November Meeting
Thank you to our generous sponsor:
Pre-Workshop Presentation 4:30-6:20
Conflicts, Communication, and Consent: Ethical Issues in Trust & Estate Law
Presented by Professor Jan L. Jacobowitz
Lecturer in Law, Associate Director of the Center for Ethics & Public Service, and Director of the Professional Responsibility & Ethics Program (PREP), University of Miami’s School of Law
This interactive program will explore the ethical challenges that may confront lawyers and trustees who are asked to play various and potentially conflicting roles in the estate planning process. Topics to be explored include the lawyer as personal representative or beneficiary and the duties of a trustee.
Jan L. Jacobowitz is a Lecturer in Law, the Associate Director of the Center for Ethics & Public Service and the Director of the Professional Responsibility & Ethics Program (PREP) at the University of Miami’s School of Law. Under Professor Jacobowitz’s direction, PREP was a 2012 recipient of the ABA’s E. Smythe Gambrell Award---the leading national award for a professionalism program. Professor Jacobowitz has presented more than one hundred PREP Ethics CLE Seminars and has written and been a featured speaker or panelist on topics such as Legal Ethics in Social Media and Advertising, Lawyer’s First Amendment Rights, Cultural Awareness in the Practice of Law, Mindful Ethics, Cybersecurity for Lawyers, and Attorney Fees. Professor Jacobowitz also teaches the courses Social Media and the Law and Mindful Ethics: Professional Responsibility for Lawyers in the Digital Age. Her recent articles include The Social Media Frontier: Exploring a New Mandate for Competence in the Practice of Law; Fidelity Diluted: Client Confidentiality Gives Way to the First Amendment & Social Media In Virginia State Bar, ex rel. v. Horace Frazier Hunter; Lawyers Beware: You Are What You Post! —The Case for Integrating Cultural Competence, Legal Ethics and Social Media; and Cultural Evolution or Revolution? The Millenial’s Growing Impact on Professionalism and the Practice of Law. Professor Jacobowitz is the treasurer of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL) and also currently serves on the program committee and the national task force on attorney advertising. She is a co-author of Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers 2015 Report Of The Regulation Of Lawyer Advertising Committee and the Committee’s 2016 Supplemental Report, both of which are garnering national attention and discussion. Professor Jacobowitz is the Vice Chairman of the Broward Selection/Oversight Committee for the Inspector General’s Office. She is a member of the ADL Civil Rights Committee and the Miami Dade Task Force on Mindfulness. Professor Jacobowitz previously represented University Of Miami School Of Law on the Florida Bar’s CLE Committee and has served as the Law School’s United Way Ambassador for the past seven years. She is a 2006 winner of the Florida Supreme Court’s Chief Justice’s Commendation for Leadership in Judicial Education. Prior to devoting herself to legal education, Professor Jacobowitz practiced law for over twenty years. She began her career as a Legal Aid attorney in the District of Columbia; prosecuted Nazi war criminals at the Office of Special Investigations of the U.S. Department of Justice; was in private practice with general practice and commercial litigation firms in Washington, D.C. and Miami; and served as in-house counsel for a large Miami based corporation. Professor Jacobowitz has a J.D. from George Washington University and a B.S. in Speech from Northwestern University. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Florida, and California and is a certified civil court mediator. Professor Jacobowitz and her family have made South Florida their home for the past 30 years.
Dinner Presentation 7:15 - 8:05
Triangulation – Integrating Life Insurance into the Estate and Investment Plans
Presented by Thomas J. Pauloski, J.D.
Bernstein Global Wealth Management, Chicago, IL
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) changed the face of estate planning by making “permanent” an inflation-indexed transfer tax exclusion that is now $5.45 million and growing. As a result, many clients now believe that they have too much life insurance. Should they cash in those policies? Tom Pauloski, National Managing Director of Bernstein’s Wealth Planning and Analysis Group, and a former insurance executive and estate planning attorney, will discuss why, in many cases, existing life insurance should be retained or repurposed, rather than cashed in. Bernstein’s most recent research suggests that life insurance is capable of producing superior risk-adjusted, after-tax returns when integrated with a diversified investment portfolio and thoughtful wealth transfer plan. Interestingly, Bernstein does not sell or market life insurance products, so our advice in this area is, we believe, unconflicted. Tom will use Bernstein’s proprietary wealth forecasting model and the case study method to advance the argument that professional advisors need to think differently about life insurance in the wake of ATRA. Please plan to join us to hear Tom’s unusual take on this important topic.
Thomas J. Pauloski is National Managing Director for Wealth Planning and Analysis, the research division of Bernstein Global Wealth Management’s Private Client Group. He works with private clients and their advisors on wealth transfer strategies, focusing on tax-efficient wealth management and asset allocation decisions. Previously, Tom was a partner at the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn LLP, where he concentrated his practice in estate, tax, and business planning. Tom also has been a member of the Chicago law firm of Levin & Schreder, Ltd., a Vice President in the Private Client Group of Zurich Life in Long Grove, Illinois, and a partner at the Chicago law firm of Schiff Hardin & Waite. Tom is a nationally known speaker on estate planning, tax, and insurance issues, and has written numerous articles and continuing legal education materials on estate planning topics. He serves on the faculty of the American Bankers Association National Trust and National Graduate Trust Schools, and has served on the adjunct faculty of the Cannon Financial Institute Schools. Tom has been an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and has taught estate planning classes at Northwestern University Law School. Tom also has served on the editorial board of Trusts & Estates magazine. He retired from the United States Naval Reserve in 2003, after 21 years of service. Tom received his bachelor of science degree in environmental engineering from Northwestern University, and his juris doctor, magna cum laude, from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Loyola Law Journal. Tom and his wife of 31 years, Barb, reside in Highland Park, Illinois, with their children, Kathie (a sophomore at the University of California at Berkeley) and Mike (a junior at Highland Park High School).
