ABA Career Counsel
Your Career Partner on the Web

Attorney By Attorney Career Profiles of the Profession Who? Barbara R. Hauser Special Counsel BRHauser@aol.com What? Primary Practice Area & Subspecialty Fields: Cross-border private client work (international estate planning) When? Years in the Practice Area: Since 1987 Years in the Legal Profession: Since 1976 Where? Employer: Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft www.cwt.com Size/Sector: 450+/ law firm City/State: New York, NY Law School: University of Pennsylvania Law School Undergraduate School/Degree: Wellesley College Why? Pluses/Challenges of Practice Area: It's a fascinating and complex area. Core Skills/Key Knowledge Needed in Your Practice Area: Strong background in U.S. estate planning Familiarity with other legal systems Advice to Lawyers and Law Students Interested in Your Practice Area: First get a strong technical expertise in the US rules (wills, trusts, taxes) then learn all you can about other countries' inheritance regimes. Join international groups. Then offer to answer questions and to speak at programs. How? Career Path to Current Position: Prior to joining Cadwalader, I was a partner in two Minneapolis law firms and served as Chief Executive Advisor at Carlson Holdings, Inc. (a privately-held international conglomerate). I also served as a clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and clerked for Justice Potter Stewart of the United States Supreme Court. I decided cross-border private client work was a fascinating field and had clients with international holdings. I taught the subject at a law school (as a Visiting Scholar of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School), studied extensively on my own (I am candidate for a Ph.D. in international tax at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands), and found colleagues in other countries. Eventually, I spent time in a Paris firm and in a Tokyo firm, and wrote a treatise: International Estate Planning: A Reference Guide, Juris Publisher 2002. Influences and Mentors: Wolfe Goodman, Toronto Daniel Angenieux, Paris Suggested Reading About Your Practice Area: My book! (see above) Job Search Techniques Used in Finding Your Position(s): I created it while a partner in a trust and estate practice. Bar Affiliations and Activities: American Bar Association Section of International Law and Practice: International Private Client Planning, Past Chair; Advisors Network, Director International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, Academician (and publications committee) Union Internationale des Avocats: Commission on International Estate Planning, President Emeritus; President of the United States chapter; and delegate to the United Nations for issues affecting women American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Fellow American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Member Recent Professional Publications: International Estate Planning: A Reference Guide, Juris Publisher 2002 The United States, Global Estate Planning, Kluwers A Child's "Station in Life" Inheritance Rights and Expectations, Journal of Wealth Management, Winter 2001 "The Use of Multiple (Situs) Wills" and "Transfer Tax Treaties, A Guide to International Estate Planning, American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Family Offices: a Proposed Prototype, International Legal Practitioner Estate Planning In and For Civil Law Countries, Trusts & Estates You Have to Change at Poggibonsi, Mesatop Press "Wills, Trusts, Estates and Related Taxes," The International Lawyer's Deskbook, American Bar Association Section of International Law and Practice "Mommy, Are We Rich?" Talking to Children about Family Money, Mesatop Press. Recent Professional Presentations: Ms. Hauser lectures extensively on international estate planning issues and private family wealth issues throughout the United States and in Toronto, Montreal, London, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Tokyo, Marrakech, Nice, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Rome, Torino, and New Delhi.