Brian T. Whitlock retired as Senior Tax Partner from a Midwest
regional certified public accounting firm in October 2016. He currently practice
law.
Brian develops and implements wealth transfer strategies for high
net worth individuals; business succession planning; and the administration and
tax compliance of trusts, estates, and exempt organizations. Brian is adept at
tailoring estate tax deferral and wealth transfer strategies that fulfill the
personal and non-tax objectives of clients.
Brian received his B.A. from
Northwestern University in 1976 and his J.D. with honors from IIT/Chicago-Kent
College of Law in 1979, and his L.L.M. (Taxation) with high honors from
IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1989.
For over 13 years, Brian taught
as an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Gies College of Business at the University
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the Masters of Science in Taxation Program at
the Chicago Campus. He taught both “Taxation Closely Held Business Entities and
their Stakeholders” and “Fiduciary Income Taxation”.
Brian is the
current Chairman of the Illinois Board of Examiners which oversees the
administrate of the CPA Examination in Illinois. He is a Past Chairman of the
Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS). and a receipient of the ICPAS Lifetime Achievement
Award and the Chicago Estate Planning Council’s Austin Fleming Distinguished
Service Award.
In addition to his continued active involvement in
professional associations of Certified Public Accountants, Brian is a member of
the American Bar Association, including its Tax Section and the Real Property
and Probate Section; the Illinois State Bar Association; the Chicago Bar
Association, including participation in the Federal Estate and Gift Tax
Committee. Brian writes a quarter column under the by-line “Untaxingly yours”
for Taxes – The Tax Magazine, published by the CCH division of Wolters Kluwer’s.
Lee A. Arbus, JD, LL.M. (Taxation), CPA, joined Levun, Goodman & Cohen,
LLP as a partner in 1995. After graduating from law school in 1978, he
worked in the tax department of a major international accounting firm. He
began practicing law in 1980 and devotes the majority of his time to
representing individuals and entrepreneurs in estate planning and business
planning activities. Mr. Arbus also represents trustees and executors in
complex estate and trust administration matters and helps these individuals with
various trust accounting issues and tax return preparation issues. In
addition to representing individuals, Mr. Arbus has also been providing business
and legal advice to closely-held businesses.
Mr. Arbus has been a frequent lecturer and presenter for the Illinois
Institute of Continuing Legal Education and the Illinois CPA Society. He
has also been a member of the Illinois CPA Society’s Estate and Gift Tax
Planning Sub-Committee since 1982 and has also served as Chair of that
Committee. He has chaired Illinois CPA Society Task Forces in presenting
the Annual Tax Conference and the Annual Estate and Gift Tax Conference.
In addition, Mr. Arbus has spoken at the AICPA’s Annual Tax Conference in
Washington, DC and has also appeared at the AICPA’s Practitioner’s Symposium in
Las Vegas. He has also given a number of presentations for local CPA
Society chapters, the Chicago Estate Planning Council and the Greater North
Shore Estate and Financial Planning Council, where he formerly was the President
and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Arbus is currently a member of
the Lurie Children’s Hospital Legacy Board.
Jonathan
K. Beer, JD, LLM practices in estate planning and taxation at Levun, Goodman
& Cohen, LLP. Mr. Beer has previously worked in law practice and in the
private client group at an international tax and advisory firm. He has worked
closely with settlors and fiduciaries in all aspects of the life of a trust:
design and formation, administration, compliance, and termination.
Mr.
Beer received a Juris Doctor from BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School (2013) and
spent his third year of law school visiting the Northwestern Pritzker School of
Law, where he earned a Master of Laws in Taxation (2013). Mr. Beer is fluent in
German and enjoys baking.