Meltzer Lippe's top-ranked Trusts & Estates Law practice recently added two new associates, Mary O'Reilly and Eli Akhavan, to their group.
"Taxpayers are in the midst of a critical period for estate planning and wealth preservation activities, particularly in the international tax and estate planning arena," said managing partner Lew Meltzer. "Many of our clients have foreign assets, conduct international transactions or have relatives in other countries. The experience these two associates bring in sophisticated domestic and international tax planning for individuals, partnerships and corporations is a welcome addition to this thriving practice area."
O'Reilly comes to Meltzer Lippe from the international law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP where she served as a senior trusts and estates associate in their N.Y. office. O'Reilly handles sophisticated estate planning and administration matters.
She also has expertise with international estate planning, is fluent in Spanish and is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland. O'Reilly also represents tax-exempt organizations from formation to counseling them in their administration and day-to-day operations, including compliance with corporate and tax requirements and grant making.
O'Reilly received a masters of law (L.L.M.) in Taxation from the New York University School of Law, a J.D., cum laude, from St. John's University School of Law, where she attended law school on a full academic scholarship with stipend and her B.A. from SUNY Binghamton. Mary is admitted to practice law in New York State and is very active in the legal community. She serves as Co-Vice Chair of the American Bar Association's Non-Tax Estate Planning Considerations Group and is a member of the CLE Committee. She is also a member of the Trusts and Estates Committee of the New York Women's Bar Association and the Trusts and Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. O'Reilly is highly regarded in her field and has spoken at prominent national legal conferences such as the American Bar Association's Real Property, Trusts and Estates Section's Spring Symposia and Practicing Law Institute's Annual Estate Planning Institute on topics such as understanding retirement assets, ethical issues in estate planning and administration and asset protection.
Akhavan acquired experience in complex partnership and corporate tax as an associate at Herrick, Feinstein LLP. In particular, he advised joint ventures, limited liability companies, hedge funds and private equity funds with respect to their tax planning.
Prior to Herrick, Eli was a Corporate Reorganization associate at the international law firm of Sidley Austin LLP. In addition to advising high net-worth individuals with respect to their wealth preservation and estate planning, Eli also counsels charities, private foundations and religious institutions with respect to formation, corporate governance and UBTI matters.
A Dean's List student and honors graduate of Columbia University (Economics), Eli was inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society. He earned both his Juris Doctor degree and Masters of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation at New York University. He is an active member of the American Bar Association's Taxation and Real Property and Trust & Estate Law sections and has published many articles dealing with charitable giving, donations of artworks, and 1031 exchanges.
Eli was born in Tehran and is fluent in Farsi. In his spare time, he roots for the New York Yankees and is an active member of various Persian not-for-profit organizations. He also serves as legal counsel to a museum devoted to the study and exploration of comedy. He lives in Great Neck.
About Meltzer Lippe
Meltzer Lippe, known as Long Island's Business Law Firm, is one of the largest law firms on Long Island. The firm's practice encompasses all aspects of corporate and business law, tax law, employment and labor law, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint ventures, litigation, real estate, tax-exempt organizations, wills & trusts, estate planning & administration, bankruptcy, construction law, employee benefits and executive compensation and government relations and regulatory affairs. Tags: