Legal Experience
He has over 28 years of legal experience as an estate, business, and real estate attorney. His practice emphasizes family estate planning and business planning, including partnership, Limited Liability Company and corporation formation, and business succession services for small and medium-sized businesses, farms and ranches. Early in his career he was the City Attorney of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and represented developers in real estate ventures.
Estate Planning Expertise
He has conducted numerous workshops and seminars throughout Northern California, has spoken in Paris at a series of seminars on international estate planning, and in 1993 he led the Quarterly Round Table discussion on Family Limited Partnerships at the Second Annual Meeting of the California Tax Bar in Los Angeles. He currently is a provider with the Department of Insurance and has three courses for which he is the primary instructor.
Education
Allen is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati (Ohio), 1969, with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Affairs. He holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University of Denver (Colorado), 1972, studied post-graduate courses in estate planning and taxation, receiving an LL.M in Taxation from the University of Miami (Florida) in 1978.
Strong Legal Counsel
He is licensed as an attorney in California and Colorado and is a member of the California State Bar Association, the Contra Costa County Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He is also a member of the California State Trusts and Estates Section, the California State Bar Real Estate Section, the California State Bar Taxation Section, and a past member of the Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, the Family Firm Institute, the Trusts & Estates Section of the California State Bar Speakers Bureau, and Past President of the Golden Gate Chapter of the Society of Financial Services Professionals.
Business Experience
In addition to the 28, plus, years of practicing law, in the 1990s Allen was the Chief Operating Officer of a real estate development company, represented companies as a real estate consultant, and acted as an advanced planning specialist for a financial services company.
Problem-Solving & Dispute Resolution
Problem-solving and dispute resolution are often an integral part of an estate or business plan. Allen has successfully applied these techniques to dozens of business and family succession situations. Also, he has completed a professional mediation training program, with Rosenberg Mediation Training, and utilizes noncoercive facilitated discussions to achieve consensus among family members and business partners to facilitate the resolution of friendly disputes.
With an LL.M in Taxation and extensive legal background, together with experience in real estate development, business management, dispute resolution, and insurance planning and sales, Allen is uniquely qualified to provide an integrated approach to complex planning issues.