Farhad Aghdami

Practice Areas

Private Client & Fiduciary Services

Tax Law

Corporate

Fiduciary Litigation

Business Succession Planning

Tax Controversy

Wealth Transfer Planning

Tax-Exempt Practice

Entity Formation and Strategic Planning

Career

Farhad Aghdami is Williams Mullen's Richmond Managing Partner. He focuses his practice on wealth transfer tax planning, business succession planning, income tax planning for individuals and businesses and fiduciary litigation. He counsels a wide variety of clients, including high net worth individuals and families, middle-market business owners, institutional fiduciaries, family offices and charitable entities. Farhad has been listed (Band 1) in the Chambers USA High Net Worth Guide for Private Wealth Law (2017-present).

Farhad serves on the board of directors of the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia, a mutual property and casualty insurance company, and on the board of a privately held, third-generation construction materials business based in Raleigh, N.C.

Farhad is the Southeast region chair of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and is a member of its Board of Regents. He is chair of the ACTEC Fiduciary Income Tax Committee, the State Chairs Steering Committee, and a member of the Business Planning Committee. He is the immediate past Virginia State chair of ACTEC.

He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® and was named the Richmond "Tax Lawyer of the Year" in the 2015, 2018 and 2024 editions and the Richmond "Trusts and Estates Lawyer of the Year" in the 2016 and 2019 editions. In addition, Farhad has been named one of the top 50 lawyers in Richmond and one of the top 100 lawyers in Virginia by Virginia Super Lawyers (2012-2015, 2017-present) and was elected to the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils Estate Planning Hall of Fame® Class of 2024. Farhad previously served as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and Washington & Lee's School of Law.

Farhad serves on the board of trustees of the Southern Federal Tax Institute. In addition, Farhad has held leadership positions in a number of professional organizations, including the Virginia Bar Association's Wills, Trusts, and Estates Section (chair, 2011-2013), where he led efforts to enact the Virginia decanting statute, the Virginia self-settled spendthrift trust statute, the Virginia grantor trust tax reimbursement statute and the Virginia directed trust statute. In addition, he served as the chair of the Fiduciary Income Tax Committee of the ABA Tax Section (2003-2005). Farhad chaired the ABA Tax Section's Task Forces that submitted comments on the regulations promulgated in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Estate of Hubert and in response to IRS Notice 2011-101 on trust decanting.

In addition, Farhad has also served leadership roles in a number of other professional organizations, including the Estate Planning Council of Richmond (President, 2011-2012), Insurance Planning Committee of the ABA Real Property, Probate & Trust Section (chair, 2003-2004), Trust Administrators Council of Richmond (president, 2004-2005), University of Richmond Estate Planning Advisory Council (chair, 2004-2009) and Richmond Private Business Study Group (chair, 2001-2002).

Farhad is a co-author of three tax treatises published by Thomson Reuters: Structuring Buy-Sell Agreements, Tax Planning for Family Wealth Transfers During Life and Tax Planning for Family Wealth Transfers at Death. He has authored numerous articles that have appeared in tax journals, including The Tax Lawyer and The Journal of Taxation, and he has been quoted in The New York Times and Virginia Business. Farhad is the planning chair of the Conner-Zaritsky Advanced Estate Planning Institute. In addition, he regularly speaks at advanced planning conferences, including those sponsored by the University of Miami-Heckerling Institute, ACTEC, the Southern Federal Tax Institute, the ABA Tax Section, the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Section and the American Law Institute.

Farhad is a member of the board of directors of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation and Venture Richmond, where he serves as its chair. He is a member of The Forum Club and the 2006 Class of Leadership Metro Richmond. Farhad previously served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond, and he previously served on the Boards of the Valentine Museum, St. Christopher's School, the Medical College of Virginia Foundation, and the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Richmond.

Farhad is a 1989 graduate of the University of Virginia and a 1992 graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law. He received his LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995.

Professional Memberships

American College of Trust and Estate - State Chairs Steering Committee, Chair, Fiduciary Income Tax Committee, Chair, Southeast Region Chair, Board of Regents, Member

Virginia Bar Association's Wills, Trusts and Estates Section - Former Chair

Estate Planning Council of Richmond - Past President

ABA's Tax Section, Fiduciary Income Tax Committee - Past Chair

ABA Real Property, Probate & Trust Section, Insurance Committee - Past Chair

University of Richmond Estate Planning Advisory Council - Past Chair

Trust Administrators Council of Richmond - Past President

Private Business Study Group - Past Chair

Task Force on Transfer Tax Reform - Member

Private Business Study Group - Past Chair

Publications

Structuring Buy-Sell Agreements (Warren, Gorham & Lamont) - Co-Author