Bobbi J. Bierhals - McDermott Will & Emery

Overview


Bobbi J. Bierhals has built her practice by developing creative and customized solutions for her clients. Her experience centers 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, with net worth from $40 million to many billions of dollars, and include a number of individuals listed in the Forbes 400.

Bobbi’s breadth of experience across a wide range of client profiles enables her to help them identify and structure tax-advantageous structures for transferring wealth and business interests to younger generations. While many other estate planners focus almost exclusively on tax issues, Bobbi takes a holistic approach that balances tax and family considerations to fit each individual client’s goals. With a geographically diverse client base spanning the United States, Bobbi adeptly navigates the nuances of local law while addressing broader federal tax considerations.

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Results


  • Structured a new family office for a client following the multibillion-dollar sale of the family business, including innovative structures that provided tax efficiency and administrative ease for the family office’s investment partnerships
  • Formed a private trust company to provide much-needed flexibility for the future governance of a multibillion-dollar family trust
  • Identified and implemented solutions for a client faced with the possibility that her unborn child conceived through artificial insemination may not qualify as a beneficiary of family trusts

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Recognitions


  • Chambers High Net Worth, Illinois: Private Wealth Law, 20192024
  • Best Lawyers in America, Trusts & Estates, Chicago, 2019–2025
  • American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC)
  • Law & Politics, Illinois Rising Star

Community


  • American Bar Association
  • Chicago Estate Planning Council
  • A member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)

Credentials


Education
Harvard Law School, JD, cum laude, 2001
University of Pennsylvania, BA, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1998

Admissions
Illinois
Wisconsin
Wyoming
US Tax Court
US District Court – Northern District of Illinois