Mayer Brown announced today that David Berek has joined the firm’s Chicago office as a partner in the Private Clients, Trusts & Estates practice. Mr. Berek joins from Baker McKenzie.

“With nearly 30 years of experience as a lawyer and tax accountant, Dave is recognized as one of the top tax planning lawyers in the industry,” said James Casey, leader of Mayer Brown’s Private Client, Trusts & Estates practice. “Our clients will immediately benefit from Dave’s deep experience in tax planning and international estate planning, and his knowledge of family office structure and compliance.”

Mr. Berek assists wealthy families, high net worth individuals, corporate executives and privately owned family businesses in advanced wealth planning, and transfer tax strategies for sophisticated partnerships and family office structures. His practice covers grantor trust planning, lifetime taxable transfers to generation-skipping transfer tax exempt trusts, self-cancelling notes, private annuities, grantor retained annuity trusts, beneficiary defective inheritor’s trust and beneficiary deemed owner trusts.

“Mayer Brown’s strong reputation in the estate planning community both locally and nationally is second to none,” said Mr. Berek. “I look forward to using my accounting and legal background to help clients navigate the intricate web of tax issues that private equity and funds entrepreneurs face in connection with their estate planning needs.”

“Dave’s knowledge of the sophisticated structures involved in the trust and estates field, together with his multidisciplinary approach to wealth management, further bolsters the strength of our capabilities in Chicago,” added Britt Miller, managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Chicago office.