Any trusts and estates attorneys here? Forum

[yorkville]

That is incredibly helpful, thank you!

Are the hours "better" than those in other practice areas? Are you satisfied with your area of practice? Do you have a good idea about your exit options?

[valign]

That is incredibly helpful, thank you!

Are the hours "better" than those in other practice areas? Are you satisfied with your area of practice? Do you have a good idea about your exit options?

The hours are better in some ways. I don't have the on/off intensity of litigation, and we don't really have M&A-type deal deadlines. The deadlines in T&E are generally fixed -- tax due dates, probate deadlines, 12/31 deadlines -- so I can plan my schedule in advance. At the same time, its still biglaw. My billable expectations are the same as any other associate, and clients paying fees this high expect things to be done quickly.

Yes, this is exactly the type of work I wanted/prepared to do in law school, so I'm satisfied. I don't love the hours, but most solo/small/mid size firms don't get to do the type of complex tax planning that biglaw T&E practices get to do. (A few solos and boutiques do though.)

If I don't stay, there are lots of exits -- go solo, smaller firm, mid-size or Big 4 accounting, bank or trust company, a family office, IRS or state tax agency.

[JohnDoe37]

I’m an associate at a t&e boutique that focuses on HNW planning. My typical day is basically the same as valign described above, but I also negotiate and draft prenups.

My hours are much better than the average big law associate, both because I have a lower billable hour requirement and because the work flow is much more predictable. It’s mostly a 9-6 job and the partners are pretty diligent about respecting our time outside of working hours. My salary is below market, but it’s comparable on an hourly basis given how much less I work.

I really enjoy the practice area. It’s extremely technical and intellectually challenging, so I’m rarely bored. It’s a practice that lends itself to really meaningful client contact, and since you work with a lot of individuals and families, the work feels much more personal and the clients tend to be more appreciative of your efforts. The biggest downsides are that clients are less able to tolerate mistakes and they tend to be more fee sensitive than corporate clients. That’s especially a problem for clients who don’t understand that whatever “simple” thing they think they’re asking for is actually going to take hours of research and/or drafting to implement. So it can be a battle between keeping the fees to a reasonable level, giving the client the plan they want, and taking the time necessary to ensure you haven’t missed anything that would cause an adverse tax result. It’s also a practice area with a steep learning curve, so it can be demoralizing the first couple of years and associates hit their peak productivity a bit later than in other areas.

My exit options are largely the same as described above, plus biglaw firms. However, I can’t imagine ever being a solo practitioner. Sophisticated tax planning is not something I would ever want to attempt on my own. It’s just too easy to miss something when you don’t have a second set of eyes looking at it. And I would be bored out of my mind doing estate planning for normal people who don’t need the tax work.

[Uniop1]

In case you needed more insight, I also am a former T&E attorney in big law, but I left for another practice area early on.

Pros:
- hours were not bad and they were consistent. My friends in litigation were envious. Also the big law salary for the amount of Horus I had (130 month pre Covid)
- the personal component can be really nice when the clients are nice
-drafting was fun once you got the hang of it.
- flexible deadlines were amazing

Cons:
- as a junior, I got all the grunt work and every partner had a different drafting style. learning their different drafting styles was tough since they easily contradicted each other.
- you’d be surprised by the amount of older clients who refuse to use email. Calling them was extremely frustrating because they’d keep you on the phone for longer than necessary, or you were stuck in a loop of phone tag - both of which were a waste of time
- very little personal satisfaction in T&E big law because Many clients Were rich despite not having worked high paying jobs...ever and got money from their parents trusts.
- there’s a surprising amount of pro bono T&E work in big law, and it all got pushed onto me since I was the most junior and I got absolutely no credit for it.
I made the switch a while ago and work in another tax related area now. I have no regrets about it. I still do some T&E drafting for large corporations, nonprofits and govt entities though, and i love that component.

(Sorry for the typos btw)