Venable LLP announced Sept. 23 that Kristin Smith has joined the firm as a counsel in the private wealth planning group. Smith has experience counseling families and individuals on estate planning and trust and estate administration.
“Kristin is a fantastic addition to our expanding team of attorneys in this practice,” Doug Siegler, co-chair of the firm’s wealth planning practice, said in a news release. “She has extensive experience working with high-net-worth individuals with sophisticated estate planning needs. Her expertise will benefit our clients nationally across multiple offices.”
Smith works with her clients on strategies to facilitate the transfer, management and protection of wealth while minimizing estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes. She has experience administering complex trusts and estates, including assisting clients in navigating fiduciary duties, minimizing conflict among family members and fulfilling asset distribution to beneficiaries.
Smith also helps her clients reach their charitable objectives through the creation of charitable trusts and the formation and administration of charitable organizations, such as private foundations and donor-advised funds.
“Venable’s thoughtful and personable culture drew me in,” Smith said in a news release. “I am very excited to work at a firm that is invested in my practice area and the clients I serve.”
Smith is licensed in Colorado, Illinois and New York. She will work primarily with Venable’s Chicago wealth planning practice and be a resident in its Denver office. She received her J.D. from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.