Raymond L. Sutton leads a multi-disciplinary team that serves as general counsel to high-net-worth families and their private and public businesses, advising on a range of tax, fiduciary, charitable, business and succession planning matters.
Ray, a former adjunct and visiting assistant law professor at the University of Denver Graduate Tax Program, is on the leading edge of developments in his field, writing and speaking on tax topics, private trust companies and family office issues across the country.
Ray is the former managing partner of the Denver office and served on the firm’s Policy Committee for 18 years. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America© for more than 20 years, and was named the Best Lawyers® 2011 Denver Trusts and Estates “Lawyer of the Year” and the Best Lawyers® 2014 Denver Litigation – Trusts and Estates “Lawyer of the Year.”
Experience :
- Ray applied for and obtained the last two issued Internal Revenue Service (IRS) private letter rulings governing the ownership of a private trust company, which enlarged the role of family members on the operating board.
- Ray applied for and obtained the last published Securities and Exchange Commission exclusion ruling that a family office and its affiliated private trust company were not required to register as investment advisors under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
- Ray led a team of firm lawyers who worked with professional advisors to design and implement a business succession plan which transferred interests in more than 150 family-owned companies to dynastic trusts in South Dakota in order to preserve and protect the companies in perpetuity for the benefit of the employees and family descendants.
- Through a nearly eight-year negotiation with the IRS, Ray and a team of attorneys to settle an asserted estate tax deficiency of more than $300 million for less than $20 million.
- The team argued that the estate’s block of super-voting stock in a public company should be substantially discounted for blockage, loss of key man and lack of marketability.
Memberships :
- American Council of Trust and Estate Counsel: Fellow
- American Bar Association
- Colorado Bar Association
- Denver Bar Association
Community :
- Foundation Board for Metropolitan State University of Denver (1995 to June 2013)
- Colorado Symphony Orchestra: Former Director
- Colorado Symphony Foundation: Director
Education :
- LL.M., University of Denver, 1979
- J.D., University of Colorado Law School, 1976
- B.A., University of Michigan, 1973
Admissions : U.S. Tax Court, Colorado, 1978
Cost
Rate : $$$