Events

Ronald D. Aucutt

McGuireWoods LLP
1750 Tysons Boulevard
Suite 1800
McLean, VA 22102
 

Ronald D. Aucutt is a partner in the McLean, Virginia (Tysons Corner) office of McGuireWoods LLP and is the chair of the firm’s Private Wealth Services Group. Mr. Aucutt concentrates on planning and controversy matters involving the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, the income taxation of trusts and estates, the rules regarding tax-exempt organizations and charitable contributions, and related tax issues. He has extensive experience in assisting clients with the transfer of wealth from one generation to another, particularly including the orderly and tax-efficient succession of family-owned businesses. He also advises lawyers and other professionals on tax planning and controversy issues across the entire spectrum of estate planning and charitable giving, including the complex rules governing generation-skipping transfers under chapter 13 and the special valuation rules under chapter 14 of the Internal Revenue Code. Mr. Aucutt is experienced in resolving tax issues through rulings and technical advice in the Internal Revenue Service’s National Office and in administrative appeals throughout the country. He has contributed to the formation of estate tax policy through legislation and has served as an expert witness in estate and gift tax matters.

Mr. Aucutt is a Fellow and former President of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), an academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law and former member of its Executive Council, a former Vice Chair (Committee Operations) of the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation, a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and the American Bar Foundation, the Moderator of the Evangelical Free Church of America, and a member of the Christian Legal Society. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the University of Miami Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Editorial Board of Estate Planning, the Board of Advisors of Business Entities, Tax Management’s Advisory Board on Estates, Gifts, and Trusts, and the Editorial Advisory Board of Shannon Pratt’s Business Valuation Update®. He was awarded the 1995-1996 Estate Planner of the Year Award by the Washington, D.C. Estate Planning Council and was named one of “Washington’s 50 Best Lawyers” in the February 1997 issue of Washingtonian magazine, one of the 45 “Best Trusts and Estates Lawyers in the U.S.” in the August 1998 issue of Town & Country magazine, a “Top Washington Lawyer” in the September 10-16, 2004 issue of the Washington Business Journal, and one of the twelve “Top Trusts and Estates Lawyers” of the Washington, D.C. area in the September 27, 2004 issue of Legal Times. His biography appears in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who in the World, and The Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Aucutt received a B.A. degree in 1967 and a J.D. degree in 1975, both from the University of Minnesota. He has been a lecturer in law at the University Of Virginia School Of Law. He has lectured on estate planning subjects at over one hundred tax institutes and conferences nationwide and is the author of more than fifty published articles on estate planning and other tax subjects. Mr. Aucutt is co-author of Structuring Estate Freezes, published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1996.

Ron and his wife Bunny live in Falls Church, Virginia. They have adult two sons.

Susan T. Bart

Sidley Austin LLP
One South Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60603
 

Susan T. Bart is a partner in the Private Clients, Trusts & Estates Group of the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP. She was named as one of the top 100 attorneys by Worth magazine (2007 and 2008-9), is featured in the Best Lawyers in America and was named one of the top ten women attorneys in Illinois in consumer areas of law. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), State Chair for Illinois and a former editor of the ACTEC Journal. She authored the book Education Planning and Gifts to Minors (Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (“IICLE,” revised 2009), coauthored the award-winning book Illinois Estate Planning Forms and Commentary (IICLE 3rd Edition 2005), and has written numerous articles. She also writes a monthly Q & A column for MorningstarAdvisor.com on their website entitled “529 Advisor.” She is a member of the Board of Directors and former Chair of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Bart earned a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude (Order of the Coif), in 1985 from the University of Michigan Law School where she was Articles Editor of the Michigan Law Review. During the Winter 2009 term, she was a visiting lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor.

Leigh-Alexandra Basha

Holland & Knight LLP
1600 Tysons Boulevard
Suite 700
McLean, VA 22102
 

Leigh–Alexandra Basha is a Partner in Holland & Knight’s Private Wealth Services Group where she devotes her practice to her clients' needs in the areas of domestic and international taxation, estate planning and administration, business law, and pre-marital agreements. Ms. Basha is the head of the firm's International Estate Planning Practice. Ms. Basha's areas of focus include:

International Estate Planning: Qualified Domestic Trusts (QDOTs) and Marital Planning for Non U.S. Citizen Spouses; Pre-immigration Planning for Nonresident Aliens and Expatriation Planning; Planning for U.S. Persons Residing Abroad; Foreign Trusts and Foreign Business Entities; Coordination of Treaty Implications and Foreign Legal Issues; U.S. tax reporting and withholding requirements

Pre-Liquidity Event Planning: Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATS); Installment Sales to Intentionally Defective Grantor Trusts; Charitable Remainder Trusts; Valuation Discount Planning; Planning with Stock Options and Restricted Stock

Traditional Wealth Transfer Planning: Wills, Revocable Trusts, Power of Attorney and Advanced Medical Directives; Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts; Dynasty Trusts; Family Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts; Philanthropic and Charitable Planning ; Private Foundations; Premarital Agreements; Asset Protection Planning Ms. Basha is the author of several published articles and has spoken at and moderated several continuing legal education programs, nationally and internationally. In 2001, she served as a visiting professor at L'Ecole de Formation de Barreaux de la Cour d’Appel de Paris and L’Universite de Paris II (Assas).

