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Laura M. Twomey
 

Laura M. Twomey

Partner
 
425 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017 
Head of the Personal Planning Practice at Simpson Thacher, Laura Twomey advises individuals and families on the preservation, transfer and management of wealth during life and thereafter. Laura’s large and varied clientele includes leaders of the financial industry, Fortune 500 CEOs, media personalities, heads of major family-owned companies and prominent political figures. Her practice includes estate planning, estate and trust administration and charitable planning, planning with private equity and hedge fund interests and family-business succession planning. She is experienced, too, in modifying and terminating existing trusts, as well as migrating trusts for tax and non-tax purposes. Laura works with clients to create a plan for transferring personal wealth that meets both the client’s personal goals and tax objectives. She provides highly technical advice in an innately personal way, ensuring seamless coordination with the Firm’s other disciplines, while keeping the personal planning process scrupulously separate from other Firm business. Laura is named a leading lawyer in wealth management by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business and is recognized by Chambers HNW: The World's Leading High Net Worth Advisors, where she received praise for being “unflappable” and “tireless,” and for her “depth of technical knowledge that allows her to present or propose innovative solutions” with clients who describe her as “excellent” and “a top-level lawyer.” A client added, “she’s really smart, she is very caring about what she does. She is tremendously responsive. She’s fantastic.” Laura’s estate-planning advice has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

 

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Work Highlights
  • Stephen A. Schwarzman Education Foundation in connection with the creation of a $300 million scholarship fund for study at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the creation of Schwarzman College at the University
  • Silver Lake Partners in its $24.4 billion acquisition of Dell, one of the largest private equity buyouts since 2007
  • Restructuring family ownership and control of iconic publically traded company
  • Advising the fiduciary of a charitable split interest trust in excess of $1 billion
Accolades
  • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
Education
  • New York University School of Law, 2003 LL.M. in Taxation
  • Boston College Law School, 1997 J.D.
    cum laude; Solicitations Editor for The Third World Law Journal (1995–1997)
  • Boston College, 1994 B.A.
    magna cum laude
Associations
  • American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel Fellow (2010–Present)
  • American Bar Association, Vice-Chair of the Individual and Fiduciary Income Tax Committee (2013–2015)
  • Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Member of Surrogate's Court Practice Committee (2013–2015)
  • New York State Bar Association, Co-Chair of the Committee on Estates and Trusts, Tax Law Section (2011–2013)
  • American Bar Association, Group Chair of Wealth and Non-Tax Estate Planning Considerations Group of the Real Property, Trusts & Estates Law Section (2010–2011)
  • American Bar Association, Group Vice-Chair of Wealth and Non-Tax Estate Planning Considerations Group of the Real Property, Trusts & Estates Law Section (2008–2010)
  • American Bar Association, Membership Committee of the Real Property, Trusts & Estates Law Section (2007–2011) and Corporate Sponsorship Committee (2010–2011)
  • Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Past Member of Estate and Gift Tax Committee (2009–2011 and 2012–2013)
  • New York Women’s Bar Association, Member, Trusts & Estates Committee, Continuing Legal Education Committee; Board of Directors (2004–2008)
  • American Bar Association, Chair, Non-Tax Issues Affecting the Planning and Administration of Estates & Trusts Committee of the Real Property, Trusts and Estates Law Section (2004–2008)
  • American Bar Association, Advisor to the NCCUSL Drafting Committee to Amend the Uniform Probate Code (2006–2008)
  • American Bar Association, Co-Chair of the Estate and Gift Tax Committee (2014–2017)
Admissions
  • Massachusetts 1998
  • New York 1998

Head of the Firm’s Personal Planning Practice, Laura counsels a large and varied clientele in connection with their personal planning needs. Her clients include high profile groups and individuals, including leaders of the financial industry, Fortune 500 CEOs, media personalities, heads of major international family-owned companies, dynastic real estate families, prominent political figures, directors of private foundations and private companies, multiple generations of  iconic American families, and institutions serving as executors and trustees of large estates and trusts. A number of her clients have appeared on such lists as World’s Billionaires, Forbes’ 400 Richest People in America, and Crain’s Highest-paid CEOs.

Laura advises individuals and families on the preservation, transfer and management of wealth during life and after death. Her practice includes estate planning, estate and trust administration and charitable planning, planning with private equity and hedge fund interests and family-business succession planning. She is experienced in modifying and terminating existing trusts, as well as migrating trusts for tax and non-tax purposes.

Laura regularly works with clients to create a plan for transferring personal wealth that meets both the client’s personal goals and tax objectives, as well as to address a broad range of wealth management issues. She provides highly technical advice in an innately personal way, ensuring seamless coordination with the Firm’s other disciplines, while keeping the personal planning process scrupulously separate from other Firm business. Her varied work includes:

  • Intergenerational representation of prominent families throughout the decades
  • Creating solutions for complex family disputes regarding management and sales of family assets and companies
  • Advice regarding structure and timing of pre-IPO transfers and transfers of private equity and hedge fund interests
  • Structuring family office ownership with an eye toward the personal and often paramount issue of family harmony, while mindful of the technical rules such as the family office exemption from SEC registration and CFTC rules
  • Representing public company executives in light of the transfer restrictions, SEC filings, company protocols and public relations concerns that arise when planning with company stock
  • Advising on preparation for special family situations, such as providing support for disabled or dependent family members or children of a prior marriage

Laura is named a leading lawyer in wealth management by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and was recognized in the inaugural Chambers HNW: The World’s Leading High Net Worth Advisors 2016, where she received praise for being “unflappable” and “tireless,” and for her “depth of technical knowledge that allows her to present or propose innovative solutions.” A client added, “she’s really smart, she is very caring about what she does. She is tremendously responsive. She’s fantastic.”

Laura is a frequent lecturer and author on topics relating to estate planning, retirement planning and fiduciary income tax planning. Her estate planning advice has been quoted in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

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