Holland & Hart LLP

Holland & Hart attorneys address wealth transfer and trusts and estate planning from a client-focused perspective, working as a team to bring a problem-solving attitude to each project.

Client Focus
We strive to be lifelong advisors for our clients and their families. To that end, we begin each engagement by obtaining a thorough understanding of each client's individual financial and family objectives. It is not uncommon for a client to request a simple will and leave with a comprehensive plan to minimize federal and state income taxes for the family business, provide a smooth business transition upon death, and greatly reduce estate taxes. Each estate and wealth transfer plan is customized to meet the goals of the particular client - we have no "cookie-cutter" answers and we do not sell products as solutions.

Teamwork
Each team consists of the client and his or her CPA, investment professionals, family office and other financial and business advisors working along side Holland & Hart attorneys and other professionals. Working closely with other advisors allows us to meet our clients' overall goals in a way that would not be possible with a narrow estate planning focus. It is efficient, effective, and enjoyable.

Our wealth transfer, trusts, and estates team consistes of 20 attorneys and many other professionals covering our 15 offices throughout the Mountain West Region. Our attorneys focus on different aspects of our practice. Most clients have one or two main attorney contacts, but we increase the depth of our advice by frequently consulting with other Holland & Hart attorneys who concentrate on particular aspects of our practice such as private foundations, or who practice in areas such as corporate and partnership income tax, state and local tax, and corporate matters. State tax, for example, is an area in which we frequently surprise clients with tax savings they were not expecting.

In particular, we have a great deal of experience in complex income and estate tax planning. It is common for estate planning attorneys to focus on preparing wills and trusts while largely ignoring tax issues. We relish the opportunity utilize sophisticated lifetime and testamentary techniques such as family limited liability companies and partnerships, irrevocable grantor trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, charitable split interest trusts, and private foundations in order to meet our clients' goals while significantly lowering their tax burdens.

An integral part of the team is our experienced attorneys and paralegals who provide efficient administration of estates and trusts and are well-equipped to prepare estate tax returns, help resolve intra-family conflicts, and advocate against the IRS on valuation and tax issues. Our fiduciary litigation attorneys have experience in representing beneficiaries and individual ahd corporate trustees in contested matters.

Holland & Hart's Statement of Commitment to Diversity
We are proud of our tradition of fostering and maintaining a work environment in which the diversity of each individual is valued and celebrated. We believe that the contributions of each individual are essential to our continued growth and to our ultimate goal of providing excellent quality legal services to our clients, with greater creativity and innovation. We are committed to taking full advantage of the rich backgrounds and abilities of our people and to promoting a greater diversity whenever and wherever possible.

Diversity Pledge
Holland & Hart is committed to promoting diversity by:

• Making every possible effort to recruit, hire, retain, and promote diverse persons at all levels of employment.
• Promoting greater sensitivity to the value of racial, ethnic and other forms of diversity, through diversity and sensitivity coaching or training for law firm members.
• Inviting to partnership diverse attorneys who meet the requisite criteria.

Diversity Initiatives
The following are additional examples of our commitment and efforts toward supporting and achieving diversity:

• We make a conscious effort to ensure that women and diverse attorneys are included as voting members of our committees of importance within the firm.
• We work closely with law school deans and placement directors in an effort to identify women and diverse law students who are interested in working at Holland & Hart.
• Holland & Hart offers medical and other benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees on the same terms as it does to spouses of employees.
• We created an Indian Law Practice Group and actively recruited Native American law students and lateral hires.
• Each year we contribute to such scholarship funds as the Colorado Native American Indian Scholarship Fund, the Sam Cary Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Colorado Asian American Bar Scholarship Fund, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Scholarship Fund, and the Colorado Women's Bar Association Scholarship Fund.
• In partnership with the University of Idaho School of Law, we sponsor a "Law by Day, Jazz by Night" each year for undergraduate minority students who have an interest in law.
• We took a leadership role in organizing and supporting the Colorado Pledge Group's Minority First Year Law Student Summer Clerk Program. Through this program, law firms agreed to add at least one diverse first year law student to their summer clerk program.
• We were involved in the creation of the Cross-Professional Business Networking Group, where diverse attorneys in our community can meet and network with non-attorney professionals of color. We view this as a way to help diverse attorneys increase their business development possibilities.

For more information regarding Holland & Hart's commitment to diversity, please contact Peter Houtsma at (303) 295-8259.