The aftermath of trust litigation brought by beneficiaries against trustees is too often a lawyer malpractice claim against the drafting lawyer. Listen to Sean McKissick and Kristin Yokomoto discuss the 1958 balancing test applied to lawyer malpractice cases and the messages from the courts in recent cases.

About Our Guest: Sean McKissick

Sean McKissick is a partner at Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, California, where he specializes in trust and estate litigation. He serves as the Vice Chair of the Probate and Estate Planning Section of the Sacramento County Bar Association. He is the current Editor of Trust on Trial, a blog focusing on trust and estate litigation in California that was founded by the Honorable Jeffrey Galvin prior to his ascension to the bench. Listeners can receive Sean’s blog posts via email as they are posted by subscribing at https://www.trustontrial.com/subscribe/.

About Our Host: Kristin Yokomoto

Kristin Yokomoto, Esq., is a partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP in Costa Mesa, California. She practices in the areas of estate planning for high net worth clients, business succession planning, trust administration, and probate. She is a Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law certified by the State Bar of California. Kristin is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Executive Committee Member of the CLA Trust and Estate Section (TEXCOM), and Committee Member of the Orange County Bar Association Professionalism & Ethics Committee.

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Todd Gajdusek and Cat Hammons

Land Back is an Indigenous-led movement focused on returning land to Indigenous Tribes in a way that strengthens Indigenous sovereignty and communities. This episode features a discussion about how Land Back comes up in the context of estate planning and introduces key concepts for estate planners, financial advisors, and tax advisors to assist clients in taking such
action.

About Our Guests:
Alma Soongi Beck is an attorney in Lathrop GPM Private Client Services Practice Groups. Beck is certified as a specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law by the State Board of Legal Specialization, and her practice focuses on trusts, charitable planning, gift and estate tax planning, and post-death administration including trust administration and probate. She speaks regularly on estate planning issues affecting LGBTQ+ and unmarried couples, on the evolution of gender and parentage in estate planning and administration, and on Land Back to Indigenous Tribes. She has previously served on the boards of the Transgender Law Center, Our Family Coalition, Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF) and the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California (KABANC). Prior to joining Lathrop GPM (formerly Hopkins & Carley), Alma was a partner at Lakin Spears, LLP, as well as founder and principal attorney for The Beck Law Group, P.C. A Korean American child of immigrants, Beck had led workshops on implicit bias for legal professionals, college students, and climate organizations since the 1990s, most recently for the Climate Reality Project Bay Area Chapter.

Jo Carrillo JD/JSD is Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Indigenous Law Center (ILC) at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). For over three decades, Carrillo has taught and written extensively in property and property-related subjects, including Federal Indian Law. Carrillo earned her BA from Stanford University, her JD from the University of New Mexico, and her JSD from Stanford Law School. She is a member of the Order of the Coif, the American Law Institute, and a former Trustee of the Law & Society Association; she was a
Visiting Scholar at The Center for the Study of Law & Society at UC Berkeley Law, and a Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School. As Faculty Director of the UC Law Indigenous Law Center, Carrillo facilitates a seminar series called Law &. This series brings lawyers, students, and California Tribal leaders into the law school classroom to discuss land back and land stewardship issues. Recently, again with assistance from the Resources Legacy Fund, Carrillo has undertaken to study land back transfer documents. Carrillo has served on the UC Law SF Legacy Committee. She now serves on the UC Law SF Restorative Justice Advisory Board, which counsels UC Law SF Chancellor and Dean David Faigman on decanal initiated restorative justice efforts for Indigenous communities in California. As a long-term project, Carrillo is co-editing a volume, with UCLA Professor of History Benjamin Madley, on redressing 19 th century state sponsored harms against California Indigenous Peoples.
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About Our Host:
Erika Gasaway is a trust and estate litigation partner who was fomerly with Hopkins Carley, which is now LathropGPM. She is on the nationwide Private Client Services team and co-chairs the Trust & Estate Litigation Task Force. She is based in San Jose, California where she represents ultra-high and high net worth families, fiduciaries, and family offices to resolve disputes as various phases of their life cycles. Erika is a member of the California Lawyer’s Association Trust and Estate Section’s Executive Committee (“TEXCOM”).

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Todd Gajdusek and Cat Hammons

Estate planners not only help clients plan for what happens at death. Nowadays, especially with the high divorce rates, trust and estate lawyers also need to be mindful of how certain planning will play out in the event of a divorce. In this episode of Trust Me!, we discuss what estate planners should know about the basics of family law.

About Our Guest:

Vanessa Soto Nellis is a Shareholder and Chair of the Family Law Practice Group of Lewitt Hackman. She is also a Certified Specialist in Family Law. She prides herself on bringing “calm to crisis” in family law matters, by focusing clients on the big picture, even in high-conflict divorce and child custody situations. Representing individuals in all aspects of family law in Southern California, Vanessa counsels and litigates for clients in dissolution (or divorce) matters, spousal support, child support, visitation rights, cohabitation, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and other family law matters.

Vanessa was designated one of the Best Lawyers in America in Family Law in 2024 by Best Lawyers Magazine, and a Southern California Super Lawyer (2018-present) and Rising Star (2007-12 and 2015-17) by Super Lawyers Magazine. The publication also named her one of Southern California’s Up-and-Coming 50 Women Attorneys, as well as one of the Up-and-Coming 100.

Vanessa is a member of the State Bar of California, San Fernando Valley Bar Association (SFVBA), SFVBA Family Law Executive Committee, Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Ventura County Bar Association. She co-founded Women To Women, a professional network here in Los Angeles.

Vanessa can be reached at: VNellis@lewitthackman.com

About Our Host:
Host Anna Soliman is Trust Counsel and Managing Director for Fiduciary Trust International of California out of the Los Angeles Office. She is also the Chief Fiduciary Officer of their California trust business. Prior to joining Fiduciary Trust International, Anna was an estate tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service and also worked in private practice, specializing in estate planning and trust administration for ultrahigh net worth individuals. She is also a member of the Trust and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association and is a Vice-Chair of the Fiduciary Income Tax Section of the American Bar Association.

Thank you for listening to Trust Me!

Trust Me is Produced by Foley Marra Studios
Edited by Todd Gajdusek and Cat Hammons