Events

Jonathan G. Blattmachr

InterActive Legal
140 Interlachen Road, Suite B
Melbourne, FL 32940

Jonathan Blattmachr is a Principal of Eagle River Advisors, a boutique advisory firm dedicated to developing and implementing innovative wealth and gift and estate tax planning strategies on behalf of high net worth individuals and families.  Mr. Blattmachr brings over 35 years of experience in trusts and estates law.  He is a retired member of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and the Alaska, California and New York Bars. Mr. Blattmachr has been recognized as one of the country’s most creative trusts and estates lawyers. He writes and lectures extensively on estate and trust taxation and charitable giving and has authored or co-authored five books and over 400 articles on estate planning topics.

He has served as a lecturer-in-law of the Columbia University School of Law and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University Law School in its Masters in Tax Program (LLM). He is a former chairperson of the Trusts & Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Mr. Blattmachr is a Fellow and a former Regent of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and past chair of its Estate and Gift Tax Committee. Among professional activities, which are too numerous to list, Mr. Blattmachr has served as an Advisor on The American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law, Trusts 3rd; and as a Fellow and Director of The New York Bar Foundation and as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Blattmachr graduated from Columbia University School of Law cum laude, where he was recognized as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and received his A.B. degree from Bucknell University, majoring in mathematics.

Carol A. Cantrell

Briggs & Veselka Co.
6575 West Loop South, Suite 700
Bellaire, TX 77401

Carol has more than 25 years of experience providing tax planning and preparation services to family business and high-net-worth individuals. Her specialties include individual, partnership and trust income tax matters, executive compensation and personal tax and financial planning.

She is also a frequent speaker for the American Institute of CPAs, Texas Society of CPAs, American Bar Association, Texas Bankers Association and many other professional organizations. Carol is the author of two books on estate, tax and financial planning. These include “Stock Options: Estate, Tax and Financial Planning” and “The Fiduciary Accounting Answer Book,” both published by CCH, Inc.

Carol has a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Texas cum laude and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center cum laude. In addition to being a CPA, she is also a licensed Texas Attorney and a Certified Financial Planner.

Jean Gordon Carter

Hunton & Williams LLP
P.O. Box 109
Raleigh, NC  27602

Jean Gordon Carter is a partner at Hunton & Williams in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Her principal area of practice is Tax and Estates.  She is a member of the Estate Planning & Fiduciary Law and Tax Sections of the North Carolina Bar Association.  Mrs. Carter is also a Certified Public Accountant, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estates Counsel, and a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law. 

She received her B. S. degree from Wake Forest University, magna cum laude, with Honors in Accountancy in 1977 and her law degree from Duke University School of Law with High Honors in 1983.

She is a member of the American Bar Association, North Carolina Bar Association, North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants and Wake County Estate Planning Council. Mrs. Carter has lectured and written extensively on various tax, tax-exempt and estates topics.

Samuel A. Donaldson

University of Washington School of Law
William H. Gates Hall
Box 353020
Seattle, WA 98195

Samuel A. Donaldson [J.D. University of Arizona; LL.M. (Taxation) University of Florida] is Associate Dean and a Professor at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, Washington.  The former Director of the law school’s Graduate Program in Taxation, Professor Donaldson teaches a number of tax and estate planning courses, as well as courses in the areas of property, commercial law and professional responsibility.  Professor Donaldson is a four-time recipient of the Philip A. Trautman Professor of the Year award from the School of Law’s Student Bar Association.  He is currently Of Counsel with the Seattle office of Perkins Coie LLP and is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).  A member of the Bar in Washington, Oregon, and Arizona, he is the author of the Thomson-West casebook, Federal Income Taxation of Individuals, a co-author of the Price on Contemporary Estate Planning treatise published by CCH, and a co-author of Federal Wealth Transfer Taxes, a reference published by Thomson-West.  Professor Donaldson has served as the Harry R. Horrow Visiting Professor of International Law at Northwestern University and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.  An amateur crossword constructor, his puzzles have been published in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and USA Today.  A perennial contender for People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” honor, Professor Donaldson was recently notified by email of his selection to receive substantial sums of money from high-level Nigerian business officials in exchange for his bank account information.

Dana G. Fitzsimons Jr.

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

Mr. Fitzsimons practices in the areas of fiduciary litigation, estate and trust administration, and estate planning. He represents corporate and individual fiduciaries and beneficiaries in fiduciary litigation matters, including surcharge actions against fiduciaries, will and trust contests, restructuring trusts, managing fiduciary risk, and adult guardianship litigation.

Mr. Fitzsimons has contributed articles to numerous publications, including Probate and Property, Estate Planning, Trusts & Investments, and the Leimberg Services newsletters, and has served on the editorial board and was a monthly columnist for Wealth Management Business magazine. He is also the author of Trust Administration and Estate Planning, published by the American Bankers Association, and Administration of Trusts published by Virginia CLE. He is a frequent lecturer across the country on fiduciary litigation and trust and estate topics. He has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Forbes.

