Margaret Lodise

Estate litigation

Trust litigation

Conservatorship litigation

Estate, probate and trust mediation

Estate, probate and trust appeals

Past firms:

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Ross, Sacks & Glazier

- American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), President (2026-2027); Chair of the Search Committee for new Executive Director; Member of the Board of Regents, Fiduciary Litigation Committee, Professional Responsibility Committee and Long-Range Planning Committee; past Chair of the Fiduciary Litigation Committee and the Amicus Briefs Committee; past member of Financial Management Committee and Program Committee

- Los Angeles County Bar Association, Trust and Estate Section, Member, Past Chair

- State Bar of California, Trusts and Estates Executive Committee Member, Past Chair

- Women Lawyers' Association of Los Angeles, Member, Past President

- The Impact of NCBE Dropping Wills & Trusts from the Next Gen Bar Exam, Published: Daily Journal, November 2024

- Ethical Considerations in the Representation of Fiduciaries and Beneficiaries, Published: Daily Journal, February 2023

- Crisis in Conservatorships, Published: California Trusts & Estates Quarterly – Volume 13, Issue 1, Spring 2007, Co-authored by Margaret G. Lodise, Edward J. Corey, Jr., Peter S. Stern

Margaret G. Lodise has more than 35 years’ experience representing beneficiaries and trustees, conservators, individuals and institutional clients in connection with a range of matters pertaining to estate, trust and conservatorship litigation. In addition, she handles estate, trust and conservatorship administration.

Ms. Lodise also handles appellate work concerning trusts, estates and conservatorships, and has been appointed by the court as a guardian ad litem in connection with significant matters. Her recent representative matters include successfully defending a trustee from claims of surcharge and improper investments; representing a professional trustee in connection with a dispute over the distribution of a trust; and representing a beneficiary of a disputed family trust, in which the beneficiary prevailed at trial and on the appellate level in having significant assets resulting from the sale of the family business transferred to her.

Serving in prominent roles within the legal community, Ms. Lodise is the current President of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), and served as Chair of the Amicus Review Committee and the Fiduciary Litigation Committee. She is a current member and former President of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, and is a member and past Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Trusts and Estates Section and California Lawyers Association Trusts and Estates Executive Committee (TEXCOM).

Ms. Lodise serves as an expert witness and is frequently called upon to speak on estate and trust-related issues before bar and community organizations, including ACTEC, the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Bar Associations, the Professional Fiduciary Association of California, the Practicing Law Institute and California CEB. She served as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School for more than a decade.

University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law

JD

Loyola Law School

LLM

Pomona College

Bachelors