Overview
(February 19, 2015, Washington, DC) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP is pleased to announce that trusts and estates lawyer Beth D. Tractenberg has joined the firm as a partner and Jasmine Campirides Hanif has joined as of counsel. Both will be based in the firm’s New York office. Their arrival continues the expansion of Steptoe’s Tax Group, which recently welcomed the return of co-chair Lisa Zarlenga from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy.
Ms. Tractenberg’s private client practice concentrates on high net worth individuals, their families, and their businesses and investments, with a focus on international and domestic estate planning, contested matters, estate administration, and nonprofit organizations. She counsels family offices and family enterprises on all aspects of estate advice and planning, including cross-border tax issues, and succession planning for closely held businesses. Ms. Tractenberg’s clients include wealthy individuals and families with significant real estate, businesses, and other holdings in the United States and abroad. She also assists international clients with cross-border gifting, estate planning, pre-immigration planning and other tax issues, and serves as counsel to numerous charitable entities, advising on issues including compliance and fundraising.
Ms. Hanif’s practice encompasses all areas of trusts and estates law, including personal and tax-driven estate planning, probate, and complex estate and trust administration. Her practice has included the management of large family relationships, successfully balancing multi-generational family dynamics with tax and succession planning. Her clients have included high net-worth individuals, families, and corporate and individual fiduciaries. In addition, her practice includes a focus on charitable, nonprofit and private foundation representation with specific experience in the formation, administration, compliance, and dissolution of private foundations.
In welcoming both, Steptoe Chair Phil West commented: “Beth is a go-to lawyer for many wealthy individuals seeking trusts and estates advice as well as assistance in resolving business disputes and succession planning across generations of family members. The addition of her and Jasmine to our team of tax lawyers will allow us to provide sophisticated estate planning and related advice to a range of clients, and further expand the capabilities offered by our tax practice.”
Steptoe’s Tax Group brings clients decades of consulting, transactional, and advocacy experience in all substantive areas of federal and state taxation. The team includes former senior government officials from congressional offices, the IRS, Treasury, and the Justice Department, who have vast experience in sophisticated tax planning, audit, and controversy work. The highly regarded group has earned rankings and recommendations from the prestigious legal directories Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and The Legal 500, among other publications. In late 2013, Steptoe expanded the practice to serve ultra-high net worth individuals on complex international tax issues. The group added tax partner Bob Rizzi, a noted corporate tax lawyer. Mr. Rizzi serves as co-chair of Steptoe’s Tax Group with Ms. Zarlenga. Also in late 2013, Steptoe welcomed tax partner Rob Kovacev, who had served as a senior litigation counsel in the US Department of Justice, Tax Division.
Ms. Tractenberg commented: “Steptoe’s tax practice has a wonderful reputation and is known for its expertise in domestic and international tax as well as tax controversy. I am delighted to have the opportunity to expand further the practice’s representation of high net worth individuals by offering clients a ‘suite of services’ to address their personal and business legal needs, now including trusts and estates matters.”
Ms. Tractenberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University and earned her law degree from New York University, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She has been recognized in New York Super Lawyers every year since 2006. She serves on the International Estate and Planning and Asset Protection committees of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and is a frequent lecturer and writer on numerous estate planning topics.
Ms. Hanif also earned her law degree from New York University. She received a B.A., summa cum laude, from Queens College. She serves on the Non-Profit Organizations Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and has served as past vice-chair of the Charitable Planning Committee of the New York State Bar Association Trusts & Estates Section.
About Steptoe
Steptoe & Johnson LLP is an international law firm widely recognized for vigorous advocacy in complex litigation and arbitration, successful representation of clients before governmental agencies, and creative and practical advice in guiding business transactions. The firm has more than 500 lawyers and other professionals in offices in Beijing, Brussels, Century City, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, Phoenix and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
