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Richard Tye at Clark Hill: A Former Veterinarian Who’s Now Dual Board Certified in Estate Planning and Tax Law

Before Richard Tye became one of a small number of Texas attorneys holding board certification in both estate planning and tax law, he earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Texas A&M. It’s an unusual first act for a wealth-planning attorney, but it points to the same pattern that defines his current practice: formal credentials in more than one demanding field, stacked rather than substituted. This profile is part of Awesome Attorneys’ coverage of San Antonio estate planning attorney options.

At a Glance

Origin & Background

Tye’s path to estate planning law ran through veterinary medicine — he holds both a B.S. and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Texas A&M before earning his J.D. from Baylor University and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University, one of the most selective tax law graduate programs in the country. He joined Clark Hill’s San Antonio office as Of Counsel in the Tax & Estate Planning practice in 2021, after building his career independently. He holds the comparatively rare distinction of being Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in both Estate Planning & Probate Law and Tax Law — two separate certification exams, each requiring its own experience threshold, continuing education, and peer references. He is admitted to practice in Texas, New York, and before the U.S. Tax Court, and is a member of the San Antonio Estate Planners’ Council.

San Antonio Estate Planning Attorney Practice Concentration

Tye’s practice spans the full estate planning process: inheritance and wealth-transfer planning, retirement income planning, incapacity planning, and asset protection, with particular attention to coordinating a plan across a client’s full financial picture rather than drafting documents in isolation. He prepares the resulting legal instruments directly — lifetime gifts, wills, various trust structures, and powers of attorney — meaning the same attorney who designs the strategy also drafts the documents that implement it.

Track Record

As with most estate planning practices, Tye’s public materials do not publish case-outcome statistics; the relevant signal is the dual board certification and LL.M. credential rather than a litigated track record. Individual estate and tax plans are specific to each client’s financial and family circumstances; past planning experience does not guarantee a particular outcome for a new client.

Client Voice

Tye’s public review presence is limited, consistent with a sophisticated tax-and-estate practice built on direct referrals and institutional reputation rather than consumer review platforms — a gap this profile discloses rather than smooths over. His recruitment to Clark Hill was publicly announced by the firm’s San Antonio office leadership, who cited his “integrity and knowledge of sophisticated tax and estate planning strategies” as a deciding factor, a form of institutional endorsement distinct from a client star rating.

Beyond the Courtroom

Tye’s active membership in the San Antonio Estate Planners’ Council reflects ongoing engagement with the local specialty bar. His unusual academic path — a veterinary doctorate before law school — is a genuine biographical detail rather than a marketing flourish, and his subsequent LL.M. in Taxation from NYU represents formal training beyond what either board certification alone requires.

Recognition

Tye’s dual Board Certification — in both Estate Planning & Probate Law and Tax Law — is the credential this profile treats as most significant. Holding two separate TBLS certifications simultaneously is uncommon even among specialists, since each requires its own multi-year experience threshold, exam, and continuing education track maintained in parallel.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Coordinated estate and tax planning, Tye’s specific dual specialty, requires tracking both the federal estate and gift tax framework (26 U.S.C. § 2001 et seq.) and Texas’s community property system, since how an asset is characterized under Texas marital property law directly affects its treatment for federal estate tax purposes at a spouse’s death. Retirement income planning — another area of Tye’s practice — also intersects with federal tax rules governing required minimum distributions from retirement accounts, an area where a dual-certified estate-and-tax attorney can coordinate both sides of the analysis rather than needing to consult separate specialists.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Richard Tye’s clearest differentiator is the dual board certification itself — Estate Planning & Probate Law and Tax Law together — reinforced by an NYU tax LL.M. and a genuinely unusual academic background that suggests a pattern of taking on demanding, credentialed training rather than relying on experience alone. For clients whose estate plans have real tax complexity, having one attorney certified in both disciplines can mean fewer handoffs between separate estate and tax counsel.

The honest trade-off is a thin public consumer-review record and Of Counsel status at a large national firm, which typically means firm-standard billing suited to sophisticated planning rather than a low-cost, high-volume practice. For complex, tax-sensitive estates specifically, that trade-off is likely to be the point rather than a drawback.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from Clark Hill’s own website and firm announcement of Tye’s hire, the San Antonio Estate Planners’ Council member directory, and Avvo’s attorney profile. Statutory references were checked against the U.S. Internal Revenue Code’s estate and gift tax provisions and general Texas community property principles. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented; the quoted material is attributed to its original published source.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Richard Tye or Clark Hill PLC 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 Richard Tye or Awesome Attorneys.