Sophisticated. Successful. Multifaceted

Photo of Lynn E. Riley

Lynn E. Riley

  • Partner
Photo of Lynn E. Riley

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Practice Areas:

  • Trusts & Estates
  • Corporate & Business Law
Rhode Island Monthly Professional Excellence Law 2022
Rhode Island Monthly Professional Excellence Law 2023
Lynn E. Riley | Recognized By Best Lawyers | 2024

Biography

Lynn is a partner and Chairperson of the Firm's estate planning group. Her practice focuses on advising individuals, business owners, professionals and families on wealth preservation, asset transfer, and charitable giving. She employs sophisticated estate planning and estate settlement techniques to save clients gift, estate and income taxes, while ensuring that their property passes in accordance with their wishes. Lynn has considerable experience in structuring inter-generational asset transfers, generation-skipping and income tax planning, retirement and elder law planning, business succession planning and asset protection planning.

Lynn also represents executors and trustees with respect to all aspects of administration of decedents' estates and trusts. She is skilled at obtaining Superior Court approval for trust accountings, modifications and trust terminations. She has considerable experience in handling guardianship and conservatorship cases before the Probate Courts. Lynn works with attorneys in the Firm's Litigation Group representing individual and corporate fiduciaries in probate, guardianship and trust proceedings involving fiduciary liability issues, will contests, accountings and related court proceedings.

Upon graduating from law school, Lynn served as a law Clerk to The Honorable Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger and Associate Justice Robert G. Flanders of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Lynn began her legal career at the law firm Hinckley, Allen & Snyder working out of the firm's Providence and Boston offices.

Lynn is a popular instructor at continuing legal education seminars sponsored by the Rhode Island Bar Association, and guest on WPRI 12 Money Pros.

Education

  • Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
    • LLM - 2006
    • Major: Taxation
  • Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts
    • J.D. - 1995
    • Honors: summa cum laude
  • Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts
    • B.S. - 1986
    • Major: Finance

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts, 1996
  • U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 1999
  • Rhode Island, 1997
  • U.S. District Court District of Rhode Island, 1999
  • Florida, 2010

Professional Associations

  • Florida Bar Association
  • Rhode Island Bar Association
  • Massachusetts Bar Association
  • Rhode Island Probate and Trust Committee, Elder Law Committee
  • Rhode Island Continuing Legal Education Committee

Classes & Seminars

  • “Suddenly Single: Smart Planning for the Single Client in Transition”, March 2010, Bryant Women’s Summit, Bryant University
  • “Planning and Administrating a Rhode Island Estate” sponsored by the Rhode Island Bar Association, 2002 – 2012
  • “Recent Developments in the Law”, moderator, sponsored by the Rhode Island Bar Association, 2001 – 2022
  • “Family Limited Partnerships in Estate Planning and Asset Protection”, US Bank/Bank of America, March 2009
  • “Estate Planning Round Up, 2007” sponsored by Citizens Bank and the Rhode Island Foundation
  • The High Cost of Dying in RI”, sponsored by the Rhode Island Bar Association, October 2007
  • RI Guardianship (Seminar and Publication sponsored by the Rhode Island Bar Association)

Published Works

  • Contributing Author to “A Practical Guide to Probate Practice in Rhode Island”, 2010, 2017, 2020, 2022 a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education publication

Pro Bono Activities

  • Former Vice President and current member of Estate Planning Council of Rhode Island
  • Member, The Hope Club
  • Professional Advisory Committee Member to the Rhode Island Community Foundation

Honors

  • Rhode Island Monthly, Professional Excellence in the Law, 2023
  • Best Lawyers in America, 2024