Richard M. Brown's practice focuses on all aspects of estate planning and estate and trust administration, including post mortem tax planning. Rick also advises closely-held businesses on a variety of tax and succession planning issues and individual clients on gifting strategies and prenuptial and post nuptial agreements. In providing legal counsel, Rick uses his more than 35 years of experience to maximize wealth protection, minimize taxes and administrative expenses and avoid family disputes when possible.

Rick has frequently lectured to various continuing legal education and professional groups and has been a contributing author to Handling Business Interests and Estates, Closely Held Corporations, Illinois Estate Administration, Life Insurance and Business Planning and Basic Estate Planning, all published by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, and "Recent Amendments to Federal Estate, Gift, and Generation Skipping Tax Provisions of the Internal Revenue Code," published in the Illinois Bar General.

Rick has written and taught at the annual Estate Planning Short Course at Notre Dame. He has served on the editorial boards of several estate planning and retirement planning newsletters and has appeared on National Public Radio's All Things Considered where he discussed the changing world of women and its effect on estate planning. Rick was recently interviewed for the Law Column of the Wall Street Journal regarding the shift of the estate planning practice from full-service firms to boutique firms like Harrison & Held, which focus in the estate planning and trust and estates area.

Prior to joining Harrison & Held, Rick was a partner at the law firms of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Barnes & Thornburg and Jenner & Block.

Education:

• Northwestern University School of Law, J.D., 1970
• Washington University A.B., with honors, 1967