Sheppard Mullin

Sheppard Mullin’s Private Wealth Services team advises clients regarding wealth management issues for families with global investments or family members in jurisdictions around the world. Our team provides families with comprehensive advice regarding flexible ownership and asset structures that goes beyond traditional asset management.  We design and implement solutions to improve the family office while focusing on measurable results.  We understand that governance, clear communications, and flexibility are the key components that enable our clients to attain their goals for multiple generations. Our services include: advising families interested in US investments and acquisitions, developing tax efficient investment structures, creating vehicles to serve as investment platforms, advising on co-investment in hedge funds and equity funds, establishing family offices, and assisting families with corporate governance, immigration, and estate planning.

Our interdisciplinary services enable us to apply a holistic approach and perspective to our clients’ complex financial needs. This ensures that our clients obtain their objectives efficiently. As more families join the ranks of the wealthy, the number of single and multifamily offices has increased dramatically. Recent events, such as the global credit crisis, the global recession, and drastic market declines have caused many families and family offices to seek additional help in managing and diversifying their wealth beyond traditional investment assets.  The new exchange of information agreements, the ability to trade securities across the world, and the trend toward increased cooperation among taxing authorities, require a new approach to investment platforms.

Our Private Wealth Services Team distinguishes itself by providing legal assistance to both wealthy domestic clients and international clients and their families. Our offices are strategically located throughout the world. This allows our team to provide legal advice for our clients and their businesses from a single platform. Our team can address our clients’ needs on a global basis and integrate the competing demands created when family members or investments and business interests are in multiple jurisdictions. We also provide services to domestic and international families who either have a Family Office or want to create a Family Office.

Our Private Wealth services fall into the following categories:

Estate Planning

• Estate, gift and generation-skipping
• Sophisticated charitable giving
• Life insurance planning
• Establish and operate charitable organizations
• Private foundations
• Private placement life insurance

Income and Estate Tax Controversies

• Estate and gift tax litigation matters in many different state courts and U.S. Tax Court
• International income, gift and estate tax controversies

Immigration Law

• Visas
• Qualifying for permanent residence ("Green Card")
• Labor certifications
• International tax issues
• Pre-immigration tax planning
• Income tax issues for all 50 states within the United States

Reporting Issues

• U.S. – International tax treaties
• Legally avoiding or deferring U.S. residency
• Income tax planning opportunities
• U.S. reporting of foreign bank and financial accounts
• U.S. reporting of statement of specified foreign assets

Estate Planning and Estate Taxes

• U.S. estate tax – residents vs. non-domiciled
• Estate taxation on worldwide assets (residents) vs. Estate taxation on U.S. situs assets (non-domiciled)
• Legally avoiding U.S. domicile
• Estate tax planning opportunities
• Pre-planning and investment structures for multi-national families
• Coordination of estate administration in multiple countries
• Preparation of estate plans

Legal Assistance on Business Matters

• Assist clients on their inbound and outbound transactions
• Work with foreign lawyers, accountants, and advisors to ensure that there is proper coordination among all professionals to ultimately attain the client's goals
• Assist in the purchase of real estate in the United States
• Assist in the purchasing or investing in U.S. companies
• Assist with co-investing with equity Funds and hedge Funds.
• Establishing the investment vehicle(s) for the international  family
• Establishing the entities for each family member to minimize income and estate taxes

Family Offices

• Assist in the establishment of a Family Office (Single Family Office or Multiple Family Office)
• Introduction to professionals who can assist in opening and operating the Family Office
• Establishing corporate governance
• Best practice due diligence/risk management
• Establishing benchmark reporting
• Acting as the trusted advisor to provide oversight on the Family Office operations
• Family legacy and leadership
• Operations and cost control

Investing in the United States

• Coming to America
• Analysis of relevant the U.S. federal and state restrictions
• Dealing with the U.S. banking system
• The interplay between state and federal laws
• The mergers and acquisitions practices in the U.S.
• Strategies to avoid or mitigate U.S. litigation risks
• Asset protection

"As Sheppard Mullin continues to grow, it is important that we not lose sight of the need to recruit women, attorneys of color and others of diverse backgrounds."
-Guy Halgren, Chairman of the Executive Committee

At Sheppard Mullin, we make every effort to recruit the finest lawyers and nurture their talents. The firm recognizes the importance of diversity and the need to create a workplace of inclusion. We need ¿ and our clients demand ¿ a team of attorneys that is as diverse as our increasingly global client base. Achieving and maintaining diversity is key to great client service ¿ a core value of our firm. What distinguishes good intentions from results is a commitment by senior management to find the best attorneys possible coupled with the sincere belief that people with diverse backgrounds bring valuable attributes to the firm. At Sheppard Mullin, the Executive Committee, Diversity Committee, and the lawyers in each of our offices work hard to ensure that all attorneys who join our firm fit in seamlessly and are encouraged to succeed.

Members of our Diversity Committee include ethnically diverse attorneys and a representative from the firm's Executive Committee. Diversity Committee members have served on the Boards of the Anti-Defamation League, the Black Women Lawyers Foundation (Los Angeles), and the Charles Houston Bar Association (northern California). Women and minority attorneys participate on key committees of the Firm (Executive Committee; Compensation Committee; Diversity Committee; Recruiting Committee; Professional Personnel Committee; Associate Issues Committee). Four of the Firm's nine Office Administrative Partners are women, one of whom is African-American and another is multi-racial.

"Serving on the firm's Diversity Committee is one of the most important things I do. I firmly believe that we must be vigilant in our efforts to recruit talented women attorneys and attorneys of color. Our success in this area has a positive effect our firm's culture, practice and client relationships."
-Joan Story, Member Executive Committee and Diversity Committee

Below is a description of just some of our outreach efforts.

• The firm participates in and financially supports the California Minority Counsel Program and the ABA Minority Counsel Program, as well as several minority bar associations. These groups are dedicated to increasing access for and promoting and retaining minorities in the legal profession.
• The firm actively recruits law students of color, e.g., we participated in the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA) of the Western Region job fair held at UCLA School of Law.
• Sheppard Mullin contributes to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association; California Women Lawyers; Queen's Bench; Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles; and the National Black Law Students Association, among others.
• We actively participate with other major Los Angeles law firms in the Diversity Directors Roundtable, a group that is committed to promoting diversity in the legal profession and in our firms.
• The firm received the Law Firm Award from the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation for its strong commitment to the promotion of community and pro bono activities.
• Multicultural Law magazine named Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as one of "The 2011 Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity."
• Sheppard Mullin helped underwrite the production of a motion picture project entitled "Soul of Justice: The Life and Times of Thelton Henderson." The film chronicles the life of respected African-American jurist Thelton Henderson, a crusading civil rights litigator and role model.
• The firm signed the Bar Association of San Francisco's "No Glass Ceiling Initiative," BASF's "Minority Goals and Timetables," the New York County Lawyers' Association Diversity Statement, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Diversity Statement.

Much of our pro bono work relates to the diversity of the communities in which we practice; sample clients include:

• Constitutional Rights Foundation
• Domestic Violence Project, Los Angeles Bar Association
• Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
• Task Force for the Women's Resource Fair, City of San Diego
• Tolerance Through Education Program, Beverly Hills Barristers Associations
• Violence Against Women Act Program, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles

Awareness of diversity enables us to understand the value of differences. At Sheppard Mullin, we are committed to hiring top tier attorneys, without regard to race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.