NAEPC’s AEP and EPLS Forum

In their presentation “Keys to Effective and Ethics-Savvy Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration,” Lauren, along with Paige Goepfert of Andersen and Benetta Park of Bessemer Trust, will examine how estate planning professionals across disciplines - attorneys, tax advisors, and corporate fiduciaries - can collaborate effectively while staying within their respective professional responsibility rules. 

Presented through three lenses, their presentation will cover the attorney’s perspective on engagement letters, defining the client and scope, conflicts of interest, confidentiality in multi-party  representations, and the risks of crossing state lines; the accountant’s perspective on AICPA standards, IRS Circular 230, information sharing and IRC Sec. 7216 consent, safeguarding client data, and the limits of the Sec. 7525 tax practitioner privilege versus the broader attorney-client privilege (including Kovel arrangements); and the fiduciary’s perspective on the attorney-client privilege, the role of agents and facilitators, and the fiduciary exception that can give trust beneficiaries access to otherwise privileged communications. 

Attendees will learn

• How to define the client and define the scope of an engagement across disciplines, and why a well-drafted engagement letter is the single most important tool for clarifying roles, managing conflicts, and reducing malpractice exposure.
• How the attorney-client privilege, the narrower IRS Sec. 7525 tax practitioner privilege, and Kovel arrangements actually work in practice - and the common missteps, like an inadvertent email forward or dual purpose CPA work, that waive privilege and expose clients.
• How to navigate the ethical duties that govern cross-disciplinary collaboration - confidentiality, informed consent, conflicts of interest, and data security - so that attorneys, accountants, and fiduciaries can share information and coordinate advice without running afoul of their respective professional standards.

For more information, click here.