He is a member of the American Bar Association where he has served on the CPR/SOC Joint Committee on Ethics and Professionalism, Task Force on Patenting Legal Strategies, and is the current vice chair of the Ethics and Malpractice Committee. He also is a member of the Virginia Bar Association, currently serves on its Trusts and Estates Legislative Committee, and has served as Trusts and Estates Executive Council. He is the former chair of the Wills for Heroes Program and former member of the Young Lawyers Division Executive Council. He is a member of the Richmond Trust Administrator's Council. He also performs regularly as a jazz drummer throughout Virginia.

Mr. Fitzsimons received his Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College and his JD from College of William and Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law.

Christopher R. Hoyt

University of Missouri (Kansas City) School of Law
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499

Christopher Hoyt is a Professor of Law at the University of Missouri (Kansas City) School of Law where he teaches courses in the area of federal income taxation and business organizations. Previously, he was with the law firm of Spencer, Fane, Britt & Browne in Kansas City, Missouri. He received an undergraduate degree in economics from Northwestern University and he received dual law and accounting degrees from the University of Wisconsin.

Professor Hoyt is currently the Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on Charitable Organizations (Section of Trusts and Estates). He is an ACTEC fellow and he serves on the editorial boards of Trusts and Estate magazine and the Planned Giving Design Center. He is a frequent speaker at legal and educational programs and has been quoted in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, MONEY Magazine, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Sharon L. Klein

Lazard Wealth Management LLC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, New York 10020

Sharon L. Klein is a Managing Director and Head of Wealth Advisory Services at Lazard Wealth Management. Ms. Klein leads all aspects of trusts & estates planning, including related tax, philanthropic, and intergenerational wealth transfer issues.

Ms. Klein has 20 years experience in the area of trusts and estates and is a frequent speaker and author on trust & estate issues. She has spoken for many professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the BNA Tax Management Advisory Board, and the Practicing Law Institute. Ms. Klein has been featured or quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Law Journal and Trusts & Estates Magazine.

Ms. Klein serves as a Chair of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust & Estate “Insurance and Financial Planning” Committee. She also serves on the Estates, Gifts and Trusts Advisory Board for The Bureau of National Affairs, the New York City Bar Association’s Steering Committee on Trusts, Estates & Surrogates Courts, the Trusts & Estates Leadership Committee for the UJA-Federation of New York and the Professional Advisory Council of the Anti-Defamation League.

Prior to joining Lazard, Ms. Klein headed the Estate Advisement department at Fiduciary Trust Company International. She provided counsel regarding all aspects of domestic and international estate planning and was responsible for overseeing the management of complex trusts and estates. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust in 2002, Ms. Klein was Special Counsel in the Trusts & Estates Department at Rosenman & Colin (now Katten  Muchin  Rosenman LLP), where she began her career in 1990. There, she advised individuals and families on the preservation, transfer, and management of wealth. Her practice included sophisticated estate and charitable planning and trust & estate administration.

Ms. Klein earned a BA and LLB from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and an LLM from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

John B. O'Grady

McGuireWoods LLP
One James Center
901 East Cary Street
Richmond, VA 23219-4030

Mr. O'Grady's practice concentrates on estate and gift taxation, generation-skipping transfer taxes, estate planning, estate administration, and chancery litigation. He is a Fellow of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a member of the Legislative Committee for the Trusts and Estates Section of the Virginia Bar Association, and past chair of the Virginia State Bar Trusts and Estates Section.

He has served as an adjunct professor at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary where he taught estate planning and wealth transfers. He has also taught estate planning, and estate and gift taxation at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Mr. O'Grady's practice areas include: private wealth services, trusts and estates, fiduciary litigation, family businesses, fiduciary advisory services, and nonprofit/charitable advisory services.

He received his B.A. (magna cum laude) from the University of Michigan and his JD from College of William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law.

Thomas J. Pauloski

Bernstein Global Wealth Management
227 W. Monroe Street, Suite 5900
Chicago, IL 60606

Thomas J. Pauloski is a National Managing Director in the Wealth Management Group of Bernstein Global Wealth Management, the research division of Bernstein’s Private Client Group.  He works with private clients and their advisors on wealth transfer strategies, focusing on tax-efficient wealth management and asset allocation decisions.  Previously, Tom was a partner at the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn LLP, where he concentrated his practice in estate, tax, and business planning.  Tom also has been a member of the Chicago law firm of Levin & Schreder, Ltd., a Vice President in the Private Client Group of Zurich Life in Long Grove, Illinois, and a partner at the Chicago law firm of Schiff Hardin & Waite.

Tom is a nationally known speaker on estate planning, tax, and insurance issues, and has written numerous articles and continuing legal education materials on estate planning topics.  He serves on the faculty of the American Bankers Association National Trust and National Graduate Trust Schools, and has served on the adjunct faculty of the Cannon Financial Institute Schools.  Tom has been an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and has taught estate planning classes at Northwestern University Law School.  Tom also has served on the editorial board of Trusts & Estates magazine.  He retired from the United States Naval Reserve in 2003, after 21 years of service.

Tom received his bachelor of science degree in environmental engineering from Northwestern University, and his juris doctor, magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Loyola Law Journal.

