As featured in The Daily Journal
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As the company's sole acting attorney, Anderson works closely with clients' in-house lawyers and accountants to help administer the trusts and estates of some of the nation's wealthiest families. The work is as complicated and contentious as ever thanks to the boon of a temporarily lapsed federal estate tax balanced by the risks of the stock market in the soured economy.
The UCLA School of Law graduate and former 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clerk started his career at the firm now known as Parker Milliken Clark O'Hara & Samuelian, where he first dipped into trust and estate work for the Whittiers as an outside lawyer.
In 1989, the South Pasadena-based investment company began taking on outside clients, opening a Nevada affiliate five years later to take advantage of the state's favorable tax and trust laws.
Anderson recently spoke with Daily Journal staff writer Jean-Luc Renault about the varied legal issues he faces each day, which include everything from investor litigation to how to get a parrot in and out of foreign countries without it being killed by customs officials. Here is an edited transcript of what he had to say:
DJ: Can you describe how your legal department fits into the investment company's operation?
Anderson: I get involved in things that the trusts themselves are doing. That may be managing a business, or buying and selling real estate that they hold. It may be dealing with intellectual property that a trust itself may have as an asset.
DJ: What legal issues do you face most often?
Anderson: My job will change pretty dramatically from time to time. I take a look at all the trusts' and estates' documents that are coming in the door. Our clients are coming in the door with excellent representation. They generally have these pre-existing relationships with regards to the estate-planning side. I'm not creating their estate plan, but I'm working with the estate planner in understanding our role as trustee or adviser. We identify problems or issues in advance and work them through.