Practice Areas & Industries: Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Our wealth management practice offers the following integrated services for wealthy individuals and their families: Sophisticated trust, estate and tax planning, Estate administration, and investment management through registered investment advisor subsidiary Choate Investment Advisors.

One-Stop Shopping

Sophisticated investment management through registered investment advisory subsidiary, Choate Investment Advisors, integrated with financial, tax and estate planning and administration.

Preeminent Trusts & Estates Group

Full range of expert trusts and estates services for high net worth individuals and families.

Experience & Stability

For over 100 years, serving as trustees and managing assets for clients.

Sophisticated Wealth Management

Nearly $3 billion under investment management:

• Over 700% growth from $400 million under management since 1990
• Best of both worlds: institutional quality investment philosophy and personal service strategies tailored to needs of each individual and family
• Dedicated internal research group of industry and investment analysts, most CFA certified

Wealth Management Services with a Difference

Wealth management services distinctly different from those of many banks, investment houses and insurance companies:

• Relationship manager and investment manager are one and same
• Direct access to senior investment manager without going through intermediaries
• Continuity and longevity of service team
• Independence/absence of conflicts: group does not market proprietary products
• Long-term investment strategy: group does not work on commission basis
• Intense focus on investment basics: high-quality, well managed companies selling at reasonable valuations generally held for long-term
• Personalized investment model
• Investment behavior focused on long-term growth: not driven by quarterly results
• Investment expertise integrated with financial, tax and estate planning: all offered in one place

Breadth & Expertise

Team of over 50 persons including lawyers, investment professionals, tax preparers, trusts and estates administrators and other support staff.

Taking Care of Families

Focusing on each family's needs:

• Assure privacy as to amount, nature, and disposition of assets
• Fund children's and grandchildren's education
• Arrange estate plans to pass property at lowest possible tax and probate cost
• Manage financial affairs with minimal probate court involvement
• Carry out charitable wishes in financially advantageous ways
• Coordinate investments with company pension plan, IRA, Keogh, and Social Security
• Manage financial affairs including dependent parent care when incapacitated

Full Range of Personal Financial Services

Extensive and integrated services for personal tax and financial needs in wealth management, including:

• Individual income planning and tax return preparation
• Bill payment
• Arranging short-term bank loans
• Forecasting income
• Developing budgets

Sophisticated Estate Planning Techniques

Experts in implementing sophisticated tax planning techniques to save tax dollars and achieve personal goals, including:

• Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) to transfer residence to future generations at significantly reduced gift tax cost
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT) to transfer future appreciation in value of assets to family members or trusts with little or no gift tax
• Defective Grantor Trust an "estate freeze" to transfer future appreciation in value of assets to family members with little or no gift tax
• 529 Plans to save taxes while saving for college expenses of designated beneficiary
• Family Limited Partnerships to pass wealth to next generation at reduced tax cost
• 2503(c) Trust (Minority Trust) for benefit of individuals under 21
• UTMA or UGMA Accounts Uniform Transfers to Minors Act and Uniform Gifts to Minors Act accounts for benefit of individuals under 21

Family-Owned Businesses

Highly experienced integrated team, including business and tax lawyers, working closely with significant family-owned businesses and expert in their unique tax and estate planning needs.

Complete Charitable Planning

Complete charitable planning to fulfill personal philanthropic goals while saving taxes, including:

• Private foundations
• Donor-advised funds
• Conservation easements
• Charitable remainder trusts
• Charitable lead trusts

Choate Investment Advisors

Originally established to provide investment counsel to Choate attorneys who serve as trustees, Choate Investment Advisors now also provides investment advice to individuals, helping clients meet financial goals with their personal portfolios, retirement accounts, and charitable foundations. With nearly $3 billion of assets under advisement, Choate Investment Advisors offers the latest investment technology while providing highly personalized client service.

The goal of Choate Investment Advisors is to add value through the selection and the purchase of common stocks with a long-term investment horizon. We are not market timers or stock traders who attempt to produce the highest possible short-term pretax return through very high turnover. Instead, we generally focus on companies that we believe are of high and improving investment quality, characterized by growing revenues, earnings, and dividends. We seek out companies with leading positions in their fields, with above-average demand and revenue growth estimates, and returns on invested capital as well as high margins and operating profits.

Our long-term investment approach, combined with low portfolio turnover, has the added benefit of earning a return on funds that minimizes potential capital gains taxes.

Our portfolio managers collaborate to choose investment directions, select specific securities, and evaluate account results. As a result, clients' portfolios benefit from the judgment and vision of multiple professionals.