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Farhad Aghdami, Esq.

Williams Mullen
P.O. Box 1320
Richmond, VA 23218

Farhad Aghdami is a Shareholder in the Tax Department at Williams, Mullen, Clark & Dobbins where he works with high net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, and business owners primarily in the areas of estate and gift tax planning, business succession planning, and general tax and corporate matters.

Mr. Aghdami has authored numerous articles that have appeared in professional journals, including The Tax Lawyer, The Journal of Taxation, Probate & Property, and Trusts and Estates. Mr. Aghdami is a co-author of Structuring Buy-Sell Agreements, with Howard M. Zaritsky and Mary Ann Mancini (2nd Ed.; Warren, Gorham & Lamont).

Mr. Aghdami is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and is listed in The Best Lawyers In America in both the Tax and Trusts and Estates categories. In addition, Mr. Aghdami previously served as an Adjunct Professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law, and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, where he teaches estate and gift taxation and estate planning.

Mr. Aghdami has held numerous leadership positions in professional and civic organizations, including serving as Chair of the Fiduciary Income Tax Committee of the American Bar Association Tax Section. He currently serves as the Secretary of the Virginia Bar Association’s Wills, Trusts & Estates Section and is a member of its Legislative Committee. Mr. Aghdami is a member of the Board of Directors of The Community Foundation of Richmond and the 2006 Class of Leadership Metro Richmond.

Mr. Aghdami is a 1989 graduate of the University of Virginia and a 1992 graduate from the Wake Forest University School of Law, where he received academic honors. Mr. Aghdami received his Masters of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995.

Turney P. Berry, Esq.

Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs
500 W. Jefferson Street, Suite 500
Louisville, KY 40202

Turney P. Berry concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning, fiduciary matters, and charitable planning.

Mr. Berry is listed in The Best Lawyers in America - Trusts and Estates and is a member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Council on Foundations. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and is Chair of the Charitable Planning and Exempt Organization Committee, a member of the Estate and Gift Tax Committee, the Program Committee, and the State Laws Committee. In addition, he is a delegate to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), serving on a committee to revise the Uniform Probate Code, and a committee to create a mechanism whereby real estate can be transferred without probate. Mr. Berry is a member of the National Committee on Planned Giving and Kentuckiana Planned Giving Council, and an adjunct member of the American Association of Life Underwriters.

He has been an Articles Editor of The Tax Lawyer, a past chair of the Louisville Bar Association Probate and Estate Planning Section, a member of the Louisville Estate Planning Council, Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law (courses: “Advanced Estate Planning” and “Representing the Family Business”), and is a regular lecturer before lawyers, accountants, trust officers, and financial planners at institutes and seminars across the country. Articles by Mr. Berry have been published in, among others, Trusts and Estates, The Journal of Taxation, Business First of Louisville, and the Louisville Courier-Journal.. Mr. Berry is the author or co-author of three Tax Management Portfolios: Estate Tax Deductions - Sections 2053 and 2054; Private Foundations - Self Dealing - Section 4941; and Taxable Expenditures - Section 4945. Mr. Berry is listed in Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in America® and in the Kentucky Super Lawyer Magazine in the area of Trusts and Estates.

He received his B.A. and B.L.S. in 1983 from the University of Memphis and his J.D. in 1986 from Vanderbilt University.

Michael V. Bourland, Esq.

Bourland, Wall & Wenzel
301 Commerce Street, Suite 1500
Ft. Worth, TX 76102

Mr. Bourland is the founding shareholder of Bourland, Wall & Wenzel, P.C., a Fort Worth, Texas law firm which represent individuals, closely held and family businesses, professional practices and charitable organizations within its areas of legal practice. Mr. Bourland was born in Fort Worth, Texas on October 2, 1943. He earned a B.A. from Baylor University and his J.D. from Baylor University School of Law. He earned his LL.M. in Taxation from University of Miami, Florida. Additionally, he was a Captain in JAGC, USAF, 1970-1975.

