Best Lawyers in America for Litigation - Trusts and Estates
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Richard M. Horwood has devoted his practice to business and financial planning, including business law, taxation and estate planning. His extensive experience has allowed him to develop the resources that make him an acknowledged authority in these areas. He advises business owners, non-profit organizations, donors and collectors on a variety of complex planning issues. He advises art collectors regarding key issues such as authentication/provenance, collection management, tax matters, dispos...
Lee H. Ayres is principally a trial lawyer. He has extensive experience in civil litigation, including business and commercial disputes, oil and gas litigation, property disputes, natural resources litigation, products liability claims, professional malpractice defense, trucking defense, personal injury claims, fraud claims, insurance coverage, and insurance bad faith defense. Lee received his undergraduate and law degrees at Louisiana State University Law Center, where he was a member of the...
Biff is an experienced litigator in both trial and appellate venues and has argued approximately twenty cases in the United States Court of Appeals. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. An honoree for the 2016 South Carolina Leadership in Law Awards, Biff has been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers and Chambers USA. He is a certified Circuit Court Mediator and in the last 30 years has mediated approximate...
Robert C. Barton is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Trusts and Estates. Robert C., who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Robert C. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Spencer L. Reames is a trusts and estates counselor and litigator representing individuals, families, fiduciaries, and beneficiaries throughout the New York metropolitan area. Spencer handles a broad range of sophisticated and complex probate and trust disputes, including will contests, contested accounting proceedings, discovery proceedings, fiduciary removal and surcharge, will and trust construction and reformation, asset discovery proceedings and other miscellaneous proceedings. His pract...
Sarah C. Aviles is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Elder Law, Litigation - Trusts and Estates and Trusts and Estates. Sarah C., who practices law in Fairfax, Virginia, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Sarah C. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Aaron Kaplan is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Trusts and Estates, Nonprofit / Charities Law and Trusts and Estates. Aaron, who practices law in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Aaron is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Robert D. Brower is a Member of the firm and has been practicing law since 1972. His practice is focused on representing a wide range of closely held business owners and executives, their families, fiduciaries, and other individuals in matters involving business and estate planning, probate and trust administration, and contested estate matters. Contested Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Matters Mr. Brower has extensive experience in representing individual and corporate personal representatives, ...
Brian Williams’ practice includes estate planning, estate and trust litigation, estate and trust administration, federal and state tax, and corporate and business transactions and issues. He practiced for 6 years as an in house counsel for a publicly traded corporation before entering private practice with his present firm in 1986. Brian graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama in 1976, B.S. degree/accounting major. He obtained his J.D. degree in 1979 from Cumberland School of...
Norm is a member of the firm Stroud, Willink & Howard, LLC and is a business attorney. Norm focuses his practice on lender representation through all phases of lending, from loan origination and renewals, to workouts and forbearance, litigation including foreclosures and bankruptcy proceedings, and assisting with liquidation of bank-owned assets. His extensive experience working closely with his clients throughout the life cycle of the lending relationship has provided him with insight in...
Ilene Sherwyn Cooper is a partner practicing litigation and estate planning in Surrogate’s Courts throughout Metropolitan New York. Before joining Farrell Fritz, she served for ten years as the Chief Law Assistant of the Suffolk County Surrogate’s Court. Her responsibilities there included preparing judicial opinions on complex and novel issues; acting as the Trial Assistant to the Surrogate, preparing pretrial memoranda, jury charges, evidentiary rulings and post-trial decisions;...
Roy is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group representing individuals and businesses in commercial litigation cases in Maine, Massachusetts and beyond. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for the past several years in the area of Commercial Litigation. He has a varied practice with experience litigating business tort, breach of contract, trade secrets, copyright infringement, products liability, real estate, land use, and tax disputes. In addition, he maintains an a...
Hamden was born in Clearwater, Florida, and is a third-generation lawyer. Hamden attended Florida State University, where he obtained his Bachelors of Science degree in 1976, followed by his Master’s Degree in Criminology in 1979. Hamden attended Oklahoma City University Law School, and graduated with Honors, in 1983, and after serving as a staff attorney, to the Honorable Patricia Robinson, First District Court of Appeal, he attended the University of Florida, where he obtained his Mas...
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.