Henry Christensen III is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm's New York office.  He heads the private client practice in New York, as well as the international private client practice, which opened a London practice in 2009.

Mr. Christensen has more than 35 years experience in private client and estate planning work.  He joined McDermott in 2007 from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, an international law firm based in New York, where he was the senior partner in the firm’s Estates and Personal Clients Group, and supervised the international private clients practice of that firm for many years.  He had been a partner there for the past 30 years. 

Mr. Christensen conducts an active international litigation and dispute resolutions practice.   He represents both corporate and individual trustees, trust donors and beneficiaries.  Mr. Christensen’s recent cases have involved trusts created in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Liechtenstein, the Channel Islands, Switzerland, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Mr. Christensen was ranked as a leading wealth management attorney in the 2009 edition of Chambers USA, as a leading international private client attorney in the 2009 edition of PLC Which Lawyer?Yearbook and Chambers Global, and as a leading trusts and estates attorney in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Christensen is one of the most prominent private client attorneys in New York and is especially well known in the area of international estate planning.  He represents some of the wealthiest individuals and families in the United States and around the world.  He advises families and their closely held businesses on such legal matters as U.S. and foreign tax planning and disputes, wealth transfers, company structure, charitable foundations, the merging and selling of private companies, and trust and estate matters, including fiduciaries and individuals in disputes.  He conducts an active Surrogate’s Court and Tax Court litigation practice, and his practice also includes tax, tax controversy, tax exempt organizations, corporate, litigation and cross-border work.  He represents well-known families in England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, among other countries, and has a very extensive practice in cross-border and multinational tax and estate planning advice for 21^st century families with family members subject to differing tax regimes.  

Mr. Christensen is president of the International Academy of Trust and Estate Counsel, a member of Board of Regents of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC), the author of the treatise, International Estate Planning, and an adjunct professor of NYU Law School and the University of Miami Law School, teaching international estate planning.  He regularly lectures throughout the United States and internationally on developments in U.S. and international taxation, disputes resolution, anti-money laundering and other current topics important to the profession.  He chaired the Private Client Legal Forum in 2009, held at the Villa d’Este. 

Practices & Industries

• International Private Client
• Nonprofit Organizations
• Private Client
• Trust & Estate Controversy

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