Written by Jill Roamer, JD, CIPP/US

Attorneys receive training in many areas—legal writing, oral argument, marketing, and business operations—but they are rarely trained on how to talk to clients about death, disability, and decline. Knowing how to communicate effectively with your clients about these topics will help them feel more comfortable, increase their trust in you, and likely lead to higher client retention. 

Written by  Kim Kamin, JD, AEP® (Distinguished) and Cynthia D.M. Brown, JD, STEP

Estate planning today involves more than just drafting technically sound dispositive documents. Clients increasingly want their estate plans to reflect their values, guide future generations, and anticipate evolving family structures. At the same time, trustees, particularly corporate fiduciaries, are administering long-term discretionary trusts under heightened scrutiny in complex regulatory environments.

Author: Stan Miller, JD

Based on my experience counseling estate planning clients, I believe they want us to engage with them on a level that transcends the trust and financial solutions we typically offer as attorneys and advisors. Our clients want us to engage with them on a legacy level. The conclusion expressed in the title of Daniel Scott’s article “Estate Planning is Dead” seems to be an overstatement. But Scott effectively showed that the work we do merely as planners does not address the deeper needs of our clients. According to Scott,