Mr. Bourland was admitted to practice law in Texas in 1969 and is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law (Texas Board of Legal Specialization). He is a member of the American Bar Association; State Bar of Texas and its Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section (Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Council, 1993-1996); Tarrant County Bar Association (Director, 1987-1989); Tarrant County Probate Bar Association; Fort Worth Business and Estate Council (Chair, 1992-1993); and a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Mr. Bourland’s practice is directed to business, tax, estate planning, probate, charitable entity and charitable giving law. Mr. Bourland is a guest lecturer in estate planning at Baylor University School of Law, Baylor University School of Business, Southern Methodist University School of Law, University of Texas School of Law and The Center for American and International Law. He speaks regularly throughout the United States on subjects within his practice areas at seminars conducted by, among others, American Bar Association, American Law Institute-American Bar Association, Texas Bar Association, Texas Society of CPAs and Notre Dame, Duke and Tulane Universities.

Additionally, he speaks regularly to churches and church leaders on the creation of church foundations and contributes on subjects within his practice areas to publications including the New York Times, Nation’s Business, Business Week and Money magazine. Mr. Bourland is a co-author of Keeping Your Church Out of Court, first and second editions. Mr. Bourland is adjunct professor of law, co-teaching the Nonprofit Organizations Course of the Baylor University School of Law.

Lawrence Brody, Esq.

Bryan Cave, LLP
211 N. Broadway, Suite 3600
St. Louis, MO 63102

Lawrence Brody is a Partner of Bryan Cave LLP, an international law firm, resident in the St. Louis office. He is a member of its Private Client Service Group and its Technology, Entrepreneurial & Commercial Practice Client Service Group. He is an Adjunct Professor at Washington University School of Law, teaching Estate Planning and Drafting, a visiting Adjunct Professor at the University of Miami Law School, teaching a course on Life Insurance, and is the author or co-author of numerous articles and books on the use of life insurance in estate and employee benefit planning, including two BNA Tax Management Portfolios, two books for the National Underwriter Company, and a number of volumes in the ABA Insurance Counselor Series. Mr. Brody is a member of both The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and The American College of Tax Counsel, is a frequent participant at ALI-ABA programs and Society of Financial Professionals programs and teleconferences, and has spoken at all major life insurance industry programs (including the MDRT, the Top of the Table, AALU and the International Forum), many local estate planning council meetings, a number of state bar association conferences, and many national estate planning programs. He is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, of the University of Miami School of Law, and a member of the Editorial Boards of BNA’s Estates, Gifts, and Trusts Journal, and the Society of Financial Service Professionals CLU Journal. Mr. Brody received the designation of Accredited Estate Planner by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils, and was one of ten individuals awarded its Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner designation in the initial class, in 2004.

Mark B. Edwards, Esq.

Poyner & Spruill, LLP
One Wachovia Center
301 S. College Street, Suite 2300
Charlotte, NC 28202

Mark B. Edwards has practiced law for 44 years in the area of tax and estate planning. Educated at Duke University and Duke Law School, Mr. Edwards has spoken at many institutes around the country, including the University of Miami Institute on Estate Planning, the New York University Institute on Federal Taxation, the Hawaii Tax Institute, the American Bankers Association Graduate Trust School, and the Duke University Estate Planning Conference. He has written extensively in professional periodicals such as the Journal of Taxation, Estate Planning, Trusts and Estates, The Practical Accountant, The Practical Tax Lawyer and Probate and Property. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and has been listed in THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA in the area of estate planning from the first edition in 1983 through the 2006 edition. Mr. Edwards is “Of Counsel” to the law firm of Poyner & Spruill, LLP, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and devotes much of his time to serving as a fiduciary for private foundations.

Mary Ann Mancini, Esq.

Bryan Cave, LLP
1700 13th Street, N.W., Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005

Ms. Mancini is a member of the firm’s Private Client Group in the Washington, D.C. office. Her practice focuses on estate, business and insurance planning. She is experienced in planning for the closely-held business owner and the business succession and estate planning issues faced by the entrepreneur and his or her family, as well as the disposition of retirement and other compensation related benefits, such as employer stock and stock options. Ms. Mancini is a recognized expert in techniques that utilize life insurance in estate and business plans, which include insurance trusts, split dollar and deferred compensation arrangements and life settlements. She also represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in trust and estate matters and she has substantial experience representing her clients in estate and gift tax matters before the Internal Revenue Service. Ms. Mancini’s practice includes acting as counselor to high net worth individuals and families, and closely-held businesses; entity planning, structuring and formation; and the protection and preservation of client assets.

