Originally from England, where he practiced as a solicitor for several years before moving to California in 1980, Michael is a U.S. tax lawyer with a practice concentrated on international matters for high net worth individuals and families as well as businesses engaged in cross-border business and investment. He frequently advises clients who are moving to the United States, purchasing residential and commercial real estate or starting or acquiring businesses. He also advises U.S. businesses expanding internationally.
Jane is an estate planner, with extensive experience in advising both U.S. and international clients, who also advises charities and philanthropists. She has long been recognized as one of the leading estates and trusts lawyers in Southern California and she is known internationally for her work in cross-border philanthropy. Both founders have written and spoken extensively on many topics within their respective fields.
Our team is rounded off by five very experienced lawyers, Maria-Soledad Otero, partner, a law graduate of the Université de Lausanne and member of the California Bar, and a former senior manager at a large U.S. accounting firm; Cynthia Brittain, partner, a graduate of California Western School of Law with an LLM in Taxation from the University of San Diego; Jennifer Campbell, partner, a graduate of University of California College of the Law, San Francisco; Celine Wyman, Counsel, a graduate of University of California Los Angeles School of Law; and Kara Koerner, Counsel, a graduate of Santa Clara University School of Law.
All of the senior lawyers in the firm have spent many years working at large firms and the goal is to provide large firm quality of service in a small firm where the clients can be given individual attention by experienced senior lawyers. We also have talented associates in Joohee Jung and Jiahua Wang.
Several of the lawyers are fluent in a variety of foreign languages. These include French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Cantonese, Japanese, and Italian. Staff members speak Hebrew, Farsi and Spanish.
We were founded on the principle that we can best serve our clients by performance of services within the areas of experience and knowledge of the members of the Firm and by retaining on our clients’ behalf the services of others, in both law firms and other disciplines, best fitted to their needs. We work closely with clients’ existing professional advisors. We have also developed an extensive network of law firms, as well as accounting firms, banks, trust companies, wealth managers, appraisers, and other professional firms in California and all over the world. As a result, we can marshal a wide variety of resources for our clients.
