Overview
Julie Miraglia Kwon advises wealthy individuals, families, closely held businesses, charities and corporate fiduciaries on all aspects of estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax planning, trust and estate administration, business succession, charitable planning and governance, and contested trust and tax matters.
Julie formerly was the Philanthropic Advisor for Stanford University, where she collaborated with the Office of General Counsel and Stanford Management Company regarding endowment and charitable trust investment, complex gifts and bequests, and contested matters. Previously, she also was a national director with Bernstein Global Wealth Management, where she developed quantitative research regarding the effect of investment volatility on wealth transfer, and was the fiduciary counsel and Legacy Planner for the Midwest Region for Bessemer Trust Company. Julie is a former member of the board of directors of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest in the country.
Julie co-authors the tax treatise, Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (by Harrington, Plaine, Zaritsky & Kwon, for Warren Gorham & Lamont), and the Tax Management Portfolio titled Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (by Harrington & Kwon, for Bureau of National Affairs). Julie speaks frequently before and writes regularly for professional publications and organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Dow Jones, Journal of Taxation, Trusts & Estates, the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Internal Revenue Service, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute and numerous regional organizations.
While in law school, Julie was executive editor of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities.
Recognitions
- Best Lawyers in America, Lawyer of the Year in San Jose: Trusts and Estates, 2022 and 2025
- Best Lawyers in America, Trusts and Estates, 2019–2026
- Chambers High Net Worth, Band 1 in Northern California: Private Wealth Law and Band 1 in USA Nationwide: Private Wealth Law (Western Region), 2016–2025
- Chambers USA 2011–2016, Wealth Management*
- California Daily Journal, Top Women Lawyers of 2013
- Silicon Valley Business Journal, 2012 Women of Influence
*Since 2016 Chambers have introduced a dedicated High Net Worth Guide where the Wealth Management rankings have been published.
Community
- American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, fellow
- American Bar Association, Real Property, Trust & Estate Section: Supervisory Council member (2012-2017); chair of the Income & Transfer Tax Planning Group (2011-2012); chair of the Estate & Gift Tax Committee (2007-2008); co-chair of the GST Tax Committee (2005-2006); co-founder and co-chair of the Young Lawyers Network (2007)
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation, chair of the Professional Advisory Council; former board member (2015-2022)
- State Bar of California, Trust & Estates Section, Executive Committee member 2011–2017
- American Law Institute, Estate Planning Advisory Panel member
- AIDS Legal Council, board member 2006–2008
- Chicago Community Trust, professional advisory council member 2006–2008
- Chicago Estate Planning Council, board member 2004–2005
Credentials
Education
Yale University – Yale Law School, JD, 1996
Stanford University, BA, with distinction, 1993
Admissions
California
Illinois
Courts / Agencies
US Tax Court