Jerry J. McCoy, Esq.

P.O. Box 66491
Washington, DC 20035

Jerry J. McCoy is an independent attorney in Washington, D.C., specializing in charitable tax planning, tax-exempt organizations and estate planning. He holds law degrees from Duke University and New York University.

A Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and the American College of Tax Counsel, Mr. McCoy is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law and The Best Lawyers in America. A frequent presenter at planned giving, tax and estate planning seminars, he serves on the adjunct faculties at the Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Miami Law School. He is the past chairman of the Charitable Planning and Exempt Organizations Committee of ACTEC and Group Chair of the Charitable and Exempt Organizations Group of the ABA Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law.

Mr. McCoy is Co-Founder and Co-Editor of two newsletters, Charitable Gift Planning News, and Family Foundation Advisor. He is co-author of The Family Foundation Handbook (2nd Ed.), published by CCH (2006).

Anne M. McKinney, Esq.

1019 Orchid Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37912

Anne M. McKinney is an attorney who concentrates her practice in matters of taxation, estate planning and probate.

Ms. McKinney has served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Law in Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer Tax at The University of Tennessee College of Law, and formerly served as Adjunct Professor in Business Law at The University of Tennessee Undergraduate School. She has also served as an instructor for the Law Portion of the Becker CPA Review Course.

She is a member of the Duke University Estate Planning Council, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the Knoxville Estate Planning Council, the Tennessee, North Carolina, and American Bar Associations, and the National Speakers Association.

In August of 2006, Knoxville’s City View magazine published the results of a poll of local attorneys in which Anne McKinney was voted the top wills and estates attorney in the Knoxville area. She and her associate attorney, Victoria Tillman, have started a weekly radio show, “McKiney & Tillman – Pass It On!” The show airs Mondays at five in the afternoon on AM 620 (Joy 620 Radio).

Ms. McKinney has thirty years of legal and tax experience, and she has her own law firm, Anne M. McKinney, P.C. She previously served as an Estate and Gift Tax Attorney with the Internal Revenue Service for ten years. Ms. McKinney lectures frequently before professional and civic groups throughout the United States on the subjects of estate planning and taxation, personal motivation and success. She is listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers TM in the category of Trusts and Estates, Wills and Probate, and in the Nationwide Register’s Who’s Who in Executives & Businesses in the legal services category. Ms. McKinney is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the Trusts and Estates category. In the spring of 1996, Ms. McKinney co-authored Estate Planning in Tennessee; the second edition was published in 2002.

Ms. McKinney graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law and received her undergraduate degree from Duke University, magna cum laude.

In her “spare time,” Ms. McKinney is a sought-after speaker and seminar leader. With her unique blend of practical experience, intelligence, music and humor, she educates, encourages and entertains audiences nationwide.

Charles L. Ratner, Esq.

Ernst & Young, LLP
925 Euclid Avenue, Suite 1300
Cleveland, OH 44115

Mr. Ratner is the National Director of Personal Insurance Counseling for Ernst & Young. Since joining the firm in 1989, his practice has been devoted to providing life insurance consulting services to corporations, financial institutions and individuals and estate and business succession planning services to closely-held companies. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Ratner served as director of the advanced estate and business planning group of a major life insurance company.

Mr. Ratner is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and Emory University School of Law. He is an Attorney, a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU). He is a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals and the American Bar Association, and has served as the Vice-Chair of the Committee for Insurance of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Mr. Ratner is a frequent author and speaker on financial matters. His articles have appeared in Estate Planning, Probate & Property, Trusts & Estates, Best’s Review and National Underwriter. He is quoted in such publications as Business Week, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. He is Vice Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board of Trusts & Estates and Chair of its Insurance Committee. He is a contributing editor to the American Bar Association’s Insurance Counselor Series and a co-author of Ernst & Young’s Personal Financial Planning Guide.

