NEW YORK (April 7, 2011) — International law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP, a leading counselor to private clients worldwide, today announced the expansion of its New York Private Client Group with the addition of premier estate planning attorney Carlyn S. McCaffrey to the Firm. Joining Ms. McCaffrey, who chaired Weil, Gotshal & Manges' Estate Planning practice group, is former Weil lawyer Amy E. Heller who has been named a partner in McDermott’s New York office. Elyse G. Kirschner, currently a partner at Weil, will also join McDermott as a partner along with four other Weil lawyers: Laura W. Hirschfeld, Christopher M. Parker, Shu-Ping Shen, and Dena L. Wolf.
"We are delighted to welcome Carlyn and her top-notch team to the Firm,” said McDermott Will & Emery co-chair Peter J. Sacripanti, based in New York. “McDermott’s Private Client Practice Group has a well-deserved reputation for excellence and the addition of this exceptional group of lawyers will deepen the Firm’s already extensive service offerings in the wealth management space.”
“Carlyn is one of the most highly respected practitioners in the country and we are impressed by the results she and her team have continually delivered,” added McDermott co-chair Jeffrey E. Stone. “In particular, Carlyn's deep experience advising very high net worth clients on estate tax matters and closely-held business planning will be tremendous assets as we continue to grow our private client practice.”
Carol A. Harrington, partner and head of McDermott Will & Emery’s Private Client Practice Group, commented, “Carlyn is a truly brilliant and highly sought-after advisor. She along with Elyse, Amy and their colleagues will make wonderful additions to our team. These very experienced lawyers represent clients in all aspects of their estate planning needs, from wealth transfer advice to counseling on tax-related business issues. Having Carlyn and her team at McDermott will strengthen our ability to give our clients the most creative and sophisticated representation possible for their most sensitive needs.”
With more than 60 lawyers, McDermott’s Private Client Practice Group is one of the largest and best-known practices of its kind in the United States. Consecutive editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business ranked the Firm’s wealth management practice in the top tier nationwide. The Firm represents families and individuals, family offices, closely held businesses, foundations, estates, trusts and special purpose asset transfer and investment management entities in the United States and throughout the world, and provides to them a spectrum of estate, succession, gift transfer and wealth planning services.
Ms. McCaffrey will join current McDermott partner Henry Christensen III as a co-head of the New York Private Client Practice Group. Christensen said, “I have enjoyed working with Carlyn for many years as a friend and colleague. We have worked together on client and bar association matters and we have taught a course together at New York University Law School. It will be a joy to have Carlyn, Elyse and Amy as partners of McDermott."
Since 2006, when Chambers USA began ranking wealth management nationally, Ms. McCaffrey has been the only Star Individual recognized for her achievements. In the 2010 edition, Chambers USA noted that Ms. McCaffrey is, “regarded by the market as being at the cutting edge of trusts and estates law.”
Ms. McCaffrey is an adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law and the Miami Law School. She frequently lectures on subjects relating to tax law, trusts and estates, foreign trusts and matrimonial law. She also writes extensively on these topics, and is the co-author of Structuring the Tax Consequences of Marriage and Divorce.
Additionally, she is a fellow and a past president of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, a member of the International Academy of Trust & Estate Counsel, and a member of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trust and Estate Act, of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws. She is a member of the Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association and the former co-chair of the Section's Estates and Trusts Committees, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the University of Miami’s Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning.
Elyse G. Kirschner represents clients in connection with domestic and international tax and estates planning matters. Ms. Kirschner’s areas of experience include charitable giving techniques, the formation and taxation of private trust companies, tax-exempt organizations and the taxation of foreign trusts. Ms. Kirschner is a member of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Section of the American Bar Association, a member of the Tax and Trusts & Estates Sections of the New York State Bar Association, a member of the Society of Trusts & Estates Practitioners (STEP) and a member of the Trusts, Estates & Surrogates Courts Committee of the New York City Bar Association. She is also a member of the Trusts & Estates Committee of the Lawyer's Division of the UJA Federation of New York.
Amy E. Heller, who joins the firm as a partner, advises clients in connection with a wide range of domestic and international tax and estate planning matters. Ms. Heller serves as Chair of the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust & Estate Law. She is also a member of Executive Committee of the Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association and serves as Co-Chair of the Tax Section’s Committee on Estates and Trusts. Ms. Heller was named an “Associate to Watch” in Chambers 2010 USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. She is an Adjunct Professor at the New York University School of Law, where she teaches Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates.
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,000 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Düsseldorf, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Rome, San Diego, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. Extending our reach to Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
