Lawrence Neher began his legal career at Hannoch Weisman, P.C. and served as Chairman of that firm’s 45-person Litigation Department for five years. Throughout his legal career and since the inception of Berkowitz Lichtstein, Lawrence has focused his practice on litigation and counseling concerning the conduct of fiduciaries and is widely recognized as among the top trusts & estates litigators in New Jersey. In addition to prosecuting and defending numerous litigations, Lawrence has counseled executors, trustees, accountants, corporate officers and directors, attorneys, beneficiaries and other interested parties on how disputes can be resolved so that litigation can be avoided or minimized.
Lawrence’s clients have included members of some of America’s most prominent families, international and local business entrepreneurs, foreign governments, national banks, brokerage firms and financial institutions, and well-known charitable organizations on both a national and international level. His cases have often made news headlines. In recent years, Lawrence has played a lead role in high-profile cases involving:
• A dispute as to where the estate of a Taiwanese business magnate, who died in New Jersey, should be administered;
• A challenge to the investment strategy employed to manage the fortune left by Henry Phipps, who was Andrew Carnegie’s partner in establishing U.S. Steel Corp.;
• The administration of charitable lead and private term trusts created by J. Seward Johnson, Sr., a member of the founding family of the health care giant;
• A charitable bequest to an internationally renowned orchestra, which was disputed by another musical organization with a similar name, under the doctrine of “probable intent.”
Several of the matters Lawrence has handled have resulted in significant judicial decisions, including cases of first impression in New Jersey concerning the extent to which a fiduciary may assert the attorney/client privilege and the work product doctrine; and the status of a charitable lead trust for purposes of New Jersey’s Gross Income Tax Act; and the enforceability of a mandatory arbitration clause contained in a decedent’s will. Matters are frequently referred to him by national law firms who do not practice in New Jersey, and by trust and estate practitioners in New Jersey who do not have the same depth of estate litigation experience as Berkowitz Lichtstein.
Lawrence has appeared in both state and federal courts, as well as the New Jersey Tax Court. He frequently lectures to industry and professional groups with an interest in fiduciary and estate administration, investment issues and the rights of beneficiaries of private and statutorily created trusts. His scholarly work has been published in the New Jersey Law Journal.
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