Lee Wendel’s practice focuses on succession planning for business owners, estate planning, charitable giving, and estate and trust administration. He is listed in Ohio Super Lawyers and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2006. He is the Best Lawyers 2025 Columbus Lawyer of the Year for Trusts and Estates.

His practice includes designing personal estate plans and business succession plans for business owners; designing trusts and administering estates for US families, as well as non-US families with US assets or US family members; planning and implementing irrevocable grantor trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts and other lifetime gifting arrangements; planning and implementing generation-skipping trusts; designing and implementing limited partnerships and limited liability companies; advising charitable donors and organizations; and negotiating and implementing settlements of disputes involving estates and trusts. Lee coordinates the Squire Patton Boggs private wealth practice team.


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  • Designing and implementing irrevocable wealth transfer trusts for high-wealth families, both US and international.
  • Designing and implementing domestic and international estate plans and lifetime giving programs for clients with substantial wealth around the world.
  • Designing and implementing coordinated, tax-effective business succession plans for substantial family-owned businesses.
  • Representing high-net-worth estates and trusts, both US and international.
  • Planning and implementing family business and investment arrangements and structures.
  • Defending federal estate tax and gift tax audits.
  • Advising high-wealth families regarding US disclosure and reporting for non-US accounts, assets and companies.

Education

  • University of Michigan, J.D., 1987
  • Ohio Wesleyan University, B.A., 1984

Admissions

  • Ohio, 1987

Memberships & Affiliations

  • Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and serves on its Business Planning Committee and its International Estate Planning Committee. 
  • Member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law
  • Member of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Section 
  • Member of the Columbus Bar Association’s Estate and Gift Tax Committee
  • Active member of the Hilliard United Methodist Church

Languages

  • English

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  • Co-author, “Planning for the US Citizen With a Noncitizen Spouse,” Bloomberg BNA’s Daily Tax Report

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