She studied at Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris, France (1980) and Paris Institute on International and Comparative Law (1983). She also holds a Virginia real estate license.

Robert T. Danforth

Washington and Lee University School of Law
East Denny Circle
Lexington, VA 24450
 

Robert T. Danforth is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia, where he teaches courses on trusts and estates, basic income taxation, estate and gift taxation, and income taxation of trusts and estates.

Professor Danforth graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1986, receiving his J.D. with High Honors; he was also elected to The Order of the Coif. At Duke he served as an Articles Editor for the Duke Law Journal. Following law school, he served as a law clerk for The Honorable Stephanie K. Seymour of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

After his clerkship, Professor Danforth joined the Washington, D.C., law firm of Arnold & Porter, where he practiced for approximately 4 years. At Arnold & Porter, Professor Danforth concentrated his practice on tax and trusts and estates matters. He left Arnold & Porter in 1992 to join the Virginia law firm of McGuireWoods, where he continued to focus his practice on tax, trusts and estates, and related matters. While at McGuireWoods, he taught for several years as an adjunct at the University of Virginia School of Law. He commenced his full-time teaching career at Washington and Lee in the fall of 1997.

Professor Danforth is a member of the Virginia Bar Association Wills, Trusts, and Estates Section and serves on its Legislative Committee. He is also a member of the Virginia Law Foundation Committee on Continuing Legal Education and a member of the Judicial Council of Virginia, Standing Committee on Commissioners of Accounts. Professor Danforth is an Academic Fellow of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles on tax and trusts and estates topics.

Louis S. Harrison

Harrison & Held LLP
333 West Wacker Drive
Suite 950
Chicago, IL 60606
 

Louis S. Harrison's practice focuses on estate planning and litigation, post-mortem tax planning, charitable dispositions, and gifting strategies. Lou also assists closely held companies with their corporate tax planning. Lou's practice emphasizes the estate-planning aspects of partnerships and privately owned businesses, charitable dispositions, and gifting strategies. Lou uses his extensive experience to formulate estate plans that maximize and protect wealth, draft complex trusts and wills that minimize federal estate taxes, litigate contested estates, probate and administer estates, advise closely held businesses, and counsel clients regarding business, individual, fiduciary and post-mortem tax planning.

A frequent speaker and writer on tax and estate planning, Lou has spoken before numerous groups nationwide. Lou has authored more than 100 published articles on a broad range of tax and estate-planning subjects in legal, accounting, tax and estate journals and periodicals, and is co-author of the books, "Sorting Out Life's Complexities: What You Really Need to Know About Taxes, Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorneys and Health Care Decisions" and "Illinois Estate Planning Forms and Commentary."

Lou is the Illinois State Chair of the American College of Trusts and Estate Counsel and has been an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law, DePaul University College of Law and Chicago-Kent College of Law. As a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Lou has chaired the Estate and Gift Tax Committee and served on the Trust Law Committee and Probate Practice Committee. Before joining Harrison & Held, LLP, Lou was the partner in charge of the Lord, Bissell & Brook Wealth Preservation Group.

Beth Shapiro Kaufman

Caplin & Drysdale
One Thomas Circle, NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
 

Beth Shapiro Kaufman is a member in the Washington D.C. law firm of Caplin & Drysdale, practicing in the areas of estate planning, estate, gift and generation-skipping tax, and income taxation of trusts and estates. At Caplin & Drysdale, Ms. Kaufman assists wealthy individuals with their estate planning and tax controversies. She also advises lawyers and other professionals on complex issues regarding estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes in both planning and audit contexts. She is frequently retained by counsel to advocate a taxpayer's position before the Internal Revenue Service, and has been particularly active in obtaining relief for failed generation-skipping transfer tax exemption allocations. From 1995 to 2001, Ms. Kaufman was an Associate Tax Legislative Counsel in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy. In that capacity, she was responsible for estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax issues, as well as income tax issues relating to trusts and estates. Ms. Kaufman is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. She was named the 2008 Top Washington Lawyer in Trusts and Estates by the Washington Business Journal, as well as appearing in the list of The Best Lawyers in America, Superlawyers, and Washingtonian magazine’s top lawyers. Ms. Kaufman received her B.A. from Pomona College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Michele A.W. McKinnon

McGuireWoods LLP
One James Center
901 East Cary Street
Richmond, VA 23219
 

Michele A. W. McKinnon is a partner in the Richmond, Virginia office of the law firm, McGuireWoods LLP and heads its Nonprofit and Charitable Advisory Services, an offering of its Private Wealth Services Group. Ms. McKinnon has more than 20 years of experience and is a leading authority in tax-exempt organizations and charitable giving. She represents many public charities, major colleges and universities, supporting organizations, private foundations, and charitable trusts.

