Overview
Leigh-Alexandra Basha focuses her practice on domestic and international estate and tax planning. She counsels an affluent international client base on a wide range of sophisticated matters, including estate and trust administration, family wealth preservation, tax compliance, as well as business succession, expatriation and pre-immigration planning. Leigh is head of the Firm’s Washington, DC, Private Client Practice Group.
Leigh was an adjunct professor of wills, trusts and estates at American University Washington College of Law. She lectures and has written extensively about international estate and tax planning issues, and is editor of A Guide to International Estate Planning: Drafting, Compliance, and Administration Strategies, Second Edition.
Recognitions
- Washingtonian “Best Lawyers 2021”
- Chambers HNW Ranked Band 1 and USA Nationwide – Band 2
- Private Client Global Elite, 2021
- Washingtonian Magazine’sDecember 2019 Top Financial Adviser
- Legal Week’sPrivate Client Global Elite Directory: Service Excellence, 2019
- Chambers:Shortlisted for Estate Planner of the Year, 2019
- City Wealth MagazineWoman of the Year Award – North American, 2019
- The Best Lawyers in America:Tax Law, Trusts and Estates 2012 to 2023
- Chambers Global: International Private Client, 2014 to 2020
- Expert Guides, Women in Business Law, 2020
- Chambers USA East Region, Wealth Management, 2014 to 2018
- Chambers High Net Worth Private Wealth Law: District of Columbia 2016 to 2021
- Washingtonian MagazineBest Lawyers: Trusts & Estates, 2018
- Tax Law, Trusts & Estates,2012 to 2018
- Virginia Super Lawyers Magazine: Top Rated Estate Planning and Probate Attorney in Washington, D.C., 2006 to 2019
- Best Lawyer:Top Attorney, 2012 to 2019
- City WealthMagazine Leaders List: 2009 to 2018
- Washingtonian Magazine:Top Lawyer, 2017
- Washingtonian Magazine:Best Financial Advisor, 2016
- The International Who’s Who of Private Client Lawyers, 2016 to 2017
- Washingtonian Magazine: DC’s Best Lawyers for Trusts & Estates, 2015
- Washingtonian Magazine:Top Money Advisor and Estates Attorney, 2014
- Who’s Who Legal 100:Private Client. 2014
- International Bar Association London Outstanding Performance by a Speaker Award
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated
- Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer Magazine: Top Rated Attorney, 2007 to 2013
- Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law, Trusts and Estates, Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides, 2013
- Guide to the World’s Leading Trusts and Estates Practitioners, Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides, 2011
- American University Washington College of Law: Women and the Law Leadership Award, 2011
- Washingtonian Magazine:Top Attorneys for Trusts and Estates, 2010 to 2011
- Washingtonian Magazine:Top Lawyers for Private Wealth, 2009
- Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce Service of the Year Award Finalist, 1996
Community
- American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Working Group on Anti-Laundering/counter-Terrorist Fin, September 2020 to present, Member
- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Financial Action Task Force, Delegate
- ACTEC International Estate Planning Committee, Chair
- ACTEC, Program Committee, Member
- ACTEC International Membership Committee, Chair; Member
- ACTEC, FATF Task Force, Member
- ACTEC, International Estate Planning Committee, Member
- International Bar Association (IBA), past council member of the Legal Practice Division, and past chair of the Individual Tax and Private Client Committee
- Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), past program chair of the USA branch and past-chair of the Mid-Atlantic branch
- ABA Task Force on Gatekeeper Regulations and the Profession, Member
- The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, Vice President
Credentials
Education
Georgetown University Law Center, LLM, 1989
American University-Washington College of Law, JD, 1985
Georgetown University, AB, 1982
Admissions
District of Columbia
Maryland
Virginia
Courts / Agencies
Supreme Court of the United States
US Tax Court
Languages
English
French
