The Right Time to Consider This Degree. The aging of the baby boomer generation has set the stage for the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. This, combined with the increasing complexity of income tax, wealth transfer tax, property laws, and today’s changing economic environment, has created a demand for attorneys with expertise in individual and estate planning.
Attorneys can meet this growing demand with our LLM in estate planning, a program unmatched in graduate-level legal education offering a unique combination of tax and non-tax estate planning courses unavailable elsewhere.
Who Should Consider This Degree?
Practitioners interested in making a career pivot and seeking an efficient way to gain expertise in the area
Law students who have identified estate planning as an area of interest and wish to obtain a JD/LLM
Recent law graduates who want to complete further instruction in estate planning prior to entering the field
The graduate program fosters close connections with fellow students who progress together through two semesters of small seminar style classes. Lifelong relationships are nurtured by annual alumni reunions at the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning and students join a national network of distinguished estate planners upon graduation.
Miami Law’s Office of Career and Professional Development provides an experienced career advisor exclusively dedicated to students in the LLM program. Students also enjoy a variety of opportunities to network with local estate planning attorneys through bar association meetings and alumni events. Students are also invited to attend our Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the nation's largest educational conference for estate planning professionals.
Students plan and draft an estate plan based on a hypothetical fact patten and this project is completed under the direct supervision of an experienced estate planning attorney who meets one-on-one with the student to evaluate the plan.
This unique program prepares attorneys to deal with the tax implications of wealth transfers and with the related non-tax, investment, and business succession planning issues. The breadth and depth of coverage of both the tax and non-tax aspects of individual and estate planning distinguishes the curriculum from traditional graduate tax programs. While tax LL.M. programs may offer a cluster of survey courses on the tax aspects of estate planning, they do not have the in-depth, practical focus of the program’s spring semester classes. Our unique one-week classes in the spring offer advanced level coverage of essential issues in estate planning, including fiduciary administration, charitable giving, planning for retirement benefits, the Generation Skipping Tax, asset protection, the marital deduction, life insurance, investment planning, tax procedure, elder law, valuation, IRC Chapter 14, ethics, and drafting.
The late Philip E. Heckerling was a Miami Law faculty member from 1963 to 1983. A professional to the core, Professor Heckerling was an active member of the FL Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American College of Probate Counsel, and the American Law Institute. From his early years in trust work, he was a man with a passion for improving the technical competence of estate planners. In pursuit of his goal, he created the University of Miami School of Law's Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning in 1967 as a place for experts to gather and refine their skills. He nurtured it through the years of its phenomenal growth to its position as the largest and most respected continuing education program for estate planners today. That passion led him also to establish this graduate LL.M. program in estate planning, which is named in his honor.
“This program is the best career decision I have made – it provided me with the foundation to transition from my previous legal career and the opportunity to learn from some of the best minds in the industry. It provided me with a vast network to build ongoing relationships even after graduation.” Sean Koussevitzky, LLM Vice President, Trust Advisor, Private Wealth Management, Regions Bank
"I had been practicing commercial litigation for 7 years, and I wanted to make a change. Judge Celeste Muir, with a similar legal background as mine, encouraged me to pursue the LLM program in Estate Planning, and I am so glad that I did. The LLM program gave me the educational foundation that I needed, and I would recommend this program to anyone wanting to practice in the area."
Janine N. Kucaba, LLM Special Counsel, McCarter & English, LLP
“After practicing in Trusts & Estates for a few years and being exposed to some of the complexities involved, I realized that if I wanted to be successful in this area of law without having 20 plus years of experience, I would need an educational foundation in the subject matter.”
Thomas VanNess III, LLM Attorney at Law, VanNess Law, PLLC
"Estate Planning LLM graduates leave the program with more advanced technical knowledge than most lawyers acquire in a decade of practice. If you want to be at the top of the estate planning field, this is how you get there."
Monique Lavender Greenberg, LLM
"The LL.M. in Estate Planning prepared me to enter a sophisticated estate planning and administration practice. It provided an opportunity to explore the substantive and theoretical aspects of federal tax law and the practical applications to the planning techniques I now regularly use with clients."
Al Stashis, LLM Shareholder, Dunwody White & Landon, P.A.
“In nine months, the program taught me concepts and techniques that would have taken me years to learn through continuing legal education courses and private practice. It was a great way to transition to a career in estate planning.”
J. Allison Archbold, LLM Archbold Law
“What I think is so special about the LLM at Miami is the way the program is structured: you are in the same class, with the same group of people, and you all become really close. To me, that is one of the best things...the relationships you build there, both the students and the professors.”
Frederick Brackin, LLM Shareholder, Gunster
“What really sets to program apart – even after you leave – you have built-in network of like-minded individuals on whom you know you can count on for advice, and even support.”