Mr. Ratner has spoken on life insurance and business succession topics to a wide range of audiences, including the Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, the Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the New York University Institute on Federal Taxation, the Society of Financial Service Professionals, the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA), Association for Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU), Million Dollar Roundtable, Top of the Table, and numerous estate planning councils and professional societies across the nation. He is also a national instructor for Ernst & Young in the areas of life insurance and estate and business succession planning.

Mr. Ratner was recently selected to receive the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils’ Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner award and designation.

Douglas L. Siegler, Esq.

Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan
1275 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20004-2497

Doug is a partner in the firm’s Tax group. Doug's practice focuses primarily in income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning for individuals. His practice includes not only preparing wills, trust agreements, and related estate planning documents, but also providing tax and business planning advice to owners of closely-held businesses. He regularly advises clients on sophisticated transfer tax techniques and the efficient multigenerational transfer of wealth, incorporating gift, insurance, and charitable giving programs as appropriate. In addition, an integral part of his practice involves U.S. transfer tax planning for non-United States citizens and persons living outside the United States. Doug has extensive experience in estate and trust administration and representation of clients in estate and gift tax audits.

Doug is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He is the immediate past Chair of the Estate and Gift Taxes Committee of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) and Vice Chair of the Fiduciary Income Tax Committee of the Real Property Probate & Trust Law Section of the ABA. In addition, he is a member and past Director of the District of Columbia Estate Planning Council.

Doug is a frequent speaker on estate planning topics and has written for the Real Property Probate and Trust Journal, Tax Management International Journal, The Journal of Taxation, Estate Planning, Journal of International Taxation, Tax Notes, and The Practical Accountant.

Doug is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, 2005-2006, in Trust and Estates.

Myron E. Sildon, Esq.

Sildon Law Group, P.C.
800 W. 47th Street, Suite 500
Kansas City, MO 64112-1247

Myron E. Sildon, Chairman of the Kansas City-based Sildon Law Group, P.C. – The Center for Business Strategies, has practiced and spoken extensively in a wide range of fields related to business law, including tax law, business succession, qualified plans, corporations, real estate, and estate planning. He was awarded degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School) and the University of Michigan (Juris Doctor).

Mr. Sildon is a Fellow of both the American College of Tax Counsel and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He is also a member of the IRS Regional Advisory Council on Exempt Plans and Exempt Organizations, the Board of the Small Business Council of America, and The Group. He is past president of both the Kansas City Estate Planning Association and the Estate Planning Council, the predecessors of the Estate Planning Society of Kansas City, of which he is a member. He was the founder of the National Association for Family Business.

Mr. Sildon is the founder of the Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium. The Award for Excellence in Estate Planning is named in Mr. Sildon’s honor. He co-chairs the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA) Institute on Estate Planning for the Family Business Owner, and has spoken at CLE symposia such as the Notre Dame, Duke, William and Mary, Southern Federal, Georgia, Kentucky, Mid-America, Midwest, and Kansas Tax Conferences. He is past chair of the Heart of America Tax Institute and the Employee Benefits Institute.

He is a co-author of Missouri Bar Association books on closely held corporations, estate planning for the family-owned business, and family business planning. He co-authored A Practical Guide to Buy-Sell Agreements, published by ALI-ABA. His article on dealing with divorce in the family business was published in the July 2006 issue of Estate Planning magazine. He has been listed in the book The Best Lawyers in America, edited by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, in the three areas of tax law, estates and trusts, and employee benefits law, and is listed among Kansas City’s Super Lawyers.

Georgiana J. Slade, Esq.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
1 Chase Manhattan Plaza
New York, NY 10005-1413

Georgiana J. Slade is a partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP and is Practice Group Leader of their Trusts and Estates Department. Ms.Slade graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Duke University and received a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

She has been actively involved with many professional organizations including the New York State Bar Association (where she serves as Vice Chair of the Trusts and Estates Section’s Tax Committee and served as Chair of the Trusts and Estates Section’s Tax and Legislation Committees), the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel, the American Bar Association and the Duke University Estate Planning Council. Ms. Slade also serves on the Board of Trustees of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and is a member of the Legal Advisory Committee to Brown Brothers Harriman’s Trust Company.

