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At a Glance
| Founded by | Louis Nizer, one of the twentieth century’s most prominent trial lawyers, and Louis Phillips, former Vice President and General Counsel of Paramount Pictures, in 1926 (per the firm) |
| Focus | Full-service firm with a dedicated Trusts and Estates department handling domestic and international estate planning, tax, guardianship, and estate and trust administration |
| Office | 485 Lexington Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10017 |
| Signature results | Partner Michael W. Galligan has directed cross-border wealth transfer, trust, and succession work touching well over thirty countries, per the firm; the department is Tier 1-ranked nationally in Trusts & Estates by U.S. News – Best Lawyers |
| Distinctive edge | A century-old, full-service firm whose Trusts and Estates group specializes specifically in international and transnational planning — U.S. persons with assets abroad, and non-U.S. persons with U.S. assets or U.S. tax residency plans |
| Fee model | Not published; prospective clients should confirm directly |
| Known for | International estate and tax planning, guardianship matters, and coordination with the firm’s tax, real estate, and corporate departments on family business succession |
Phillips Nizer was founded in 1926 by two men whose names carried real weight in their own right: Louis Nizer, considered one of the most outstanding trial lawyers of the twentieth century, and Louis Phillips, who served as Vice President and General Counsel of Paramount Pictures. A century later, the firm’s Trusts and Estates department has built a specific, unusual niche within that broader legacy — international and transnational estate planning — that most full-service New York firms of comparable size do not maintain as a dedicated specialty.
Origin and Background
The firm’s founding by a trial lawyer and a studio general counsel gave Phillips Nizer an early identity as a firm comfortable moving between courtroom advocacy and sophisticated business counsel, an identity that persists in its current mix of practices, which spans entertainment and fashion law alongside trusts and estates. The Trusts and Estates department’s current profile is shaped heavily by partner Michael W. Galligan, a Columbia Law School graduate (J.D. 1985) and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar who has spent much of his career on the international side of the practice, coordinating with qualified counsel in other jurisdictions on cross-border wealth transfer, trust, and succession matters.
What Makes This Firm Structurally Different
Most New York trusts and estates departments are built primarily around domestic planning for New York-based families. Phillips Nizer’s department instead centers a meaningful share of its practice on international and transnational estate organization — U.S. citizens with substantial assets abroad, non-U.S. persons with substantial U.S. assets, and non-U.S. persons planning to become U.S. tax residents or domiciliaries. The firm coordinates this work with its own tax, pension, real estate, and corporate departments rather than referring cross-border tax questions out to separate counsel, which the firm states reduces the tax impact of multigenerational wealth transfers and helps preserve family-owned businesses across borders.
Practice Areas
- Domestic and international estate planning
- Trust and estate administration
- Guardianship
- Estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax planning
- Charitable giving and nonprofit representation
- Business succession planning for family-owned enterprises
Track Record
Michael Galligan has, per the firm, worked on cross-border wealth transfer, trust, and succession projects touching well over thirty countries over the course of his career, and Chambers and Partners has repeatedly recognized him as a leader in New York High Net Worth/Private Wealth Law. Separately, the firm’s Guardianship Practice, led by Elizabeth Adinolfi, has drawn outside media attention for its work on high-visibility conservatorship matters. U.S. News – Best Lawyers has ranked Phillips Nizer Tier 1 nationally in Trusts & Estates Law. These are the firm’s own characterizations of its practitioners’ work and recognitions; Awesome Attorneys did not independently verify the full scope of Mr. Galligan’s international matter count. Past results in any matter do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.
Client Voice
Phillips Nizer carries a 4.9-star aggregate client rating across publicly posted reviews on Lawyers.com, a strong score for a full-service firm of its size. The firm’s own materials do not publish individually attributed trusts and estates client testimonials, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify independently sourced, practice-specific client quotes beyond the aggregate rating; that absence is noted here rather than filled in with generic or unverifiable language.
Beyond the Courtroom
Michael Galligan has served on the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association, chaired its International Section from 2009 to 2010, and continues to serve on its Committee on LGBT People and the Law. He is a frequent speaker at international estate and tax law conferences, including the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law’s annual meeting.
Recognition
U.S. News – Best Lawyers has named Phillips Nizer a Tier 1 firm nationally and in the New York City metropolitan area for Trusts & Estates Law, and Chambers and Partners has repeatedly recognized Michael Galligan individually in New York High Net Worth/Private Wealth Law. Several of the department’s attorneys, including Donald Perry and Michael Galligan, have been listed in Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates Law. New York does not maintain a formal board-certification system for trusts and estates law comparable to Texas’s TBLS, so Awesome Attorneys does not apply “specialist” language to any attorney at this firm on that basis; the credentials above are peer-review rankings, not government-conferred certifications.
New York Legal Backdrop
Estate planning and administration in New York are governed primarily by the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (EPTL) and the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA). A valid will generally requires execution formalities under EPTL § 3-2.1, and New York’s basic estate tax exclusion for 2026 is $7,350,000, with estates exceeding 105% of that threshold losing the exemption entirely and being taxed from the first dollar (the so-called “cliff”). For international clients, treaty relief and situs rules can significantly affect U.S. estate and gift tax exposure, and non-U.S. domiciliaries are generally subject to U.S. estate tax only on U.S.-situs assets, with a far lower exemption than U.S. citizens and domiciliaries receive. None of this is legal advice; a specific estate plan, especially one with cross-border elements, should be evaluated by a licensed New York attorney based on the actual facts involved.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Phillips Nizer’s clearest differentiator is a century-old, full-service firm’s Trusts and Estates department that has built a genuine specialty in cross-border and international estate planning, led by a partner with recognized standing in that specific niche. The honest trade-off is that a firm this broad, with practices spanning entertainment, fashion, real estate, and immigration law alongside trusts and estates, is not a boutique built exclusively around private wealth work; a family with a straightforward, entirely domestic New York estate may not need the international coordination this department is built for. For a family or individual with assets, beneficiaries, or tax residency questions spanning more than one country, Phillips Nizer’s specific international capability makes it a reasonable firm to have on a shortlist.
Methodology and Sourcing
This profile was researched from Phillips Nizer’s own website (phillipsnizer.com), including its Trusts and Estates practice page and Michael Galligan’s attorney biography and news pages, cross-referenced against Chambers and Partners’ Spotlight profile of the firm, Best Lawyers’ firm and attorney rankings, and Lawyers.com’s aggregated client review data.
Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice
Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Phillips Nizer LLP prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any profiled firm, and inclusion in this directory is not a paid placement. “Awesome Attorneys” is a brand name only and does not constitute a rating or ranking claim. Facts stated are current only as of this profile’s research date.