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Michael A. Backer is a partner of the firm, where he serves as co-chair of its Tax, Trusts & Estates Department. He joined the firm in 1994 and was previously with the former Newark law firm of Clapp & Eisenberg from 1970 through 1994, where he also served as head of the firm’s Estate & Trust Practice Group. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey (1969) and New York (1981). Noted in The Best Lawyers in America for his expertise in probate law, Mr. Backer concentrates his practice in trusts and estates administration and wealth transfer planning for high net worth individuals and owners of closely-held businesses to achieve their estate planning objectives while minimizing their transfer tax liability. He routinely counsels individual and corporate fiduciaries on all facets of estate and trust administration, preparation of state and federal death and fiduciary income tax returns, post-mortem tax planning and fiduciary accountings. He also aggressively manages will contest, will construction and other fiduciary litigation for individuals and all major New Jersey bank trust departments. Mr. Backer is a graduate of Rutgers University, New Brunswick (1966), and he received a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law, Newark (1969), where he was a member of the Law Review. Following graduation from law school and admission to practice, he served a judicial clerkship with Hon. Harold Kolovsky, Judge of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. He has been in private practice ever since. Mr. Backer was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a national peer group of trust and estate practitioners, in 1990. He served on the Board of Consultors, the governing body of the New Jersey State Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Probate Section from 1984 through 1996 and for many years chaired that Section’s New Jersey Probate Code Revision and Reform Committee. He authored New Jersey’s bank sweep fee legislation. In 1991, the Revised Principal and Income Act, which he co-authored, was enacted into law; in 1997, New Jersey’s Prudent Investor Act, which he also co-authored, was enacted. He co-authored New Jersey’s innovative Uniform Principal and Income Act which was enacted in 2001 and, most recently, he is working on Uniform Trust Code legislation for New Jersey. Mr. Backer is a frequent lecturer on trust investment law, trends in probate litigation, new developments in New Jersey probate law and various aspects of estate and tax planning. He has served as an expert witness and has successfully mediated numerous complex, contested estate litigations. | 