Ms. Slade is the author of numerous publications on estate planning and estate administration, including the BNA Tax Management portfolios on Personal Life Insurance Trusts and Partial Interests-GRATs, GRUTs, QPRTs (Section 2702). She has also lectured extensively on these topics to legal and professional associations, including the University of Miami’s Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Internal Revenue Service, the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, New York State Bankers Association and the New York University Federal Institute of Taxation.

Ms. Slade has also received the following honors: listed in Chambers USA (2007); Appointment as a David Rockefeller Fellow by the Partnership for New York City (2004-2005); listed in The Best Lawyers in America; profiled in 2002 BNA Tax Management Calendar (2002); and rated among nation's top Trusts and Estates Lawyers, Bloomberg, Personal Finance (1999).

Edwin J. Walker, Jr. Esq.

Walker Lambe
3708 Mayfair Street
Durham, NC 27707

Edwin J. Walker, Jr., ESQ. (Jack) is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and practices law in Durham, North Carolina, with Walker, Lambe, Rhudy & Costley, P.L.L.C.

He was educated at Davidson College (A.B.,1966), and The University of North Carolina School of Law (J.D., 1969).

Mr. Walker is certified by the North Carolina State Bar, Board of Legal Specialization, as a Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law. He has been named a 2007 North Carolina Super Lawyer by legal peers as published in Law & Politics magazine. He serves as a Director of the UNC Law Foundation and is a member of the Duke University Estate Planning Council.

He has spoken once before at a Duke University Estate Planning Conference, and at several Wake Forest University Law School Estate Planning CLE institutes. He has authored the “Current Developments” section of Tax Assessments newsletter to the Tax Section of the North Carolina State Bar. He has led numerous educational seminars on estate planning and related topics, both for lawyers and financial professionals and for community organizations.

His practice includes estate planning, trust and estate administration, tax planning, business succession planning, insurance planning, and representation of non-profit organizations.

Lauren J. Wolven, Esq.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Company
125 South Wacker Drive, Suite 2150
Chicago, IL 60606-4402

In addition to heading up trust operations in the Chicago office, Lauren is responsible for wealth advisory operations in Chicago. Before joining Brown Brothers Harriman, she was a partner in the Wealth Protection Group of the Chicago law firm Horwood Marcus & Berk Chtd. Her practice involved estate planning, estate and trust administration, guardianship administration, elder law, tax and succession planning for privately held businesses, and trust and estate litigation.

Lauren began her career as a volunteer for two and a half years at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation in Urbana, Illinois, which is state legal services for individuals who cannot afford an attorney. After her student law license became a full license in 1999, Lauren returned to Chicago and joined the law firm Sidley & Austin (now Sidley Austin LLP). During her time at Sidley, she became involved with the Mock Trial Program for the Chicago city high schools sponsored by the Chicago Coalition for Law Related Education. Lauren has been involved in the volunteer program since that time and following two years on the Steering Committee, has coached the mock trial team at Hubbard High School for the past 5 years.

During the course of her career, Lauren has become known as a frequent lecturer and author on a variety of estate planning and trust administration topics. She is the co-author of the treatise “Managing Litigation Risks of Fiduciaries,” BNA’s recent addition to its prestigious Tax Management Portfolio series, and has been published as well in the ACTEC Journal and in Estate Planning, among others. Her speaking engagements have included presentations for the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education and the Chicago Bar Association.

Lauren is on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the state’s premier nonprofit CLE provider, and for the Chicago Estate Planning Council, a 700-member nonprofit organization. She serves as well on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Committee. She is on the planning committee for the American Heart Association’s Heart Ball and is on the Advisory Council for the Gannon Center for Women and Leadership at Loyola University Chicago.

Lauren received her B.A. in Spanish with high honors from Indiana University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Lauren received her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law. She is admitted to practice law in Illinois.