TAMPA – Trenam Law’s Tampa office recently welcomed two new attorneys to its staff.
Taylor Russo Hess started at Trenam Law on May 9 and Michael B. Schwartz on May 16.
“Both are practicing in the Private Client Services Group with a focus on estate and tax planning, wills and trusts,” Anne Zambrano, marketing director at Trenam Law, told the Florida Record.
Trenam Law employs approximately 12 attorneys in its Private Client Services Group, which develops client’s estate plans, administers trusts, and litigates tax, probate and trust disputes.
According to its website, the group is one of the largest and most experienced in the Tampa Bay area.
“Both are lateral hires coming in with a few years of experience," Zambrano said of Hess and Schwartz.
In law firms, a lateral hire is a lawyer who is hired on at a new firm in a similar position.
At Trenam, Hess will focus on helping clients prepare estate planning documents and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. Hess will also advise clients on tax-related issues.
Additionally in her role at Trenam Law, Hess will assist in probate and trust-related matters, and preparing gift and real estate tax returns. She will work with clients in corporate dealings including business planning, sales, mergers and acquisitions. She will also review and negotiate business contracts, shareholder agreements, partnership agreements and operating agreements.
Before joining Trenam Law, she worked with Macfarlane Ferguson and McMullen in Tampa.
Hess holds a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Virginia. She obtained her juris doctor degree and master’s of law degree in taxation at Georgetown University Law Center.
Schwartz’s area of practice at Trenam Law will be wealth planning and preservation, estate and tax planning, wills and trusts, and probate and trust administration. He will also assist in business transactions.
Before joining Trenam Law, Schwartz worked as a trial lawyer at Banker, Lopez, Gessler PA in Tampa.
Schwartz graduated from the University of Florida’s Fisher School of Accounting with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. He also earned a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Florida’s Fisher School of Accounting. Additionally, Schwartz received his juris doctor degree from the University of Alabama School of Law. He earned a master’s of law degree in taxation from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law.
Zambrano said Hess and Schwartz make a good fit at Trenam Law because they are “enthusiastic, young attorneys.”
Trenam Law was founded in 1970 and has offices in Tampa and St. Petersburg. The firm employs approximately 90 attorneys in many specialized areas such as banking, development, manufacturing, antitrust and trade regulation, financial services and technology.
Earlier this year, 20 of Trenam Law’s practice areas, including trusts and estate law, were ranked the highest rating - Tier One - by U.S. News and Word Report’s “Best Law Firms” guide.