Best Lawyers in New York, United States for Trusts and Estates
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John Barnosky is a trusts and estates lawyer advising families, individuals, banks, foundations, and other institutions. Jack handles the full range of estate planning, probate and administration, as well as taxation matters. John also represents clients in litigated trusts and estates matters, including will contests, disputes over the validity of trusts, contested accounting proceedings, and tax disputes before the Surrogate’s Courts and other courts throughout New York. A longtime le...
Ms. Steckler focuses on providing counsel to families concerning all aspects of estate planning, estate administration and elder law. She helps clients transfer family wealth to minimize or eliminate federal and state tax liability. Clients seek her guidance in creating sophisticated estate plans, disability planning to help individuals with special needs preserve their eligibility for public benefits, charitable giving, LGBTQ+ planning, will and trust preparation, advanced directives, powers...
Edward A. Vergara is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Tax Law and Trusts and Estates. Edward A., who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Edward A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
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;...
Denise L. Iocco's practice focuses primarily on estate and gift tax planning, charitable giving, and trust and estate administration. Ms. Iocco advises high net-worth individuals and families in all aspects of estate planning. She has extensive experience in developing tax-advantageous transfers, as well as advising fiduciaries in connection with the management of estates and trusts. Ms. Iocco is often called upon in situations where sophisticated and sensitive planning is necessitated by mul...
Harris E. Markhoff is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Corporate Law and Trusts and Estates. Harris E., who practices law in White Plains, New York, has been recognized since 1989. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Harris E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Rosemary Harnisher is an attorney with Rivkin Radler LLP in Uniondale, New York, where she focuses her practice on Trusts and Estates. She advises individuals and families on a wide range of trust and estate planning and administration matters, with an emphasis on practical, tax-conscious strategies tailored to each client’s objectives. Rosemary works with clients to develop and implement comprehensive estate plans intended to address personal, family, and financial goals while facilita...
Richard A. Kroll, Esq. has an active practice in the area of Estate Planning, Trusts, and Probate. He is past or current member of the Special Needs Alliance, the Trusts and Estates sections of the New York State Bar Association, Monroe County Bar Associations, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and the Estate Planning Council of Rochester. A graduate of Brighton High School, Hobart College, Suffolk University Law School (where he was editor-in-chief of its Law Review) and Harvard L...
My practice is concentrated on trust and estate planning and administration and business succession planning for principles and shareholders of closely held businesses. My practice also includes addressing clients' philanthropic goals, including providing counsel to clients on all aspects of nonprofit corporate governance, and structuring charitable trusts and private foundations.
Elyse G. Kirschner advises clients on domestic and international tax and estates planning matters. Elyse’s areas of experience include charitable giving techniques, the formation and taxation of private trust companies, tax-exempt organizations and the taxation of foreign trusts. Read full biography: https://www.mwe.com/people/kirschner-elyse-g/
Myles Fischer, a dedicated member of the Trusts and Estates practice group at Harris Beach Murtha, brings a depth of knowledge in estate planning, administration, and tax matters across New York and Florida. His services include estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning, asset protection, vacation home planning, and complex strategies such as grantor-retained interest trusts and split-interest charitable trusts. Myles collaborates with high net-worth families, ensuring effec...
David N. Wechsler is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Trusts and Estates. David N., who practices law in Garden City, New York, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which David N. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Amy Erenrich Heller is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Trusts and Estates. Amy Erenrich, who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2020. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Amy Erenrich is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Christiana Lazo is a partner in the Trusts and Estates Practice Group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Christiana concentrates her practice on representing ultra-high net worth individuals, their family offices and closely held businesses in developing and implementing sophisticated domestic and international tax and estate plans. Christiana regularly works with principals of private equity and venture capital funds on their estate planning and also has significant experience counseling global cl...
Linda J. Wank is a partner and Chair of our Estate Planning & Administration Group. Her core practice encompasses estate, gift and income tax planning, as well as estate and trust administration and charitable giving. She was named to Chambers' HNW Guide for 2024. Ms. Wank advises high net-worth individuals, including corporate executives, business owners, entrepreneurs and creative talent , and assists clients in identifying and implementing their estate planning goals. She also counsels...
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.