Overview
Jay is a partner in the Tax, Trusts and Estates Group. He helps clients through all stages of estate planning, including wills, trusts and charitable gift planning, international estate and tax planning, including foreign bank account and financial asset reporting and offshore voluntary disclosures, and trusts, estate and fiduciary litigation matters.
Jay serves as a member of the firm’s Policy Committee (Board of Directors), and also serves as a Senior Vice President and Director of the Dorsey & Whitney Trust Company. Jay was previously a board member of Alaska National Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary Alaska National Insurance Company, an Alaska domiciled workers’ compensation and commercial insurance carrier, which was acquired by CopperPoint Insurance Companies in 2019 for $900 Million.
Jay was named Dorsey & Whitney’s “Scales of Justice Award” for Exceptional Pro Bono Work in 2016 and received Dorsey’s Scales of Justice Award in recognition of exceptional pro bono efforts (2017).
Prior to joining Dorsey & Whitney, Jay worked as a paralegal in the Estates & Personal practice group at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York and as an extern with the Office of Chief Counsel for the IRS.
Education & Admissions
University of Florida Levin College of Law (LL.M., Taxation, 2010), Janice Dawson Quinn Graduate Tax Assistantship
Seattle University School of Law (J.D., 2009), magna cum laude
Managing Editor, Seattle University Law Review
University of Washington (B.A., Political Science, 2004)
Admissions
- Washington
- Alaska
- New York
- U.S. Tax Court
Experience
Representative Experience
- Helps high-net worth individuals and families design sophisticated lifetime gifting plans to transfer assets to future generations while minimizing income, estate, and gift taxes, including the use of grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), installment sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts (IDGTs), qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), family partnerships and Limited liability companies, and borrowing transactions.
- Advises U.S. individuals and families with regard to foreign reporting issues including the Foreign Bank Account Reporting Act (FBAR), the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the U.S. Streamlined Procedure, the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), and expatriation.
- Assists individuals and families based outside the U.S. with the proper structuring of U.S. inbound investment to minimize U.S. income, gift and estate tax.
- Works with business owners on the successful transition of businesses to the next generation or to outside parties.
- Designs and administers private charitable foundations, supporting organizations, charitable lead trusts, and charitable remainder trusts.
- Represent taxpayers in income, estate, and gift tax controversies.
News & Resources
Articles
News & Press Mentions
Select Presentations
- Introduction to International Estate Planning CLE, Washington State Bar Association International Practice Section, June 28, 2018
- Pre-Immigration Estate Planning, International Tax Conference, Washington State Society of Certified Public Accountants, May 23, 2017
- Co-presenter: “Pre-immigration estate Planning," Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) – Seattle Chapter, January 26, 2017
- "Ethics in Trust Planning," National Business Institute CLE, August 26, 2014
- Co-presenter: “Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Expatriation and the Exit Tax," Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) – Seattle Chapter, April 24, 2014
- “The Probate Process Start to Finish, Family Support and the Washington Laws of Intestacy," National Business Institute CLE, August 26, 2013
- “Probate & Trust Administration Fundamentals: Dealing with Creditors and Creditor Claims," Washington State Bar Association CLE, August 1, 2013
- “Gift Tax Planning,” National Business Institute CLE, February 11, 2013
- “Probate Boot Camp, First Steps," National Business Institute CLE, August 21, 2012
- “Trusts 201, Basic Investing Rules and Strategies and Trustee Fiduciary Duties,” National Business Institute CLE, November 15, 2011
Industries & Practices
Banking & Financial Institutions
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceCanada Cross-Border Transactions
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceNonprofit & Tax Exempt Organizations
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceTax Controversy & Litigation
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceTrusts & Estates Litigation
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practice- Banking & Financial Institutions
- Canada Cross-Border Transactions
- Closely Held Businesses
- Nonprofit & Tax Exempt Organizations
- Tax Controversy & Litigation
- Trusts & Estates
- Trusts & Estates Litigation
Professional & Civic
Community Involvement
- Member of the Board, The Dorsey & Whitney Foundation
- Senior Vice President and Director of the Dorsey & Whitney Trust Company
- Director, Stanley M. Proctor Company, Twinsburg, OH
- Director, Kline Galland, Seattle Washington
- Advisory Board, Full Life Care
- Finance Committee Member, Stroum Jewish Committee Center
- Seattle Estate Planning Council
Accolades
- Listed in Best Lawyers in America©, 2025
- Recognized by Chambers High Net Worth (HNW) for Private Wealth Law – Washington, 2017-2023
- Contributed more than 50 Challenge pro bono hours, 2020, 2022
- Dorsey & Whitney – Scales of Justice Team Award (The World Ventilator Foundation), 2021
- Listed as a "Rising Star" by Washington Super Lawyers, 2016-2021
- Listed in Washington Super Lawyers, 2024