Tom and his wife of 26 years, Barb, reside in Highland Park, Illinois, with their children, Kathie and Mike.

Susan Porter

Brown Brothers Harriman Trust Company, N.A.
140 Broadway, 5^th floor
New York, NY 10005

Susan Porter is a lawyer with extensive expertise in diversified roles in the trust banking industry.  As a senior bank executive she managed the estate and trust settlement, financial planning, closely-held business and tax departments.  As a fiduciary subject matter expert, she contributed to the growth of private wealth management by lecturing and teaching at symposia for lawyers, bankers, clients and prospects.

Ms. Porter is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, where she serves as a member of Council, the National Conference of Lawyers and Corporate Fiduciaries Committee, and is Co-Vice Chair of Groups and Substantive Committees.  She is also a member of the Estate and Gift Tax Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Estate Planning Council of New York City and the New York, Florida and Wisconsin State Bar Associations.

Ms. Porter is a visiting adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law Graduate LL.M. Program in Estate Planning and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Philip E, Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning.  Additionally, she is a lecturer on discretionary trusts for the American Bankers Association’s National Graduate Trust School.  She frequently lectures about estate planning and administration and fiduciary law for professional and civic groups.

Ms. Porter has been elected a fellow of the New York Bar Foundation, a life member of The Fellows of the American Bar Association, a member of the Academy of Women Achievers of the YWCA of the City of New York, a Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils and was the 2005 honoree of the Trusts & Estates Group of the Lawyer’s Division of the UJA-Federation of New York.

Community-minded, Susan is chairman and director of the People’s Symphony Concerts, past chair of the Bankers and Lawyers Advisory Committee of the New York Philharmonic, a member of the Professional Advisors Committee of the New York City  Ballet, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Professional Advisory Council, the Museum of Arts & Design Professional Advisory Committee and served for 15 years as a member of the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater New York and for four years on the Board of Directors of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College.

Susan has been quoted in the following media publications: The Wall Street Journal; Fortune; Investor’s Business Daily; Business Week; and Crain’s New York Business.  She also appeared on Lawline, a nationally syndicated cable-TV talk show.

Susan received her A.B. from Vassar College, her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and her LL.M. from New York University Law School.  She is also a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA).

Myron E. Sildon

Sildon Law Group, P.C.
800 West 47^th Street, #500
Kansas City, MO 64112

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).

He is launching a new venture as an adjunct to his law practice, Counsel the Executive, LLC, which will advise and assist CEO's and corporate executives in growing their businesses.  He was the founder of the National Association for Family Business.

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 and the Board of the Small Business Council of America.  He is past president of both the Kansas City Estate Planning Association and the Kansas City Estate Planning Council.

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.  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.  He received Willamette Management Associates' 2007 Standard of Excellence Award.

Myron Sildon has been actively involved on the Board of Directors of the Kansas City Symphony, Young Audiences, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and Kansas City Consensus, and Business Committee of the Arts.  He is a past President of Rotary 13 (Kansas City's Downtown Rotary) and a member of the Ethics Commission of Jackson County, Missouri.  He is a graduate of the FBI – Kansas City Citizens' Academy.  He served on the American Cancer Society national Board of Directors, was Chairman of the Missouri Division, and received its St. George’s Medal.  A native Kansas Citian, he is married and has two grown children.

Howard M. Zaritsky

P.O. Box 38
Rapidan, VA 22733

Howard M. Zaritsky is an attorney who consults exclusively with other attorneys and estate planning professionals on estate tax and estate planning issues and serves as an expert witness on estate and trust administration and planning and related income, estate, gift and GST tax questions.  He was for 20 years a partner in the Fairfax, Virginia law firm of Zaritsky & Zaritsky, where his practice was limited to estate planning and administration and related tax matters.  Before that, he was for eight years a legislation attorney for the Congressional Research Service, where his responsibilities included advising members of congress and committee staff on tax matters. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the Virginia Bar Association, and he has been a lecturer at most major tax and estate planning institutes, including the University of Miami (Heckerling) Estate Planning Institute, where he is a member of the advisory committee. He is the author or co-author of over 200 articles, three Tax Management Portfolios, and a dozen treatises, including: Tax Planning for Family Wealth Transfers, Generation-Skipping Transfer Taxes: Analysis and Forms (with Carol Harrington); Structuring Buy-Sell Agreements (with Farhad Aghdami and Mary Ann Mancini); Structuring Estate Freezes After Chapter 14 (with Ron Aucutt); Federal Income Taxation of Estates and Trusts (with Robert Danforth and Norman Lane); Tax Planning With Life Insurance (with Stephan Leimberg); Practical Estate Planning Under Circular 230; and Practical Estate Planning in 2011 and 2012 [all published by Thomson- Reuters/Warren, Gorham & Lamont].  He is tax editor of Probate Practice Reporter, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American College of Tax Counsel and a former Chair of the Virginia Bar Association Section on Wills, Trusts & Estates.  He lives on a farm with his wife and several groundhogs, near the thriving metropolis of Rapidan, Virginia.  See www.howardzaritsky.com.