Private Wealth Law:* With offices located across Florida, the private wealth team at Gunster is able to provide a comprehensive range of services to HNW clients. The firm has “really great roots in Florida and really understands the local community,” a source says, adding: “They do the whole gamut of private client work, which is really useful for clients, and everyone loves working with them.” Another Florida insider adds: “They provide excellent service and are very good at finding creative solutions to legal problems.”
The firm is recognized for its collegiate approach when dealing with private wealth matters and clients benefit from having access to a substantial trust litigation practice.
Lisa Schneider is “a strategic thinker and incredibly knowledgeable about the law,” enthuses one source, who adds: “She can explain complex matters fully and in clear language.” Schneider advises a range of high net worth clients on wealth preservation issues, and has a particular focus on business successions and planning for family structures. Clients say that she is “very thorough, really responsive and has a high level of technical knowledge.”
Elaine Bucher focuses her practice on estate planning and administration, and is noted for her expertise in representing clients with complex and sensitive family situations. One source reports that “she really connects with clients on a personal level. She wants to get to know the whole family and their objectives to ensure all aspects are coordinated. Clients just love her so much and she is hugely responsive. Clients look to her as a trusted adviser.” Another peer adds that “she always speaks in a language that the client can understand.” Bucher also has experience in fiduciary litigation.
William Hennessey leads the firm’s probate, trust and guardianship litigation practice and regularly acts on complex and high-value disputes for high net worth clients. “He has developed a reputation as an expert,”notes one Florida insider, who adds that “he also has a great personality, which can facilitate the settlement of cases.” He also advises on tax and business succession planning and is further praised as “an outstanding probate litigator.”
Real Estate and Zoning & Land Use: “One impressed client notes that the Gunster real estate group offers ‘an excellent cross-section of specialties that allow for a wide variety of cases to be accommodated.’ The source continues: ‘There are local specialists, statewide influencers and broad support staff to take on any issue or project.’”
Gunster has a broad real estate practice with experience covering a full range of matters including financing, leasing, acquisitions and development; also noted for its representation of clients in land use proceedings and real estate litigation; clients include owners, developers, investors and public bodies.
Tax: “According to impressed interviewees, ‘the partners in charge are very detail-oriented, very competent and very skilled.’ One client labels Gunster ‘our go-to firm, particularly in tax.’”
Gunster fields a broad bench of experienced tax practitioners, well-versed in a wide range of tax and private wealth issues, with specific strengths in controversy, transactional and tax-planning work; the firm attracts a broad client base that includes startups, investment funds, family businesses and entrepreneurs.
* UPDATE 9/15/17: This Private Wealth Law description is from Chambers USA’s 2017 High Net Worth guide, which wasn’t released until Sept. 15, 2017. It replaces the 2016 Private Wealth Law description, which previously was included as a placeholder in this release when initially published.
Chambers & Partners has been ranking law firms and lawyers since 1990. Its editors and researchers speak to lawyers and clients, conducting in-depth telephone interviews, which provide wide-ranging and testable information on which the organization’s rankings and commentary rely.
About Gunster
Gunster, Florida’s law firm for business, provides full-service legal counsel to leading organizations and individuals from its 13 offices statewide. Established in 1925, the firm has expanded, diversified and evolved, but always with a singular focus: Florida and its clients’ stake in it. A magnet for business-savvy attorneys who embrace collaboration for the greatest advantage of clients, Gunster’s growth has not been at the expense of personalized service but because of it. The firm serves clients from its offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, Stuart, Tallahassee, Tampa, The Florida Keys, Vero Beach, Winter Park, and its headquarters in West Palm Beach. With more than 180 attorneys and 200 committed support staff, Gunster is ranked among the National Law Journal’s list of the 500 largest law firms and has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Diverse Law Firms by Law360. More information about its practice areas, offices and insider’s view newsletters is available at www.gunster.com.
