Schnader Creates Tax and Wealth Management Department

CONTACT:
Caroline M. Brobeil
Public Relations Manager
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP
215-751-2061
cbrobeil@schnader.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 31, 2007 – Philadelphia, Pa.: Schnader Harrison Segal and Lewis LLP is pleased to announce the creation of a new department within the Firm: Tax and Wealth Management.  The new department will consolidate the Firm’s trusts and estates and tax practices. The tax practice was previously housed among and across several departments, including the Trusts and Estates department and the Business Services department, and the trusts and estates practice operated as an independent, single department, consulting and collaborating with attorneys from tax as needed.  The change will bring together complementary areas of expertise and allow for increased coordination with regard to corporate planning and finance concerns, as well as the development of wealth management strategies that both incorporate and extend beyond traditional trusts and estates law.  It will also allow the practice groups to maximize the provision of service to clients in a more efficient and effective manner, integrating planning for closely held businesses and estate planning and allowing for planning across generations.

“This is a logical reorganization that better aligns the practice groups,” said Chairman Ralph Wellington.  “This new structure will allow for better oversight and will give our clients the advantage of having all the necessary perspectives and areas of expertise available to them.” 

Bruce A. Rosenfield – who previously served as the chair of the Firm’s Trusts and Estates department – will serve as chair of the new department.  Mark T. Carlidge will head the Trusts and Estates Practice Group, Carolyn S. Nachmias will head the Tax and Business Planning Practice Group, and Roy S. Ross will serve as the administrative chair.

“I am looking forward to leading this new Department and to working with each of the new Practice Group chairs,” said Bruce Rosenfield.  “This initiative will provide the organization needed to take advantage of how our practice has been evolving, as well as related changes in the area of wealth management and our clients needs and desires.” 

Schnader’s Tax and Business Planning Practice Group handles a wide variety of matters, including structuring mergers, acquisitions and joint venture transactions; forming partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations to operate closely held businesses and manage investment assets, such as securities and real estate; as well as providing tax advice with respect to complex, tax-driven transactions, such as tax-credit and other syndications, and tax-exempt financings.  The group regularly represents clients with regard to federal, state and local tax controversies.  In addition, the Practice Group has substantial experience in international tax planning, for businesses and individuals, and employee benefits, including counseling clients on executive compensation, pension, profit-sharing and retirement plans.

The Trusts and Estates Practice Group provides sophisticated legal services to individuals and families of high net worth, including family business owners and corporate executives. The members of the group work with successive generations of families to develop and implement coordinated gift and estate tax plans that achieve both family and individual goals. The attorneys draft wills and lifetime and testamentary trusts that are tax efficient yet remain sensitive to each client’s personal situation. Attorneys in the group have extensive experience working with family-owned corporations and partnerships and the myriad of tax and succession planning issues that arise in the context of those entities. The attorneys also counsel clients with respect to retirement benefits, charitable giving, saving for education, and planning for disability and health care decision-making. Clients include U.S. citizens and residents, and non-resident aliens with U.S. property interests. Schnader’s Trusts and Estates lawyers also represent individual and corporate fiduciaries and beneficiaries in all phases of estate and trust administration. The group includes a full team of highly experienced accountants and fiduciary administrators who assist with the wide range of issues that arise in the administration process.

Additionally, the Tax and Business Planning and the Trusts and Estates Planning Groups work in tandem to provide a wide variety of legal services to non-profit organizations, including the formation of and application for tax-exempt status for public charities and private foundations, and maintenance of federal and state tax exemptions, preparation and filing of annual federal and state returns and reports, compliance with state law disclosure requirements and counseling on the structuring and maintenance of planned giving programs. The Groups also provide guidance in connection with reorganizations and complex transactions of non-profits, as well as their governance and grant-making.