From the passage of the long-expected SECURE Act to the establishment of paid leave for federal workers, we have recently seen some significant developments in estate planning and business law. To ensure that you stay abreast of these legal changes, we’ve highlighted four noteworthy developments and analyzed how they may impact your estate planning and business law practice.

Written by: Sterling Miller, JD

It’s difficult to be part of any business and not hear about “risk.” It’s everywhere. If risk were a woman, it would be the Hollywood “It Girl” of 2019. Put another way, risk is the new black. It’s on the lips of every CEO, CFO, and board member, as it should be. And, anything that is important to the board and the C-Suite, is important to the Legal Department. In fact, over the past five or so years, one of the key responsibilities businesses are placing on in-house lawyers is spotting and managing risk. The business wants its in-house lawyers to be the ones who sniff through virtually every situation looking for risk (legal or otherwise). What this means is that, more and more, in-house counsel need to be masters of the company’s business operations and strategy (both short and long term), because you cannot successfully spot and manage risk unless you understand how the company operates and where it wants to go.

Congratulations! You’ve created a comprehensive estate plan for your client. Now that all documents are signed and handed over to the client, does that mark the end of an estate planner’s job? According to the book Estate Planning for the Post-Transition Period, the majority of estate plans that fail do so because of non-legal/non-technical aspects. These errors have nothing to do with your perfectly drafted estate plan. Rather, they are issues related to lack of communication and inaction on the part of your clients’ family. Today, the most common reasons for failure are: