Brian counsels ultra-affluent individuals and their families on a wide range of personal planning matters. Working with entrepreneurs, corporate executives and private equity principals, he designs sophisticated estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax plans for clients, often involving the use of carried interest arrangements and leveraging other tax strategies to maximize potential wealth transfer benefits. He advises individual and corporate fiduciaries on the administration of substantial trusts and estates and represents clients in connection with IRS audits of estate and gift tax returns.
Brian advises on the formation and ongoing operation of family offices and collaborates with subject-area specialists at Sheppard to address complex issues faced by family offices and their principals - bringing in investment management, tax and executive compensation colleagues to provide cutting-edge advice in connection with co-invest and carry vehicles, tax structuring and labor and employment issues. Often acting as "outside general counsel" to his clients, his practice also encompasses business succession planning and advice in connection with restructurings and direct/indirect investments.
Dedicated to helping clients fulfill their philanthropic goals, Brian assists his clients in establishing and operating private foundations and other tax-exempt organizations. He frequently guides their boards of directors through evolving legal, tax, and regulatory requirements.
Brian also advises financial institutions on the fiduciary obligations and implications tied to mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, and business unit sales in connection with their trust and estates departments.
Professionally active in the legal community, he is a member of the New York City Bar Surrogate’s Court Committee and previously served two terms on the New York City Bar Estate and Gift Taxation Committee.