A Personal Approach To Resolving Your Estate Planning & Litigation Concerns
Dana Dwiggins

ALAN D. FREER

Partner

BIOGRAPHY

Alan Freer is a member of the firm’s management committee, where he focuses his practice primarily on trust and estate litigation. Alan also handles all aspects of trust and estate administration, and routinely represents beneficiaries and fiduciaries in contested matters. He has substantial experience in challenging and defending the validity of estate planning documents, including wills, codicils, trusts and amendments. Alan routinely prosecutes and defends claims for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, undue influence, breach of trust, accounting, fiduciary removal, competency, lack of capacity, unjust enrichment, closely held business disputes and elder abuse.

Alan represents beneficiaries, fiduciaries, and grantors in contested matters from prelitigation case assessment and dispute negation, to all stages of litigation, including trial and appellate practice. Additionally, he has represented fiduciaries in complex administrations, including multi-jurisdictional and international issues, sophisticated business succession plan implementation, bringing a litigation perspective to assess and implement intended plans.

More recently, Alan has been actively engaged in the expanding area of domestic asset protection (spendthrift) trust litigation. He has represented creditors, beneficiaries, trustees and grantors in both attacking and defending asset protection trusts. 

Alan is a Fellow with The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and has received the highest AV Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell. He has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America since 2016, and received awards for the Lawyer of the Year for Southern Nevada in the area of Trust and Estates (2020) and Trust and Estate Litigation (2017, 2021 and 2023). He has also been recognized as one of the top 100 lawyers in the Mountain States region by Super Lawyers from 2018 to present.

Alan is a member of the State Bar of Nevada and recently completed serving a twelve-year period on the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, including a two-year term as committee chair. Currently, he serves on the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board and as a co-chair of the Legislative Committee for the Probate and Trust Section (a position he has held since 2014) for the State Bar of Nevada. Alan also volunteers as a mentor for the State Bar of Nevada’s Transitioning into Practice Program (TIP) since 2015, where he has assisted and trained newly licensed lawyers on Nevada-specific rules, procedures, ethics and best practices.


PAST POSITIONS

  • Lionel, Sawyer & Collins, Associate, 2001-2005
  • Utah Attorney general, Public Affairs Division, Law Clerk, 1999-2001

EDUCATION

  • University of Utah College of Law, Salt Lake City, Utah
    • Juris Doctorate – 2001
    • Honors: summa cum laude
    • Honors: Order of the Coif
    • Law Review: Law Review, staff Editor, 1999–2001
  • Utah State University, Logan, Utah
    • Master of Arts – 1998
    • Honors: summa cum laude
    • Major: English: Rhetoric, Theory and Practice of Writing
  • Utah State University, Logan, Utah
    • Bachelor of Arts – 1995
    • Honors: cum laude
    • Major: English, Philosophy, Liberal Arts and Sciences

Presentations

  • Fishing without a Hook: Fiduciary Duty in the Age of directed Trusts, Identification, and Exoneration, Discussion Leader, “Pursuing Claims for Breach of Fiduciary Duty in the Age of Non-Fiduciaries and Extensive Releases, Indemnities, and Exoneration of Fiduciaries Where No One Is Responsible,” with Scott Swain/Cambridge Forum on Private Wealth Litigation, Nevada Trust Conference, April 2023
  • Fishing without a Hook: Fiduciary Duty in the Age of directed Trusts, Identification, and Exoneration: Expert Panel Q&A Nevada Trust Conference (with Michaelle D. Rafferty and Robert E. Armstrong), Nevada Trust Conference, April 2023
  • AB 318 – Changes to Titles 12 and 13, Estate Planning Council of Northern Nevada, March 15, 2022
  • Expert Panel Q&A Nevada Trust conference (with Michaelle D. Rafferty and Robert E. Armstrong), Nevada Trust Conference, March 2022 
  • Nevada Trust Law Updates for Nevada Trust Conference, Nevada Bankers Association, 2022
  • Ethics Year in Review, State Bar of Nevada, 2010-2022 
  • Probate and Pandemic CLE, Clark County Bar, December 1, 2021
  • Legislative Update on Probate and Estate Issues, Nevada Wealth Counsel, November 8, 2021
  • Discussion Leader, “Expert Witnesses in Trust and Estate Disputes” (with Adam F. Streisand), Cambridge Forum on Private Wealth Litigation, 2021
  • Trust and Estates Legislative Update, Clark County Bar Association, 2019
  • Probate and Trust Legislative Update, Probate Bar Association of Washoe County, 2019
  • No-Contest Clause Conundrums, Probate Bar Association of Washoe County, 2018
  • Trust and Estates Legislative Update, Wealth Counsel, 2017
  • Ethical Considerations and Concerns in Probate, National Business Institute, 2015
  • Considerations for Dealing with Mental Impairment, Nevada State Bar, 2013
  • Fundamentals of Trust Administration, National Business Institute, 2012
  • Fiduciary Litigation Liability Issues, Nevada State Bar, 2011
  • Trust and Estate Litigation Trends, Wealth Counsel, 2011

