There’s a shortage of estate and trust lawyers and firms can’t hire enough experts to keep up with a massive wealth transfer

June 07, 2021

At 6:30 on a Sunday morning, Steven Loeb rolled out of bed to start a full day of work — just as he has every day for the past year.

Seven-day workweeks have become the norm for trust and estate lawyers like Loeb, who said he’s been working around the clock since April 2020. The pandemic galvanized people to look more closely at their mortality and consider proper estate planning, and high-flying stocks in the past year also expanded high-net-worth clients’ portfolios, further complicating estate lawyers’ work.

At the outset of the pandemic in March 2020, work for many lawyers dried up as mergers and acquisitions came to a halt and courts closed. But for trust and estate attorneys, it never really slowed down.

“When the pandemic first hit, I told my wife, ‘Maybe I’ll have my first break in 35 years.’ The total opposite happened,” said Eric Kramer, a partner at Farrell Fritz. “Everyone was home and said, ‘Hey, let’s look at our will and call Eric.'”

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