Jay Waxenberg is a partner in our Private Client Services Department and a former Chair. He advises on all aspects of multi-generational wealth planning and has particular expertise in complex estate planning, related tax work and the administration of estates and trusts. As a member of our Fiduciary Litigation Group, Jay is regularly involved in will contests and other estate- and trust-related litigations. He was previously a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee.
Jay has extensive experience working with high-net worth individuals and their estates and has assisted clients, often for many years, in the structuring of their estate plans so as to minimize gift, estate and generation-skipping taxes in the transmission of their wealth through several generations. Lauded by his clients as “an all-star private client lawyer” who is “very focused on client service,” he is involved in the full range of his clients’ economic and personal concerns, including closely held businesses, commercial and residential real estate holdings, artistic collections and philanthropy. Jay has helped his clients structure new business ventures, restructure existing ventures with an emphasis on shifting appreciation potential to younger generations, and has guided the sale and liquidation of businesses. He regularly handles family matters, such as the preparation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, counsels on charitable giving and structures plans to enable client’s businesses to remain intact at their death, and to ensure the desired continuity of ownership and control.
Jay lectures regularly on estate planning topics and has written numerous articles that have appeared in various legal publications. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Jay is a former Chair of the Estate and Gift Tax Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He serves on the professional advisory committees of a number of museums and hospitals in New York.
Education
- New York University School of Law, LL.M., (Taxation)
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Boston University School of Law, J.D.
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State University of New York at Stony Brook, B.A.
Admissions & Qualifications
- New York
Court Admissions
- Tax Court of the United States
Memberships
American Bar Association
New York City Bar (Council on Taxation, Past Chair of Estate and Gift Taxation Committee, Past Member of Committee on Trusts, Estates and Surrogate's Courts)
New York State Bar Association (Committee on Estate Planning, Trusts and Estates)
UJA-Federation of New York (Former Chair and Vice Chair of Trusts and Estates Lawyers Group)
American Law Institute-American Bar Association (Estate Planning Advisory Panel)
Fiduciary Trust International Advisory Board
Columbia University Health Sciences Professional Advisors Circle
New York Philharmonic Bankers and Lawyers Advisory Committee
Museum of Arts & Design Professional Advisory Committee
Museum of Modern Art Planned Giving Advisory Committee
New York-Presbyterian Hospital Planned Giving Advisory Council
New York Public Library Planned Giving Advisory Committee
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Trust and Estate Advisory Committee
Awards & Recognition
Chambers USA: Nationwide: Wealth Management: Eastern Region 2006-2016
Chambers High Net Worth: USA – Private Wealth: Eastern Region; New York – Private Wealth 2016-2021, 2023-2024
Best Lawyers in America 2005-2025
Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year: Litigation - Trusts and Estates 2020
JD Supra Readers' Choice: Wealth Management & Estate Planning 2018
Citywealth Leaders List 2010-2013, "North America's Leaders in Private Wealth Management," Leading Lawyers
Crain’s New York Business, Most Connected New Yorkers 2014
New York Super Lawyers 2006-2022
“Top 100 Attorneys,” Worth Magazine 2006-2007
Fellow, American College of Trust and Estates Counsel