LawFuel – Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP, a prominent California law firm, today announced two of its attorneys have accepted roles within the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). Charlotte Ito, a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office will become a Fellow, while longtime Fellow and former Regent Louis Mezzullo, whose practice is in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., has been elected Secretary of ACTEC.
ACTEC is a national professional organization of more than 2,600 lawyers who have made outstanding contributions to the field of trust and estate law. Prospective members are nominated to become a Fellow by members in their region and are evaluated on the basis of professional reputation and ability in the fields of trusts and estates, and on the basis of having made substantial contributions to these fields through lecturing, writing, teaching and bar activities.
“Both Lou and Charlotte are standout attorneys with extraordinary success and extensive knowledge in trust and estate law,” said Robert J. Bell, Luce Forward’s managing partner. “We congratulate them on their respective roles within ACTEC and know they will be valuable assets to that organization.”
Mezzullo works with high net-worth individuals, as well as family-owned and closely held businesses, primarily in the areas of tax, estate, business, succession planning and employee benefits. He is a nationally recognized author and speaker; the immediate past Chair of the American College of Tax Counsel; a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and Academician; and Vice President of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law. He is also the former Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law.
Ito designs and implements innovative strategies for the accumulation, management and transfer of wealth for affluent individuals and families. She also specializes in asset structuring to maintain privacy, multi-generational estate planning, complex probate and estate administration, multi-jurisdictional estate planning, and prenuptial planning. Her practice encompasses domestic and international estate and personal planning. Ito is a member of the California State Bar Executive Committee for Trusts and Estates, the San Francisco Estate Planning Council, and the San Francisco branch of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners.
Founded in 1873, Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP is a full-service California law firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Carmel Valley/Del Mar, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Rancho Santa Fe. For more information, visit www.luce.com.
