison has long been recognized as one of the premier estate planning attorneys in the country. A founding partner of Harrison & Held, LLP – one of the nation’s most elite estate planning firms – Lou’s practice encompasses all aspects of trust and estate planning, including estate and business planning for closely held companies. In addition to individuals in need of sophisticated planning, Lou represents numerous family offices, public figures, CEOs of ...
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.