ISBA member Susan T. Bart recently joined Schiff Hardin LLP in Chicago as a partner in the Private Clients, Trusts and Estates Group.

Ms. Bart's practice focuses on estate and gift tax planning, trust and estate administration, charitable planning, and fiduciary counsel. Her clients include wealthy individuals and families, family business owners, corporate executives, banks and trust companies, trustees and executors, and private foundations.

Susan is a fellow, regent, and former Illinois state chair of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC), the leading national association for trust and estate lawyers. She was the Reporter of the Uniform Trust Decanting Act, which is now being enacted in several states. She has also been active in Illinois trust law legislation.

A recognized industry thought leader, Susan has written extensively on trust and estate law topics with more than 30 published articles and two books. She has lectured to professional groups around the country, such as the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning (University of Miami), ACTEC, the Notre Dame Trust & Estate Planning Institute, ALI-ABA, the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), and the American Bankers Association.

Susan has garnered many accolades for her work, including recognition as a 2017 National Law Journal Divorce, Trusts & Estates Trailblazer, a leading lawyer in Private Wealth by Chambers, and “best in wealth management” by Euromoney Legal Media Group in 2013. She also received the 2013 Austin Fleming Award from the Chicago Estate Planning Council for achievement in estate planning practices, among other awards.

She started her private law career after clerking for the Hon. Richard D. Cudahy, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.