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Dean Berry, chair of the firm's Private Client Group, counsels clients on developing and implementing tax-efficient strategies for the management and transfer of private wealth, with a focus on complex U.S. and international trust and estate planning. He frequently works with attorneys, accountants, investment advisers and fiduciaries within and outside the U.S. to provide coordinated advice to clients having contacts with more than one country.
In his estate planning practice, Dean advises U.S. and foreign clients on the U.S. personal income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax laws. Planning often includes the preparation of wills and the establishment of structures utilizing trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies and insurance. Representative clients include individuals with family connections to multiple jurisdictions, individuals married to non-U.S. citizen spouses, U.S. beneficiaries of foreign trusts, U.S. shareholders of foreign corporations and foreign persons owning U.S. assets. When necessary, he represents clients in tax audits, appeals and litigation. In the area of estate and trust administration, he advises fiduciaries and beneficiaries with respect to probate, the prudent investor standard for investments, fiduciary accountings, controversies, and related court proceedings.
Dean has been recognized as a leader in the Private Wealth practice area by Chambers High Net Worth, where one commentator described him as “one of the brightest, most practical, and commercially aware international private client lawyers in the profession” and another said “[he] is incredible at everything; he is incredibly smart, really diligent and a really thoughtful lawyer to have on your side.”
Dean also advises and assists philanthropic donors in making charitable gifts through private foundations, donor-advised funds, and charitable split-interest trusts, and advises charitable organizations on corporate and tax matters.
Dean has lectured on these and related topics in the United States and numerous other jurisdictions around the world. He is a member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law and the American and New York State Bar Associations. Dean received his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Dean is a member of the American Bar Association (Section on Real Property, Probate and Trust Law) and the New York State Bar Association (Trusts and Estates Section). He received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received his A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College, where he was selected for Phi Beta Kappa in his Junior year, an A.M. in History from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and an LL.M. in Taxation from the New York University School of Law.
