Four Decades for Justice
Trusts and Estates
Cravath’s Trusts and Estates lawyers have served as legal counsel, advisors and trustees to several generations of families who built many of the world’s most important businesses. We continue today to represent domestic and international private clients and their families, including successful entrepreneurs and founders of companies, senior executives and family offices. We help our clients realize their estate planning and philanthropic goals by advising them on the creation and administration of trusts, estates and charitable foundations. We also frequently represent corporate and individual fiduciaries with respect to estate and trust administration.
Our Trusts and Estates Department consists of three partners and a dedicated team of attorneys, fiduciary accountants and paralegals. Consequently, we have experience, depth and resources that are increasingly uncommon among large law firms.
Our Trusts and Estates professionals work seamlessly with the Firm’s other departments when necessary, and we are able to utilize Cravath’s full resources to address the individual needs of our clients. Among the various services we provide for clients are:
- Preparing wills and trust instruments;
- Advising on estate, gift and income tax consequences of a client’s estate plan;
- Fulfilling a wide range of trustee and executor duties, including serving as a trustee and executor, and providing trust and estate administration services and advice;
- Structuring of privately held businesses to achieve appropriate succession plans; and
- Providing estate planning advice in connection with mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and other transactions.
Our discretion and good judgment have earned us the trust of generations of the most successful private clients.
Our Trusts and Estates Department consists of three partners and a dedicated team of attorneys, fiduciary accountants and paralegals. Consequently, we have experience, depth and resources that are increasingly uncommon among large law firms.
Our Trusts and Estates professionals work seamlessly with the Firm’s other departments when necessary, and we are able to utilize Cravath’s full resources to address the individual needs of our clients. Among the various services we provide for clients are:
- Preparing wills and trust instruments;
- Advising on estate, gift and income tax consequences of a client’s estate plan;
- Fulfilling a wide range of trustee and executor duties, including serving as a trustee and executor, and providing trust and estate administration services and advice;
- Structuring of privately held businesses to achieve appropriate succession plans; and
- Providing estate planning advice in connection with mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and other transactions.
Our discretion and good judgment have earned us the trust of generations of the most successful private clients.
Deals & Cases
October 28, 2022
The Graham Family Estate Secures Dismissal of Appeals Following Tax Dispute Victories
On October 20, 2022, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals dismissed the last of five appeals that were filed following favorable decisions issued in a series of cases Cravath handled on behalf of trusts established by the late Katharine M. Graham, who served as publisher of The Washington Post between 1963 and 1991 and who, prior to her death, worked with Cravath to establish the trusts at issue.
Accolades
October 10, 2022
Cravath Partners Honored with 2022 Americas Rising Stars Awards by Euromoney Legal Media Group
Six Cravath partners were honored as Rising Stars by Euromoney Legal Media Group in its 2022 Americas Awards, which were announced on October 6, 2022. Partners Sharonmoyee Goswami, C. Daniel Haaren, Lauren M. Rosenberg, Michael L. Arnold, Heather A. Benjamin and Matthew J. Bobby were recognized in the “Patent,” “Equity Capital Markets,” “Securities Litigation,” “Corporate Governance,” “Wealth Management” and “Labor & Employment” categories, respectively. The awards honor “the region’s emerging leaders,” who “have been rising to prominence within their chosen specialisms” and represent “the next generation of leaders in their fields.”
Accolades
September 20, 2022
Heather Benjamin Named a 2022 “Next Gen Emerging Millennial Leader” by Corporate Counsel Women of Color
On September 9, 2022, Cravath partner Heather A. Benjamin, a partner in Cravath’s Trusts and Estates Department whose practice focuses on advising high net worth individuals and families on all aspects of estate planning, charitable giving and business succession matters, was named a 2022 “Next Gen Emerging Millennial Leader” by Corporate Counsel Women of Color (“CCWC”). The award recognizes “young attorneys of color who possess outstanding legal talent, innovative skills, and a strong commitment and dedication to serving their communities.” Heather will be honored in October at the CCWC’s 18th Annual Career Strategies Conference.
Podcasts
September 06, 2022
On Tax – Heather Benjamin of Cravath
Heather Benjamin is a partner in the Trusts and Estates Department at Cravath who joined the Firm as a corporate associate and completed banking and capital markets rotations before moving to her current practice. In the Season 4 premiere of On Tax, she talks to fellow Cravath partner and host Len Teti about why she decided to transition to trusts and estates and how she enjoys the combination of technical tax elements and complex interpersonal dynamics in the work she does now.
Deals & Cases
October 28, 2022
The Graham Family Estate Secures Dismissal of Appeals Following Tax Dispute Victories
On October 20, 2022, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals dismissed the last of five appeals that were filed following favorable decisions issued in a series of cases Cravath handled on behalf of trusts established by the late Katharine M. Graham, who served as publisher of The Washington Post between 1963 and 1991 and who, prior to her death, worked with Cravath to establish the trusts at issue.
Accolades
October 10, 2022
Cravath Partners Honored with 2022 Americas Rising Stars Awards by Euromoney Legal Media Group
Six Cravath partners were honored as Rising Stars by Euromoney Legal Media Group in its 2022 Americas Awards, which were announced on October 6, 2022. Partners Sharonmoyee Goswami, C. Daniel Haaren, Lauren M. Rosenberg, Michael L. Arnold, Heather A. Benjamin and Matthew J. Bobby were recognized in the “Patent,” “Equity Capital Markets,” “Securities Litigation,” “Corporate Governance,” “Wealth Management” and “Labor & Employment” categories, respectively. The awards honor “the region’s emerging leaders,” who “have been rising to prominence within their chosen specialisms” and represent “the next generation of leaders in their fields.”
Accolades
September 20, 2022
Heather Benjamin Named a 2022 “Next Gen Emerging Millennial Leader” by Corporate Counsel Women of Color
On September 9, 2022, Cravath partner Heather A. Benjamin, a partner in Cravath’s Trusts and Estates Department whose practice focuses on advising high net worth individuals and families on all aspects of estate planning, charitable giving and business succession matters, was named a 2022 “Next Gen Emerging Millennial Leader” by Corporate Counsel Women of Color (“CCWC”). The award recognizes “young attorneys of color who possess outstanding legal talent, innovative skills, and a strong commitment and dedication to serving their communities.” Heather will be honored in October at the CCWC’s 18th Annual Career Strategies Conference.
Podcasts
September 06, 2022
On Tax – Heather Benjamin of Cravath
Heather Benjamin is a partner in the Trusts and Estates Department at Cravath who joined the Firm as a corporate associate and completed banking and capital markets rotations before moving to her current practice. In the Season 4 premiere of On Tax, she talks to fellow Cravath partner and host Len Teti about why she decided to transition to trusts and estates and how she enjoys the combination of technical tax elements and complex interpersonal dynamics in the work she does now.
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