Ms. McKinnon assists tax-exempt organizations in all aspects of compliance with the federal tax laws, as well as with governance, endowment, and investment matters. Her work also includes structuring planned gifts to charitable organizations through the use of charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, charitable gift annuities, and other vehicles.

Ms. McKinnon received her B.A. degree from the University of Virginia, her J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Richmond, and her LL.M. in taxation from the College of William and Mary. She is a Fellow in the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel and currently serves as ACTEC’s Virginia State Chair.

John T. Midgett

Midgett & Preti PC
477 Viking Drive
Suite 430
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
 

John T. Midgett is a principal in Midgett & Preti PC with offices in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His practice is concentrated in the related areas of estate planning, administration and taxation, and family business planning.

John is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he attained a Bachelor of Arts degree, with Distinction in 1975. He is a 1978 graduate of the T. C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, where he was a member of the Law Review. He has written and lectured to other attorneys, accountants, and trust officers in the related areas of estate planning, taxation and administration for the continuing education required in the various professions.

John is actively involved in the Hampton Roads Estate Planning Council, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and the Duke University Estate Planning Council, and served as Chair of the Trusts & Estates Section of the Virginia State Bar for the year 2008-2009. John is also a Past President of the Hampton Roads Gift Planning Council.

In May, 2006 he was elected by the Board of Directors of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils as an Accredited Estate Planner. John has been rated as “AV” in the areas of estate planning and administration, the highest designation available to attorneys in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. John has been named to Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite, and has been included in the 2006-2009 editions of The Best Lawyers in America. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Planning Counsel John has been married to his wife, Barbra, for 34 years. They have two children, Kristin, a graduate of Virginia Tech, and Ryan, a graduate of DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington.

Jeffrey N. Pennell

Emory University School of Law
Gambrell Hall
1301 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30322
 

Professor Pennell is the Richard H. Clark Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta. A graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, he is a Member of the American Law Institute, an Adviser for its Restatement of the Law (Third) of Property (Wills and Other Donative Transfers), and of Trusts, a former member of the Council of the Real Property, Trust & Estate Section of the American Bar Association, an Academic Fellow and Former Regent of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and an Academician of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law. His various publications include INCOME TAXATION OF TRUSTS, ESTATES, GRANTORS AND BENEFICIARIES (West 1987), FEDERAL WEALTH TRANSFER TAXATION (West 2003), WEALTH TRANSFER PLANNING AND DRAFTING (West 2005), ESTATE AND TRUST PLANNING (ABA 2005), the Tax Management Portfolios on Estate Tax Apportionment (BNA 2001) and on the Marital Deduction (BNA 2004), and he is the successor author of Casner & Pennell on ESTATE PLANNING (6th ed.).

Bruce S. Ross

Holland & Knight LLP
633 W 5th Street
Suite 2100
Los Angeles, CA 90017
 

Bruce S. Ross received his A.B. degree (cum laude) from Oberlin College in 1968 and his law degree (Order of the Coif) from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1971. A Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law (California Board of Legal Specialization), Bruce is a former Chair of the Executive Committee of the Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Section of the State Bar of California. Bruce is Past President and Regent Emeritus of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel. Bruce is a member and past Chair of ACTEC’s Fiduciary Litigation Committee, a past member of the Editorial Board and a member and past Chair of ACTEC’s Professional Responsibility Committee. The Reporter for the Third Edition of the ACTEC Commentaries on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (1999) and a contributing Editor to the Fourth Edition (2006), Bruce is the Co-editor of the Guidebook to the California Rules of Professional Conduct for Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Counsel (1997) and a contributing editor of the Second Edition (2006) of this work. Bruce is a former member of the Supervisory Council of the Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section of the American Bar Association and past Chair of its Estate and Trust Litigation Committee. Bruce has published numerous articles in various professional journals and has appeared as a lecturer and panel member at many different local, state, national and international institutes and continuing legal education programs. Bruce is also an Academician in the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law and a past member of the Academy's Executive Council. The author of the two-volume treatise, California Practice Guide: Probate (The Rutter Group), Bruce specializes in estate, trust, conservatorship and professional responsibility litigation and is the Chair of Holland & Knight's Private Wealth Services National Dispute Resolution Group.

Melissa L. Warner

William J. Farley Center
5477 Mooretown Road
Williamsburg, VA 23188
 

Dr. Melissa Lee Warner is a board-certified family practice physician who has specialized in addiction medicine. A graduate of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, Dr. Warner completed her Family Practice residency at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She completed a fellowship in Addiction Medicine at Willingway Hospital in Statesboro, Georgia; with a concurrent faculty development fellowship in Family Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill.

Known for her cutting edge lectures on the “The Big Book”, Dr. Warner has a special interest in addressing pain management for recovering patients, as well as nicotine sobriety. Her passion is health, wellness and spiritual development.

Dr. Warner is certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and serves in a leadership position with the Virginia Society of Addiction Medicine.