More About Our Private Wealth Services Group
May 22, 2008
Bruce S. Ross
Ross joins the firm as a partner. He is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with more than 30 years experience litigating trust, estate and conservatorship cases. He has appeared pro hac vice in several states to handle such litigation and has consulted on international succession cases in a number of countries, including Switzerland, Israel and Australia. He is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law (California Board of Legal Specialization).
Ross is a Past President (2006-2007) of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC); an
Academician in the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law; and the author of the definitive two-volume California Practice Guide: Probate (published in 1986 and supplemented annually), published by The Rutter Group, a division of Thomson West Publishing. For the last two years, he has been listed in Worth Magazine as one of the country’s Top 100 Private Wealth Lawyers.
Ross is ranked by Chambers & Partners in the top tier in wealth management in the western region. He has been in Best Lawyers in America for more than 10 years.
bruce.ross@hklaw.com
Sean Higgins
Higgins joins the firm as a partner. His practice focuses on complex trust, estate and conservatorship litigation; trust and estate administration; and estate planning. He has been named a 2007 “Rising Star” by Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine; teaches Wills and Trusts as an adjunct professor at Chapman Law School in Orange County, California; and has passed the Legal Specialization Examination for Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law, the principal step toward Legal Specialist certification by the California Board of Legal Specialization.
sean.higgins@hklaw.com
Linda Rottman
Rottman joins the firm as senior counsel. She practices in the area of trust and estate litigation and is experienced in other complex litigation matters. She is listed in the Daily Journal’s “2007 Top 100 Women Litigators in California” and “2007 Top 10 Verdicts (5th largest) in California.”
linda.rottman@hklaw.com
Vivian Lee Thoreen
Thoreen joins the firm as an associate. She focuses her practice on complex trust, estate and conservatorship litigation and has substantial experience in guardianship matters. Thoreen has been named a 2007 “Rising Star” by Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Southern California Korean American Bar Association. She is conversant in Korean.
vivian.thoreen@hklaw.com
Jonathan Park
Park joins the firm as an associate. He works on all aspects of trust and estate litigation, including pre-litigation fact review, preparation of pleadings, document discovery, motion preparation and trial support. Park is a member of the Korean American Bar Association of Los Angeles. He is conversant in Korean.
jonathan.park@hklaw.com
Tony Yu
Yu joins the firm as an associate. He practices in the area of estate planning and litigation. Yu is a member of the Boards of Directors of both the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of Orange County and the Taiwanese American Lawyers Association. He is fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese.
tony.yu@hklaw.com
All will be based in the Los Angeles office but will also work out of the San Francisco office and such other
Holland & Knight offices across the country as client needs demand.
Holland & Knight LLP
633 West Fifth Street, 21st Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071
213.896.2400
213.896.2450 Fax
50 California Street, Suite 2800
San Francisco, CA 94111
415.743.6900
415.743.6910 Fax
About Holland & Knight’s Private Wealth Services Practice
Recognized by our peers as best Private Wealth practice in the country,* ours is also the largest group of private wealth lawyers of any firm. Our skill and commitment have earned us the position of trusted advisors, helping our clients stay ahead of changes in tax laws, market conditions and family business situations. While the specifics may differ, change impacts individuals, families, family businesses, nonprofit organizations and fiduciaries.
One benefit of our approach is the national perspective we bring, which is critical for effective asset protection and management. Another benefit is the collective experience of the largest group of trusts and estates lawyers in the United States. Our group has more Fellows in the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC) than any other law firm in the country, and a number of our lawyers have been recognized as among the best in their fields in national and industry publications.
Holland & Knight’s Private Wealth Dispute Resolution group that Bruce Ross co-chairs with Charles Gibbs of New York represents corporate and individual trustees, executors, administrators, guardians, and conservators and beneficiaries, and has resolved a wide range of trust and estate disputes, including litigation over alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, self dealing and conflicts of interest, petitions for instructions, for reformation, and for removal of fiduciaries, as well as will and trust contests. We counsel clients and, when appropriate, litigate all cases raising estate, trust and conservator issues.
*Best Lawyers in America 2007 and Chambers & Partners 2007
Articles
From Test Tube to Testate: Redefining Children and Issues in Today’s Estate Planning Documents by Ellen Schiffer Berkowitz
As the definition of family becomes increasingly complex, so does the definition of children and further descendants. Who is (and who is not) deemed to be a legal child of a marriage has implications throughout family law. How the law treats adopted children, those born out of wedlock, those born as a result of egg and sperm donation, those born via surrogates and even children conceived after the death of a parent affects support obligations, visitation rights, and often the basic parental rights of heterosexual and same-sex couples. This article addresses the ever-changing definition of children and issues in the context of estate planning and inheritance.
Click Here to view the article.
Upcoming Programs
Skills Training for Estate Planners CLE Progam – Drafting Marital Formulas and Trusts
Date: July 23, 2008
Location: New York Law School, 57 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013-2960
Holland & Knight Speaker: Joshua Husbands
Sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law, the 2008 Skills Training for Estate Planners CLE Program will be held July 21-25, 2008, at New York Law School in New York City. Joshua Husbands of Holland & Knight’s Portland, Oregon, office will serve on the program faculty. Mr. Husbands’ presentation, Drafting Marital Formulas and Trusts, will be given on July 23.
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