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Emily J. Kuo
Partner | Chicago, IL
Emily works with individuals, multiple generations of families, and their advisors to implement planning techniques and find practical solutions in sensitive circumstances.
Emily Kuo counsels high-net-worth individuals and families on lifetime transfer tax reduction strategies, creates testamentary plans for clients in a broad spectrum of family situations, and represents fiduciaries in the administration of decedents’ estates and trusts.
For over 25 years, she has worked closely with family offices and wealth advisors to implement planning techniques and find practical solutions in sensitive circumstances. She has extensive experience in federal estate tax compliance and related post-mortem planning. Family offices rely on her federal expertise to structure plans across multiple generations and family branches, with assistance from local state counsel.
A frequent lecturer at professional education events, Emily was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel in 2012. Since 2011, she has qualified annually for inclusion in the Leading Lawyers Network, earning a peer rating in the top 5% of Illinois lawyers in the practice area of “Trust, Will & Estate Planning Law”. She served as Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Gordon J. Quist of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, for his 1997-98 term.
Emily is also a member of the American Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and Chicago Bar Association.
Capabilities
Estate Planning
Estate & Trust Administration
Speeches & Publications
Emily J. Kuo, “United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Returns,” Estate Administration: Business and Tax-Related Issues (Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2025 edition, 2022 edition, 2019 edition)
Louis S. Harrison and Emily J. Kuo, “United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Returns,” Illinois Estate Administration (Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2014 edition, 2011 supplement, 2009 edition, 2006 supplement, and 2003 edition)
Louis S. Harrison and Emily J. Kuo, “Attorneys’ Fees: An Assessment of the Current Standards for Fee Awards,” Litigating Disputed Estates, Trusts, Guardianships and Charitable Bequests (Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2023 edition, 2020 edition, 2016 edition, 2012 edition, 2009 edition, and 2002 edition)
“Duty of Loyalty: Hold on to Your Hat,” Estate Planning Course Materials Journal (ALI CLE, June 2017)
Louis S. Harrison and Emily J. Kuo, “Virtual Partners,” Trusts & Estates (Mar. 2010)
“QPRT, Interrupted,” 45th Annual Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute (Sept. 27, 2019)
“Forms 709 & 706: Practice Tips and Pitfalls,” Basics of Preparing and Understanding Tax Returns, Chicago Estate Planning Council (Jan. 25, 2017)
Click here for full list.
Admissions
IllinoisEducation
University of Chicago Law School, J.D.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.S., with highest distinction
Awards & Honors
Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (2012)
Leading Lawyers Network (2010-present)
Judicial Clerk, Honorable Gordon J. Quist of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan (1997-98 term)