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

  • Transitioning into Practice (TIP) Mentor, State Bar of Nevada, 2015-Present
  • American Bar Association, Trust and Estates Sections, Section of Real Property, Estate and Trust Law, 2001-Present
  • State Bar of Nevada, Probate and Trust Section, 2001-Present
  • Clark County Bar, Clark County Nevada, 2001-Present
  • Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Nevada State Bar, 2010-2022; Chair 2012-2014
  • Fellow, The American College of Trust and Estate Council (ACTEC),  2020
  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation
  • Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • Nevada
  • U.S. District Court District of Nevada

PUBLISHED WORKS

  • Co-author, Legislative Update in re Probate and Trust – Bill # SB407, Communique, September 2023
  • Co-author, Probate and the Pandemic: Legislative Changes Enacted in the Wake of COVID-19, Communique, November 2021
  • Remote Signing, Nevada State Summary, Leimberg Information Services, Inc. (LISI), ed. Martin Shenkman/Jonathan Blattmachr, June 2020
  • Five Tips to Avoid Client Trust Account Money Laundering, Communique, January 2020
  • It’s Time for the NRS 162A Power Play: Changes and Challenges to Powers of Attorney, Nevada Lawyer, January 2020
  • Probate & Trust Updates from AB 286, Communique, September 2019
  • Probate “Pro-Tip” Primer, Nevada Lawyer, January 2018
  • All Aboard the Omnibus: Highlights of AB 134 Changes to Probate and Trust Law, Communique, September 2017
  • SB484 – Changes to Probate and Trust Law, Communique, September 2015
  • Attention to Client Considerations When Designating a Business Succession Plan Ensures Effective Implementation, Aspatore, November 2014
  • Lateral Hires: A Primer to Minimizing Imputed Disqualification, Nevada Lawyer Magazine, March 2013

 


PRACTICE AREAS

  • Asset Protection Litigation
  • Asset Protection Risk Assessment
  • Business Litigation
  • Guardianship
  • Private Wealth Litigation
  • Trust and Estate Administration
  • Trust and Estate Litigation

HONORS

  • Chambers, High Net Worth: Private Wealth Law (2023)
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating
  • Best Lawyers in America, Litigation – Trusts and Estates (2016–Present), Trusts and Estates (2017–Present)
  • Best Lawyers in America, Lawyer of the Year, Litigation – Trusts and Estates (2017, 2021, 2023), Trusts and Estates (2020 & 2024)
  • Top 100: Mountain States Super Lawyers (2018–2023)
  • Super Lawyers, Mountain States (2015–2023)
  • Top Rank Attorneys, Nevada Business Magazine (2022–2023)
  • Legal Elite, Silver State’s Top Attorneys, Nevada Business Magazine (2015, 2018–2021)
  • Vegas Inc. Top Lawyers Recipient (2013)
  • Rated 9.4/10 “Superb” on Avvo