2023 Speakers (updating regularly)
Robert Armstrong, Partner
McDonald Carano Law Firm
Robert Armstrong is a third-generation Nevadan with unmatched expertise advising high net worth clients and family trust companies on Nevada’s trust, estate and tax planning legal and regulatory landscape. Bob has over forty years of experience serving clients as an attorney and a non-practicing CPA. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants among other affiliations. Bob has received four “Lawyer of the Year” awards from The Best Lawyers in America and is currently ranked for the 6th consecutive year in the highest Band 1 category for Private Wealth Law in Chambers USA High Net Worth Guide. He received his juris doctorate from Georgetown Law Center and a LL.M. in taxation from New York University.
Jonathan Blattmachr, Principal
Pioneer Wealth Management
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Jonathan G. Blattmachris a Principal in Pioneer Wealth Partners, in the estate planning advisory group. He gives lectures and has written extensively on estate and trust taxation and charitable giving. Mr. Blattmachris was a Harlan Fiske Scholar at the Columbia University School of Law, where he received his law degree and graduated cum laude. He has an A.B. from Bucknell University in mathematics. Mr. Blattmachris has written nine books and over 500 articles on estate planning and other tax issues. He has been an Advisor on The American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law, and Trusts 3rd; he is a member of the American Bar Foundation. He is a retired member of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP and of the Alaska, California and New York State bar associations.
Sam Donaldson, Professor of Law, J.D., LL.M.
Prior to joining GSU Law in 2012, Professor Donaldson was on the faculty at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle for 13 years. During his tenure at the University of Washington, he was a five-time recipient of the Philip A. Trautman Professor of the Year award from the School of Law’s Student Bar Association. Professor Donaldson served for two years as Associate Dean for Academic Administration and for six years as the Director of the law school’s Graduate Program in Taxation. Professor Donaldson teaches a number of tax and estate planning courses, as well as courses in the areas of property, commercial law and professional responsibility. He is a nationally recognized speaker on federal taxation and estate planning at professional conferences and continuing education seminars. Professor Donaldson is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and a member of the Bar in Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. Among his scholarly works, he is a co-author of the popular West casebook, Federal Income Tax: A Contemporary Approach, and a co-author of the Price on Contemporary Estate Planning treatise published by Wolters Kluwer. Professor Donaldson has served as the Harry R. Horrow Visiting Professor of International Law at Northwestern University and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. An amateur crossword constructor, Professor Donaldson’s puzzles have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets.
Albert Forkner, CEO
Fortress Trust
Albert Forkner is the CEO of Fortress Trust, a Nevada trust company focused on supporting NFT creator and innovator strategies including secure custody solutions. Prior to Fortress Trust, Mr. Forkner served nearly 25 years as a banking regulator with the Wyoming Division of Banking. As the Banking Commissioner, Mr. Forknerwas responsible for the supervision of all state-chartered banks, trust companies, non-depository financial entities in Wyoming, as well as the novel Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) digital asset focused bank charter. Mr. Forkner served as the Chairman of the Board for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and Chairman of the Board of the State Regulatory Registry, operator of the NMLS. Mr. Forkner received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of Wyoming. He is also a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado and the Cannon Financial Institute.
Alan D. Freer, Partner
Solomon Dwiggins Freer & Steadman
Alan D. Freer is a member of the Las Vegas law firm of Solomon Dwiggins Freer & Steadman, LTD., where he focuses his practice primarily on trust and estate litigation. Mr. Freer also handles all aspects of trust and estate administration, and routinely represents beneficiaries and fiduciaries in contested matters. He has substantial experience in challenging and defending the validity of estate planning documents, including wills, codicils, trusts and amendments. Mr. Freer also routinely prosecutes and defends claims for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, undue influence, breach of trust, accounting, fiduciary removal, competency, lack of capacity, unjust enrichment, closely held business disputes and elder abuse. Mr. Freer has received the highest "AV Preeminent Rating" by Martindale-Hubbell and has twice been recognized as the Lawyer of the Year for Southern Nevada in the area of "Trust and Estates" (2020) and "Trust and Estate Litigation" (2017) by Best Lawyers of America. Mr. Freer has also been recognized as one of the top 100 lawyers in the mountain states region by Super Lawyers.
Mr. Freer is a member of the State Bar of Nevada and serves on the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, previously completing a two-year term as committee chair.
