Overview As Trust Counsel in our New York market, you will serve as the legal expert on estate planning, advanced tax planning, and trust administration. You collaborate with relationship teams and external advisors to refine wealth transfer plans and ensure compliance with evolving tax laws. You lead and support cross-border planning and client-focused initiatives, while representing the firm in professional communities. This role combines governance, advisory, and thought leadership to advance holistic wealth management.
Compensation / Benefits- base salary $250,000-$275,000 plus bonus
- annual discretionary bonus
- 401(k) with generous match
- comprehensive benefits package including healthcare options, insurance, and disability
- employee stock investment program
- paid time off and parental/caregiving leave
Responsibilities- Provide holistic review of estate and wealth transfer plans with cross-functional teams
- Coordinate information gathering from clients, internal teams, and external advisors to implement changes to plans
- Stay current on federal, state, and local estate, gift, and income tax laws and assess impact on client plans
- Collaborate with market and national teams to present the full breadth of firm offerings to clients
- Participate in new business meetings to articulate the integrated wealth management value proposition
- Represent the firm in the community through thought leadership and industry involvement
- Serve as leader/SME for new projects and initiatives related to business development and client retention
- Provide guidance to trust team on all aspects of estate and trust administration
- Review intake of new trust business and related documents per acceptance procedures
- Advise on trust terminations, accountings, decantings, and nonjudicial settlements
- Engage outside counsel as needed
- Review discretionary exercises including principal and income distributions
Key requirements- JD or LLM
- Bar admission in relevant states
- 10+ years of trust administration and wealth planning experience in a legal or professional setting
- Law firm experience preferred
- Cross-border planning experience preferred
- Knowledge of state-specific Trust laws (NY, NJ, and others) preferred
- Network of professional advisor relationships to leverage
- Fluency across financial planning disciplines (cash-flow, insurance, tax, investment planning) preferred
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Excellent organizational skills with strong attention to detail
- MS Office skills (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- strong communication (verbal and written)
- attention to detail
- collaboration and teamwork
- estate planning and trust administration knowledge
- advanced tax planning knowledge
- cross-border planning capabilities
