Overview
CHICAGO (November 14, 2016) – McDermott Will & Emery is pleased to announce that Bobbi Bierhals and James Cundiff, partners in the Firm’s Private Client Practice, have been elected Fellows of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”).
ACTEC is the preeminent professional organization of approximately 2,700 lawyers who have demonstrated the highest level of integrity, commitment to the profession, competence and experience as trust and estate counselors.
Individual lawyers meeting the criteria for membership are nominated by Fellows of the College, and are subjected to careful review by both state and national membership selection committees prior to consideration by the regents of the College. Fellows are selected on the basis of experience, professional reputation and ability in the fields of trusts and estates and on the basis of having made substantial contributions to these fields through lecturing, writing, teaching and bar activities.
“McDermott congratulates Bobbi and Jim on receiving this most prestigious and well-deserved recognition,” said Carol Harrington, global head of McDermott’s Private Client Practice and an ACTEC Fellow. “Candidates for election to ACTEC must meet rigorous eligibility criteria, and Bobbi and Jim have done so with their outstanding reputations and exceptional skills. Both Bobbi and Jim work closely with sophisticated clients on their most complex and sensitive family matters, and have worked to earn the trust of these clients. McDermott’s Private Client Practice includes numerous ACTEC Fellows, and we are enormously proud to welcome these two newest Fellows.”
Ms. Bierhals focuses her practice on tax and business planning for high-net-worth individuals and families. Her clients range from executives and first-generation entrepreneurs to multi-generational families. Ms. Bierhals identifies and structures tax-advantageous structures for transferring wealth and business interests to younger generations, and advises her clients on private trust companies, corporate governance, succession planning, wealth transfer planning and family office structuring. She takes a holistic approach that balances tax and family considerations to fit each individual client’s goals.
Ms. Bierhals received her B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, and her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Mr. Cundiff focuses his practice on estate planning, family business engagements and trust and estate administration matters. Mr. Cundiff advises clients on all aspects of estate planning and he designs and implements estate plans and wealth transfer programs with tax-efficient, yet practical, structures. Mr. Cundiff represents family offices and family trust companies, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and other business leaders and wealthy individuals with respect to estate and tax planning matters. As a certified public accountant, Mr. Cundiff is well versed in family wealth financial issues as well as state and Federal tax issues. He writes and speaks frequently on a variety of tax and estate planning subjects.
About the Private Client Practice Group
McDermott’s Private Client Practice Group represents high-net-worth individuals, families and closely held businesses with an extraordinary focus on the client’s specific, unique objectives. The team of more than 75 lawyers and 30 non-lawyer professionals is recognized as the top private client practice in the United States and among the top practices worldwide. The practice operates out of offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Silicon Valley and Washington DC with lawyers regularly working together to service clients of the firm.
About McDermott Will & Emery
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,000 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. Further extending our reach into Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