Paul Frimmer, Partner
Loeb & Loeb, LLP
Paul Frimmer focuses on estate planning, wills and trusts, probate and trust administration, postmortem tax planning, probate litigation, art law, charitable giving, and tax issues relating to these matters. Widely regarded as one of the top estate planning attorneys in the country, Paul has received numerous accolades for his work. He’s known for taking a collaborative approach with his clients and guiding them toward the best decisions tailored to meet their individual needs. Paul has authored and co-authored more than 50 publications on estate planning and related matters. He is also a frequent speaker at national and local estate planning seminars and institutes, including the NYU Tax Institute, the USC Tax Institute, the University of Miami Estate Planning Institute, ALI-ABA seminars, the USC Probate and Trust Institute, and the UCLA Estate Planning Institute.
David A. Handler, P.C.
Kirkland & Ellis, LLP
DAVID A. HANDLER heads the Trusts and Estates Practice Group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. David is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), and a member of the NAEPC Estate Planning Hall of Fame as an Accredited Estate Planner (Distinguished), the Chicago Estate Planning Council, and the professional advisory committees of several non-profit organizations. He is the author of numerous articles in estate planning and taxation journals, and writes the monthly “tax update” column for Trusts & Estates Magazine. He is one of only about 20 U.S. lawyers ranked in “Band 1” by Chambers USA in the Wealth Management category, is listed in The Best Lawyers in America©,(Trusts and Estates) and its 2015 and 2019 Trusts and Estates “Chicago Lawyer of the Year”. David is a co-author of an e-book on estate planning, The Complete Estate Planning Sourcebook (published by Wolters Kluwer). He is regularly interviewed for trade and news periodicals, and is a frequent lecturer at professional education seminars. David is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and received a B.S. Degree in Finance with highest honors from the University of Illinois Gies College of Business.
Enrique Hernandez, P.C.
Procopio
Richard Kinyon, Partner
Shartsis Friese LLP
Richard Kinyon is a partner in the Family Wealth Planning practice group. He specializes in the design and implementation of complex domestic and international estate plans for high-net-worth U.S. resident and non- resident individuals, including the establishment of various sophisticated irrevocable trusts and family investment companies and how to pass interests in their family business and investment companies to younger-generation family members and others in a tax-advantaged and creditor-protected manner, minimizing inter-family conflict. He also advises fiduciaries and beneficiaries regarding the administration of estates and trusts, including fiduciary litigation matters. Mr. Kinyon has been certified as a Specialist in Taxation Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization since 1973, and he also is certified as a mediator by the Bar Association of San Francisco, specializing in mediating disputes among litigants and other parties involving their interests in trusts and estates or other jointly owned property.
Paul Lee
Northern Trust
Elise J. McGee, Partner
McDermott Will & Emery, LLP
Elise J. McGee advises high-net-worth individuals and business owners on all aspects of wealth-transfer planning, including estate and trust administration, leveraged wealth-transfer techniques, tax matters, cryptocurrency and QSBS planning, real estate transactions and closely held business matters. Elise has extensive experience working with owners of closely held businesses to develop governance and succession plans, and on corporate, tax and compliance matters relating to those businesses. Elise is an American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) Fellow, and also has been recognized in Chambers High Net Worth 2022, Illinois: Private Wealth, Up and Coming. She is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Trust Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, where she acts as legislative liaison.
Michaelle D. Rafferty
Michaelle D. Rafferty, Shareholder Maupin, Cox & Legoy Michaelle DiGrazia Rafferty (“Michaelle”) is a shareholder attorney in the law firm of Maupin, Cox & LeGoy, primarily practicing in the areas of estate planning, taxation, administration of trusts and estates, and family trust company planning and operations. Michaelle also practices in trust and estate related litigation, fiduciary litigation, and tax and audit related actions. Michaelle has been admitted as a Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC) where she serves as the Nevada State Chair, and is a member of the Practice and Fiduciary Litigation Committees. Michaelle recently completed her position as Chair of the Nevada State Bar - Probate & Trust Section where she served as an executive officer for the previous 8 years.
Matthew Saltzman, Managing Shareholder
Saltzman Mugan Dushoff
Matthew D. Saltzman is an attorney and Managing Shareholder of the Saltzman Mugan Dushoff law firm in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over the course of his twenty-five years as a business attorney in Las Vegas, Saltzman has developed a corporate law practice focused on financial institutions and administrative law which assists financial institutions and other highly regulated businesses with corporate and regulatory compliance matters. Saltzman and his team have worked to obtain licenses for a large number of Nevada retail and family trust companies. He has testified before the Nevada legislature as an expert on trust company legislation and drafted portions of Nevada law relating to the chartering and operation of Nevada trust companies. In recent years his practice has focused on counseling trust companies that providing services related to digital assets including cryptocurrency. Matthew Saltzman received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1987. In 1993, he received his Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He was also Executive Editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review and served as a teaching assistant for the school’s Legal Research and Writing course.
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