William D. Zabel

William D. Zabel is a founding partner of the firm and head of the Individual Client Services Group. Based in New York, he practices in the areas of estate planning, wills, trusts, charitable foundations, income- and gift-tax planning, estate administration and family law. Bill represents many of the wealthiest individuals in the country on tax planning; succession planning; charitable giving (through the use of private foundations, public charities, split-interest trusts and direct giving); estates and trusts, including representation of individuals and institutions acting as fiduciaries with respect to both general administrative matters and litigated or contested ones; and family law matters, including the negotiation of prenuptial, postnuptial and cohabitation agreements, and the negotiation or mediation of large divorce matters.

Bill graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University and cum laude from Harvard Law School. In 2006, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Lawyer, and has also been honored to receive an Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award, Brandeis University Distinguished Community Service Award, Distinguished Service Award (conferred by The New School) and a Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Extraordinary Leader Award. Bill is a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations, a Fellow of Brandeis University, American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel and the American Bar Foundation, and an Academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law. His civic and philanthropic activities have included, among many others, director, chair or trustee positions with Human Rights First, amfAR, New York University, The New School, Doctors of the World, Princeton University Planned Giving Committee, Sakharov Archives, Lincoln Center Theater and The Academy of American Poets.

Memberships

Professional
New York City Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
American Bar Association
The Florida Bar

Civic and Philanthropic
Human Rights First (Chairman)
amfAR (Director, 1998-2008)
New York University (Trustee)
The New School (Trustee)
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust (Trustee)
Doctors of the World (Director, 1997-2004)
Sakharov Archives
Princeton University Planned Giving Committee (Chairman)
Soros Foundations: Legal adviser to Open Society Institute and to Soros Foundations Network
Lincoln Center Theater (Director)
The Academy of American Poets (Director)
International Longevity Center - USA (Director)
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Board of Overseers (2004-09)
American Friends of the Israel Museum (Director)
The Lymphoma Foundation (Director)
Harmonie Club, (President, 1989-92)
Project on Death in America (Advisory Board, 1994-99)

Other Distinctions

Lifetime Achievement Award, The American Lawyer (2006)
Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award (2005)
Brandeis University Distinguished Community Service Award
Distinguished Service Award, The New School
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights 2003 Extraordinary Leader Award
Member, American Law Institute
Fellow, Brandeis University
Fellow, American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC)
Academician, International Academy of Estate and Trust Law
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Member, Council on Foreign Relations

Bar Admissions

• New York
• Florida

Court Admissions

• U.S. Supreme Court

Education