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Yale Law Firm: An Army JAG Captain Turned Board-Certified Estate Planning Attorney, on the Best Lawyers List Since 1995

A San Antonio estate planning attorney with a genuinely varied early career is Glen A. Yale, who served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps — including a posting as legal advisor to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division in Seoul, Korea — before settling in San Antonio to practice estate planning, a career now spanning more than four decades and an unbroken Best Lawyers listing since 1995. This profile is part of Awesome Attorneys’ coverage of San Antonio probate attorney options.

At a Glance

Origin & Background

Yale graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College in 1975 before earning his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1978. An ROTC scholarship obligated him to four years of Army service, which he fulfilled as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps — his first posting was at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, followed by an assignment as legal advisor to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division in Seoul, Korea. After leaving the Army in 1982, he returned to San Antonio and began his civilian legal career at Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison & Tate, later holding senior counsel and shareholder roles at Holland & Knight and Stumpf Farrimond before founding Yale Law Firm in 2010. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, an invitation-only fellowship recognizing sustained excellence in trust and estate law nationally.

San Antonio Estate Planning Attorney Practice Concentration

As a San Antonio estate planning attorney practice, Yale Law Firm handles estate planning, probate and estate administration, marital property agreements, estate and trust litigation, and nonprofit organization matters — the latter a specific niche reflecting Yale’s stated focus on tax-exempt organizations dating to his earliest years in practice. The firm describes itself as intentionally small, emphasizing full attention to each client rather than high-volume intake, with ongoing client communication throughout the engagement.

Track Record

Specific case-count or outcome statistics were not independently available in the sources reviewed for this profile; Yale’s public record consists primarily of more than 40 years of continuous San Antonio estate planning practice and his uninterrupted Best Lawyers recognition since 1995. Estate planning, probate, and trust litigation outcomes depend heavily on the specific facts, assets, and family circumstances of each matter, and past experience does not predict or guarantee a result in any future case.

Client Voice

A Martindale-Avvo review describes Yale Law Firm as “a very professional group of highly skilled attorneys” with equally impressive staff, recommending the firm for estate planning ranging “from the most simple will to the most difficult of estates.” No pattern of negative reviews or bar complaints was found in the sources reviewed.

Beyond the Courtroom

Yale’s nonprofit organizations practice area is a distinctive specialty within estate planning, reflecting sustained work with tax-exempt entities alongside individual estate planning clients since 1982. His Army JAG service, including advising Army criminal investigators in Korea, represents an unusually varied early legal career for an attorney whose subsequent decades have focused on estate and trust law specifically.

Recognition

Board certification disclosure: Glen A. Yale’s Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law was independently confirmed through his firm’s own materials, Lawyers.com, and Local Estate Planners’ attorney directory, which is why “specialist” language is used for him individually in this profile. His Best Lawyers in America recognition, continuous since 1995, and his Texas Super Lawyers selections (2003–2024) reflect peer-review and publication-based recognition processes, distinguished here from state licensing certification.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Texas does not impose a state estate or inheritance tax, though federal estate tax can still apply to larger estates above the federal exemption threshold. Nonprofit organization formation and compliance, a stated specialty of this firm, requires navigating both Texas nonprofit corporation law and federal tax-exempt status requirements under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) or related provisions — a distinct regulatory track from individual estate planning that not every estate planning practice maintains expertise in. Estate and trust litigation, another stated focus area, generally proceeds in Texas probate or statutory probate courts, with will contests typically requiring the challenger to prove grounds such as lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, or improper execution.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Yale Law Firm’s clearest differentiator is depth and duration of credential: TBLS board certification, an ACTEC fellowship reserved for a small number of trust and estate attorneys nationally, and an unbroken 30-year Best Lawyers listing, combined with a distinctive nonprofit organizations specialty that broadens the firm’s relevance beyond individual estate planning alone.

The honest trade-off is one common to any small, senior-attorney-led firm: Yale Law Firm intentionally stays small to preserve individualized client attention, which means capacity for new clients may be more limited than at a larger multi-attorney estate planning practice, particularly during high-demand periods.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from Yale Law Firm’s own website (yalelawfirm.com), including its About and attorney biography pages, Glen Yale’s Super Lawyers and Lawyers.com attorney profiles, and Local Estate Planners’ attorney directory listing. Board certification was independently confirmed through Lawyers.com and Local Estate Planners. Statutory references were checked against Texas’s lack of a state estate tax, federal nonprofit tax-exemption requirements under IRC Section 501(c)(3), and Texas will-contest grounds as generally published. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented; the client statement referenced above is drawn from the firm’s public Martindale-Avvo review page.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Yale Law Firm, P.C. prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placements clearly labeled as such, but no payment of any kind determines inclusion in, or the content of, this editorial profile. This article is for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and Yale Law Firm or Awesome Attorneys.