Trusts & Estates Associate

About the role

We are seeking an experienced and highly capable associate to join our Private Client & Tax team in San Diego or San Francisco. This role is designed for a professional who thrives in a sophisticated practice and is ready to take on meaningful responsibility across complex estate planning and administration matters.

Responsibilities

• Play a critical role in bridging day to day execution with higher-level strategic work, helping ensure that complex client matters are handled seamlessly from start to finish.
• Familiarity with estate planning for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients with complex family structures and complex assets.
• Experience structuring charitable organizations and foundations, structuring major and planned gifts, and ensuring compliance.
• Highly skilled in foundational (revocable) estate planning for clients and able to handle planning from start to finish; including the initial interview, plan design and drafting, review and discussion with the client, execution, and follow up.
• Possesses previous gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax skills, and is able to: engage with ultra-high-net-worth clients to design and implement complex estate freeze and charitable planning with technical precision; and prepare and review estate and gift tax returns.
• Ability to independently run a post-mortem trust administration, expertly advising fiduciaries to keep them ahead of milestones, avoiding pitfalls and surprises, and efficiently shepherding distribution of assets to beneficiaries.
• Contribute to the team's profile and undertake business development activities to establish, develop, and maintain long-term relationships; including, writing articles/posts, attending events/conferences, and building networks with private wealth contacts/intermediaries including global and peer firms and counsel.

Requirements

• Strong academic credentials (J.D. required; Tax LL.M. a plus)
• Between 3 – 5 years practicing in a law firm Trusts & Estates group
• California bar membership is required
• Proven ability to stay on top of a busy practice – including time recording, proactive deadline and matter management, and taking ownership of assigned projects – and doesn’t require supervision in these areas
• Demonstrates a genuine interest in contributing to the firm’s success as a whole, including through mentorship of junior team members and development and refinement of firm processes
• Inspires the confidence of clients, intermediaries, and referral sources (internal and external)
• Takes a practical approach to solving client problems, and is nimble in employing tools to implement these solutions

Qualifications

• Strong academic credentials (J.D. required; Tax LL.M. a plus)
• Between 3 – 5 years practicing in a law firm Trusts & Estates group
• California bar membership is required
• Proven ability to stay on top of a busy practice – including time recording, proactive deadline and matter management, and taking ownership of assigned projects – and doesn’t require supervision in these areas
• Demonstrates a genuine interest in contributing to the firm’s success as a whole, including through mentorship of junior team members and development and refinement of firm processes
• Inspires the confidence of clients, intermediaries, and referral sources (internal and external)
• Takes a practical approach to solving client problems, and is nimble in employing tools to implement these solutions

Skills

• Strong academic credentials (J.D. required; Tax LL.M. a plus)
• Between 3 – 5 years practicing in a law firm Trusts & Estates group
• California bar membership is required
• Proven ability to stay on top of a busy practice – including time recording, proactive deadline and matter management, and taking ownership of assigned projects – and doesn’t require supervision in these areas
• Demonstrates a genuine interest in contributing to the firm’s success as a whole, including through mentorship of junior team members and development and refinement of firm processes
• Inspires the confidence of clients, intermediaries, and referral sources (internal and external)
• Takes a practical approach to solving client problems, and is nimble in employing tools to implement these solutions

Benefits

This role generates approximately 55% of the partnership's revenues and is the largest in the world with over 300 people. We advise on domestic and international tax, estate planning, succession, and mental capacity laws in Europe, the US, and Asia, as well as facilitate our client's philanthropic endeavors. We have immigration teams in the major financial centers and are well placed to deal with tax investigation and litigation cases. Real estate is very important to our clients, and we have a specialist residential and rural team.

Pay

The actual compensation will be determined based on experience and other factors permitted by law. For California, the expected salary range for this position is between $205,000 and $260,000.

Schedule

Not specified.

Application Instructions

For more information on Withers, please visit the following links: General Career Site, LinkedIn, About Us Equal Opportunities Employment Statement The firm is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Equal employment opportunity has been and will continue to be a fundamental principle at the firm. Employment at the firm is based upon personal capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, military and veteran status, gender identity or expression, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. The firm prohibits and will not tolerate any discrimination or harassment on the basis of any of these classifications or characteristics. If you are interested in applying for employment and need special assistance or an accommodation to use our website to apply for a position, please contact the firm at (203) 789-1320 or email us.recruiting@withersworldwide.com with your request.

Contact Information

To apply for this position, please visit our careers page and submit your application. For further inquiries, please contact us.recruiting@withersworldwide.com.