Anderson Kill P.C. is pleased to welcome two new attorneys into the firm. Ruth Ann Stauffer joins the firm's Trusts and Estates Group in the New York office on an Of Counsel basis. Also in New York, Ian Bain joins the Insurance Recovery Group and the Corporate and Commercial Litigation Group as an attorney.

Ruth Ann Stauffer administers estates and trusts in New York and New Jersey (and with the assistance of local counsel, in Connecticut and Florida) with a range of values exceeding  $100 million at the top end. Her services include preparation of estate tax returns, conduct of estate tax audits, post-mortem tax planning, and extensions regarding payment of estate tax pursuant to IRC Sections 6161 and 6166 and similar state statutes.

In more than two decades of T&E practice, Ruth Ann has drafted and analyzed receipt, release, refunding and indemnification agreements in connection with settlement of estates and trusts; prepared and reviewed gift tax returns; decanted trusts, including drafting of documents and analysis of permissible scope of decanting in light of possible gift and GST tax issues; drafted wills, trust instruments and LLC operating agreements; analyzed wills and trust instruments in connection with estate planning and post mortem tax planning; prepared, reviewed, and provided advice regarding accountings for trusts; settled estates and trusts with New York State's Attorney General; and reviewed federal and state fiduciary income tax returns for estates and trusts.

In addition to her private practice experience, Ruth Ann worked as an associate attorney in the Real Estate Division of the New York City Housing Authority. In a hiatus from legal work in the mid-1990s, she served as Social Services Coordinator in Moscow, Russia for the Mennonite Central Committee, an international relief and development organization. There she coordinated humanitarian aid shipments to Russia and Ukraine. She has a working knowledge of Russian and French and is fluent in German.

Ruth Ann is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey. She holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. from Goshen College.