McGuireWoods LLP

Chairman: Jonathan P Harmon

Managing Partner: J Tracy Walker IV

Number of attorneys: 1,100

Offices: Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Charlotte, NC; Charlottesville, VA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; London, UK; Los Angeles – Century City, CA; Los Angeles – Downtown, CA; New York, NY; Norfolk, VA; Pittsburgh, PA; Raleigh, NC; Richmond, VA; San Francisco, CA; Shanghai, CN; Tysons, VA; Washington, DC

Firm Overview:

Repeatedly recognised as a top firm for private wealth law in Chambers High Net Worth guide, McGuireWoods has earned the loyalty of its many longstanding clients with deep and broad legal experience; a passion for understanding their businesses and markets; innovative delivery of practical, business-minded solutions; and unmatched service. McGuireWoods’ continuing success as one of the world’s leading law firms comes down to a simple fact: The firm listens to its clients. Clients consistently place McGuireWoods among a small group of elite firms in surveys such as BTI Consulting’s Client Service A-Team, an annual ranking derived from unprompted feedback by general counsel and top decision-makers at Fortune 1,000 companies. 2024 marked the 18th time McGuireWoods has been singled out for excellence on BTI’s Client Service A-Team.

Main Areas of Practice:

McGuireWoods’ Private Wealth Services Practice Group — consistently ranked among the top U.S. firms for private wealth law — provides 360-degree advisory services that enable individuals and institutions to operate successfully in a highly competitive environment.

McGuireWoods’ Private Wealth Services Practice Group is distinguished by its roster of sought-after thought leaders who frequently serve in leadership roles for pre-eminent organizations, such as the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Section.

We help clients navigate wealth, tax and fiduciary matters for individuals and closely held businesses. Forward-thinking in our approach, we advise on effective estate and succession planning to achieve clients’ short- and long-term goals. Our lawyers focus on the unique needs of high-net-worth clients and the institutions that work with high-net-worth clients. The depth and breadth of our experience and our dedication to shaping the wealth services landscape allow us to serve clients efficiently and effectively.

The team maintains decades-long relationships with clients, including advising some of the world’s wealthiest families in their most complicated, sensitive matters. Our clients include high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, executives, artists and producers, and professional athletes; closely held business owners; banks and trust companies; executors and trustees; and private and public charities.

How We Help

McGuireWoods handles clients’ local and national needs involving estate and tax planning, business structuring, fiduciary duties and litigation. Our legal services are tailored to the unique needs of families and family offices, as well as the financial institutions that serve them. Augmenting the firm’s work with financial institutions, we maintain and enhance their relationships with high-net-worth customers and referral sources, attract new business, and manage and minimize risks.

When disputes arise, the Private Wealth Services Practice Group mobilizes McGuireWoods’ nationwide bench of litigators to prosecute tax and fiduciary controversies. The firm has cemented its reputation for leading tax and fiduciary litigation matters by obtaining numerous groundbreaking rulings for clients in this area.

Estate & Trust Administration:

McGuireWoods advises executors and trustees navigating their administrative responsibilities, including guidance on income taxation of estates and trusts as well as on gift and estate taxation. The firm helps clients interpret wills and resolve will disputes and related litigation.

Estate Planning:

McGuireWoods serves individual clients who seek to transfer assets efficiently and at minimum tax cost to their chosen beneficiaries. As part of the firm’s private client and estate planning services, lawyers also consider the impact of federal income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes on the transmission of wealth.

Family Business & Family Office Services:

McGuireWoods provides straightforward guidance to family businesses and family offices that helps them comply with complex state, federal and international laws governing the taxation, management and transfer of private assets for the benefit of family members and others.

Fiduciary Litigation:

McGuireWoods’ litigators represent clients in will contests, probate and estate litigation, trust disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, federal and state tax disputes (income, estate and gift tax), guardianship litigation, ERISA-based claims, personal and employee benefit trusts, corporate fiduciary duty claims and shareholder disputes.

Nonprofit & Charitable Planning:

The team’s estate planning knowledge and familiarity with the transfer tax laws enable lawyers to coordinate donors’ charitable giving and estate planning to achieve their goals and objectives. The firm advises public charities, major colleges and universities, large private foundations and charitable trusts in tax and governance matters.

Tax Planning:

McGuireWoods works with clients to identify and implement effective wealth preservation strategies — including the orderly and tax-efficient succession of privately held and family-owned businesses — that comply with the requirements of federal and state taxing bodies. The firm also provides tax controversy services.