When it comes to sophisticated wealth planning including estate, asset protection, and succession planning, single-family office and successful family business regularly turn to elite trusts and estates lawyers. Even when they have lawyers in-house, they will usually engage external specialists because of their specialized knowledge and experience.
According to Cliff Oberlin, Chairman and CEO of Oberlin Wealth Partners and co-author of Family Fortunes: How Family Enterprises Thrive Across Generations, “In our survey of 239 single-family office senior executives, nearly 80% of them rely on external trusts and estates lawyers. Moreover, our survey of 164 C-level family businesses found that almost nine out of ten of them primarily rely on external trusts and estates lawyers.” While there is strong demand for elite private client lawyers, there are some pros and cons to working with single-family offices and successful family businesses.
Advantages
The two major advantages of these clients are the gross revenues and the inherent nature of the engagements. The ultra-wealthy—with a fair degree of consistency—require the services of elite trusts and estates lawyers. This commonly translates into significant gross revenues for the lawyers, as noted by almost all the elite trusts and estates lawyers surveyed.
Also, for about two out of five of the elite trusts and estates lawyers, the intellectual nature and periodic unique situations they get to deal with make it simply interesting working with single-family offices and successful family businesses. According to Frank D. Paolini, Partner of the Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, LLP law firm and member of the firm’s Private Wealth Services Group, “The families we work with have very complex situations. There are no cookie-cutter solutions that make sense for them. Very often, my team and I, are developing unique solutions to address their needs and wants. It’s often an intricate puzzle and we enjoy finding creative powerful solutions.”
Disadvantages
Two major drawbacks to catering to single-family offices and successful family businesses are the possibility of discounted fees and having to deal with complex family dynamics. For example, the role of a high-performing single-family office is to get the best services and products at the lowest reasonable price. For about three-fifths of the elite trusts and estates lawyers, this is a potential complication. However, it need not be when the discussions are about value and not about cost. Additionally, even when the fees are discounted, they can still be very significant.
For about a sixth of the elite trusts and estates lawyers surveyed, another negative has to deal with the family dynamics. According to Aaron Yen, Senior Partner, Ascendant Law Group, “Complex family dynamics are not uncommon when working with the ultra-wealthy and their family enterprises. These complexities often create the need for professionals to not only have the requisite expertise but be able to capably and comfortably work with these clients. While these situations take more effort, we have the opportunity to provide unique solutions that makes a very significant difference in the lives of our clients.”
For elite trusts and estates lawyers, the ultra-wealthy and their family enterprises are regularly exceptional clients. The monies they generate translate into substantial revenues for the law firms, which in turn ensure the elite trusts and estates lawyers are very well remunerated.
RUSS ALAN PRINCE is the Executive Director of Private Wealth magazine (pw-mag.com) and Chief Content Officer for High-Net-Worth Genius (hnwgenius.com). He consults with family offices, the wealthy, fast-tracking entrepreneurs, and select professionals.
