Sharon Klein

Sharon L. Klein is Executive Vice President and President of Family Wealth in the Eastern U.S. Region for Wilmington Trust, N.A. She is responsible for overseeing the delivery of all Wealth Management services by teams of professionals, including planning, trust, investment management, family governance and education, family office, and private banking services. Sharon has over 25 years of experience in the wealth advisory arena. Her clients include many of Wilmington Trust’s most esteemed relationships, including storied American and international families.

Additionally, as Head of Wilmington Trust’s National Divorce Advisory Practice, she has particular expertise in advising clients maneuvering through divorce or recently divorced and is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst.

Sharon’s clients often describe her ability to balance empathy with expertise as one of her distinguishing characteristics; they report that her technical expertise and ability to parse through complexity is foundational to her holistic advice, yet she understands that her clients want to know she cares before they care how much she knows. It’s that intangible connection factor that defines Sharon’s practice along with her signature cutting-edge knowledge and guidance.

Prior to joining Wilmington Trust 13 years ago, Sharon was Managing Director at Lazard, the internationally renowned global investment banking and management company. She was a founding member of the Wealth Advisory platform, responsible for building and supervising the Wealth Advisory team. In her role as Head of Wealth Advisory of Lazard Wealth Management she led the delivery of all wealth advisory services. Before that, she headed the Estate Department at Fiduciary Trust Company International where she provided counsel regarding sophisticated domestic and international estate planning. She was responsible for overseeing all aspects of estate and trust administration, including tax planning, reporting and valuation issues, review of tax returns, accountings and distributions. Sharon began her career as a trusts & estates attorney at Rosenman & Colin (now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP) where she spent the first eleven years of her career in private practice. Sharon advised wealthy individuals and families on the preservation, transfer, and management of wealth. Her practice included sophisticated estate and charitable planning and trust & estate administration.

Sharon is a member and has held leadership positions in many prestigious professional organizations:

1. Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a highly selective professional organization of preeminent estate planning attorneys in the U.S. and internationally, selected based on outstanding reputation and exceptional skill

2. Asset Protection Committee of ACTEC, Chair

3. The Rockefeller University Committee on Trust and Estate Gift Plans

4. New York Bankers Association Trust & Investment Division Executive Committee

5. The Bureau of National Affairs Estates, Gifts and Trusts Advisory Board

6. Thomson Reuters Trusts & Estates Advisory Board

7. Trusts & Estates magazine, Board member and Chair, Domestic Relations Committee

8. Family Lawyer Magazine, Advisory Board member

9. New York City Bar Association’s Estates and Gift Tax Committee, Chair

10. New York City Bar Association’s Trusts, Estates and Surrogate’s Court Committee, Past Chair

11. New York State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Law Section Taxation Committee, Past Chair

12. American Brain Foundation, past Board member and member of Finance Committee

Sharon is a nationally recognized speaker and author and has presented for the most widely respected professional trusts & estates and matrimonial law organizations in the country, including:

• American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)

• American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), the preeminent organization of matrimonial attorneys in the U.S. who undergo a rigorous vetting process and are recognized by the bench and bar as the leaders in the field

• Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, a leading national conference that attracts over 4,000 attendees annually

• New York University’s Institute on Taxation

• Duke University’s Estate Planning Conference

• University of Notre Dame’s Tax & Estate Planning Institute

• American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys

• American Bar Association, Family Law and Trusts & Estates Sections

• Bloomberg BNA’s Tax Management Board

Sharon has been quoted or featured in the most prestigious publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She has also written on a myriad of legal topics, ranging from estate, divorce and tax planning, to cutting edge legal developments, to trustee responsibilities and more, for the leading publications in the industry, including:

• Co-authored esteemed BNA Tax Management Portfolio on Divorce

• ACTEC Law Journal

• New York Law Journal

• Estate Planning magazine

• Trusts & Estates magazine

• Thomson Reuter’s Practical Law Journal

• Family Lawyer Magazine

• American Bar Association

Sharon, who holds U.S., British and Australian citizenships, earned a Master of Laws from Berkeley Law School at the University of California, Berkeley and received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales, Australia.