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Sarah Moore Johnson
Office Managing Partner | Washington, D.C.
"Sarah is an excellent attorney and has built a good reputation. She is very thoughtful in her interactions with clients and is up to speed with sophisticated techniques."
Sarah Moore Johnson is a respected leader in the Washington, D.C. estate planning community. Her practice concentrates on estate planning, trust and estate administration, business succession planning, and charitable planning for wealthy individuals and their families. She particularly relishes streamlining and improving existing estate plans, building in tax efficiency and protection from divorce and creditors along the way. Ms. Johnson is an active Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and has been ranked as a top wealth planning attorney by Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and the Washingtonian magazine. Many of Sarah’s clients are family offices, entrepreneurs, real estate developers, and art collectors.
Sarah was a co-founding partner of Birchstone Moore LLC in 2014, a boutique private wealth law firm, that officially joined Harrison LLP in 2025. She is a frequent and award-winning speaker on tax and estate planning topics, from the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning and national meetings of ACTEC and the American Bar Association, to local estate planning councils and regional symposiums across the country. Sarah was recognized by the American Bar Association Taxation Section as a Nolan Fellow in 2008 for her leadership as a young lawyer, and by the American Bar Association in 2022 as having delivered one of the most influential continuing legal education programs in the country.
Ms. Johnson is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Georgia School of Law. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Greater Washington Community Foundation and uses her positions of influence to advocate for racial equity, diversity and inclusion in the estate planning industry to help close the racial wealth gap.
Sarah is a Southerner at heart and puts clients at ease with her relaxed, friendly manner. She earns their respect with her attention to detail, practical advice, honesty and depth of knowledge.
Capabilities
Charitable Planned Giving
Estate Planning
Estate & Trust Administration
Family Business Advice
Family Office Services
Tax Planning
Speeches & Publications
Publications
The Forgotten 40 Acres: How Real Property, Probate & Tax Laws Contributed To The Racial Wealth Gap And How Tax Policy Could Repair It, Sarah M. Johnson, Raymond C. Odom, 57 Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal 1, Spring 2022.
Art Crimes and Misdemeanors: Managing Risk in Estate Administration and in Appraisals of Stigmatized Art, Digital Journal of Advanced Appraisal Practice, Spring 2019.
Speeches
“352 Days and a Lifetime to Go: Practical, Prudent Planning Pointers for 2025 and Beyond”, Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning Conference, January 13, 2025
“Estate Planning in the Age of Assisted Reproductive Technology”, Delaware Trust Conference, October 28, 2024
“The Voldemort of Transfer Taxes: Paying the GST Tax and Planning for GST Non-Exempt Trusts”, ABA Virtual Fall Tax Meeting, September 24, 2024
“Surprise! Redefining Family in the Wild West of DNA Kits and Assisted Reproductive Technology”, Southern Federal Tax Institute, November 2, 2023 and Washington, DC Estate Planning Council, October 19, 2023
“The Voldemort of Transfer Taxes: What to Do When GST Tax is Due and Other Tales from the Dark Side”, DC Bar Estate Planning Tax Series, June 15, 2023
Visit here for a full list of publications and speeches.
Admissions
District of Columbia
Maryland
Virginia
Georgia
Education
University of Georgia School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude; Order of the Coif; Outstanding Notes Editor, Georgia Law Review; John C. O’Byrne Excellence in Taxation Award
Wake Forest University, B.S., magna cum laude; Thomas K. Hearn Excellence in Leadership Award; President, Panhellenic Council
Organizations
Immediate Past President, President, Vice President, Board Director and Former Committee Chair, Washington DC Estate Planning Council (2013 to 2022)
Board of Trustees, Greater Washington Community Foundation (2021 to present)
Co-Chair, Greater Washington Community Foundation’s Professional Advisors Council (2018 to 2021)
Steering Committee, Estates Trusts & Probate Law Section of D.C. Bar Association (2014-2015)
Former Chair, Estate Planning Committee of the D.C. Bar Association Taxation Section (2008-2009; Vice Chair from 2005-2008)
Subcommittee Chair, American Bar Association Task Force for Tax Reform (helped author a report submitted to Congress in 2012)
Co-Founder, DC Trusts and Estates Attorneys Study Group
Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”)
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
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