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Leiha Macauley – Partner

Professional Experience

Leiha Macauley practices in the areas of trust and estate administration, estate planning and trust, estate and fiduciary litigation. Leiha is a member of the firm's Disabilities and Special Needs Planning and Probate Litigation and Controversies practice groups and she regularly counsels traditional and nontraditional families. Her practice also involves advising clients on achieving philanthropic goals through the use of private foundations and charitable trusts. Leiha serves as an executor or trustee for her clients and their families.

Leiha developed and co-directs the Child Health Advocacy Partnership, a venture of the East Boston Community Health Center, the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children, and Day Pitney which teams doctors with attorneys to provide legal information and advocacy to underprivileged families.

Leiha is a trustee of the Boston Bar Foundation and the Massachusetts Women's Bar Foundation. Her other civic contributions include:

• Member, Board of Directors, Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, 2006 to 2009
• Member, Executive Committee of the Boston University Law Alumni Association, 2002 to present
• Chair, Junior Fellows Society of the Boston Bar Foundation, 2006 to present
• Member, Boston Bar Association's Public Interest Committee, 2006 to present
• Co-Chair, Boston Bar Association Trusts & Estates New Developments Committee 2008 to present
• Member, Medical Legal Partnership for Children Boston Advisory Board 2008 to present
• Member, Executive Committee of the Trustees of the Boston Bar Foundation 2008 to present
• President, Boston University Law National Young Alumni Council, 2005 to 2007
• Chairman, American Liver Foundation Run for Research Marathon Team, 2004
• Vice Chairman, American Liver Foundation Run for Research Marathon Team, 2003
• Big Sister to Lauren, of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, 1999 to present

Practice Areas

• Disabilities and Special Needs Planning
• LGBT Planning
• Probate Litigation / Probate Controversies
• Trust Services and Fiduciary Compliance
• Trusts and Estates

News, Publications & Presentations

• Quoted, "The End of a Decade of Uncertainty Over Gift and Estate Taxes," New York Times, January 4, 2013
• Featured, "A Proliferation of Ways to Use a Tax Break as Its End Nears," Wealth Matters; "The Gift Tax and Other Tax Worries," Bucks; New York Times, December 14, 2012
• Featured, "Day Pitney Partner Leiha Macauley Named ACTEC Fellow," Day Pitney Press Release, December 11, 2012
• Featured, "Ninety-eight Day Pitney Attorneys Recognized by Super Lawyers," Day Pitney Press Release, October 22, 2012
• Featured, "Seventy-Five Day Pitney Lawyers Named to Best Lawyers List for 2013," Day Pitney Press Release, August 23, 2012
• Quoted, "Some are more equal than others," Financial Times, June 29, 2012
• "The 'entail' entails all," The Boston Globe, May 7, 2012
• Co-author, "The Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code," Boston Bar Journal, Winter 2012
• Featured, "Fifty Day Pitney Attorneys Recognized as Super Lawyers," Day Pitney Press Release, October 24, 2011
• Co-author, "'Fiduciary exception' to attorney-client privilege," Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, July 11, 2011
• Speaker, "Charitable Board Service," Boston Bar Association, May 6, 2011
• Quoted, "More money for your kids," Fortune, January 25, 2011
• Quoted, "Voir Dire," National Law Journal, November 15, 2010
• Featured, "Fifty-seven Day Pitney Attorneys Recognized as Super Lawyers; Six Additional Lawyers Recognized as 'Rising Stars'," Day Pitney Press Release, November 12, 2010
• Quoted, "Planning for Income and Estate Taxes in an Uncertain Time," New York Times, November 12, 2010
• Quoted, "Day Pitney adopts health clinic and blazes new trail," Boston Business Journal, September 10, 2010
• Speaker, "Representing Estate and Trust Beneficiaries and Fiduciaries," 13th Annual Advanced ALI-ABA Course of Study for the Estate Planner, Litigator, and Corporate Fiduciary Counsel, July 15-16, 2010
• "Managing Trusts in Uncertain Times," ALI-ABA Representing Trust and Estate Beneficiaries Course Materials Journal, July 2010
• Co-author, "Deconflicting in Representing Multiple Generations, Entities, and Interests," ALI-ABA Representing Trust and Estate Beneficiaries Course Materials Journal, July 2010
• Quoted, "How to be a Good Executor," The Faster Times, April 26, 2010
• Panelist, "How to Survive & Thrive as a New Lawyer," BU Law Alumni Association, January 28, 2010
• Featured, "People in the Law," Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, November 16, 2009
• Co-author, "10 Tips on Community Property for the Common Law Estate Planner," Boston Bar Association's Trust and Estates Section Newsletter, Fall 2009
• Speaker, "Trusts & Estates Year in Review 2009," Boston Bar Association Trusts and Estates Section, June 15, 2009
• Co-author, "Ten Significant Changes Under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code," Boston Bar Association's Trusts and Estates Section Newsletter, Spring 2009
• Speaker, "Protecting Community Property Interests," Boston Bar Association Trusts and Estates Section, April 23, 2009
• "At Last! The Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code," Boston Bar Journal, March/April 2009
• Speaker, "Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code," Boston Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Seminar, March 12, 2009
• Featured, "Day Pitney Elevates Nine Attorneys to Partner," Day Pitney Press Release, February 12, 2009
• Speaker, "Trust, Estate & Fiduciary Litigation," Boston Bar Association Trusts and Estates Section, February 10, 2009
• "An Overview of SIPC and FDIC Rules," Boston Bar Association's Trusts and Estates Section Newsletter, Winter 2009
• Co-author, "Implementing the Trust," Understanding and Using Trusts, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 2009
• Interviewee, "Healthy Homes For Healthy Families Project For Children," The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, August 2008
• "Compensatory Stock Options and Estate Administration," Boston Bar Association's Trusts and Estates Section Newsletter, Winter 2008
• Leiha Macauley Profiled in The Boston Globe's, "Six in the City," January 1, 2008
• Speaker, "Business Development for Associates: Three Amazing Success Stories," West LegalEdcenter, November 14, 2007
• Co-author, "Prudence - From Fuzzy to Precise," ALI-ABA Course Materials, Representing Estate and Trust Beneficiaries and Fiduciaries, 2007

Education

• Boston University School of Law, J.D.
• Cornell University, B.A.

Admissions

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Awards and Achievements

• Leiha Macauley received the 2011 Lelia Josephine Robinson Award from the Boston University School of Law Women's Law Association. The award, named for the first woman admitted to practice law in Massachusetts, honors exemplary leadership in one's community.


• Leiha Macauley was named a Five Star Wealth Manager in the Boston area, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013


• Leiha was recognized as a Massachusetts Super Lawyers "Rising Star," 2005-2012


• Leiha was recognized in 2006 by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an "Up and Coming Lawyer," an annual selection of 15 Massachusetts lawyers who have been members of the bar for 10 years or less and who have distinguished themselves in their careers and in their communities


• Leiha was recognized in 2008 by the Boston Globe as one of six Boston-area "unsung heroes" who is doing her part to make Boston a better place


• Leiha was a recipient of the Boston Business Journal's 2006 "40 under 40" award, which recognizes business professionals who have demonstrated talent, leadership, and promise and whose community contributions and professional abilities have brought them measurable success in their chosen field


• In 2003, Leiha was honored as one of 10 lawyers selected to participate in the Boston Bar Association's Public Interest Leadership Program


• Leiha was chosen for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, Trusts and Estates, 2013