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Christopher E. Houston
Counsel
Ropes & Gray
One International Place
Boston, MA 02110-2624
T + 1-617-951-7871
F + 1-617-235-0542
+ 1-617-854-2240 secretary
E-mail
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Practice
Christopher Houston is counsel to Ropes & Gray's Private Client Group. He joined the firm in 1998 and his practice focuses on estate planning and trust administration, charitable gift planning and tax-exempt organizations, and Section 529 qualified tuition programs.
Professional Experience
Christopher works closely with high net worth individuals and families on a variety of complex tax, trust and estate planning matters. These clients include private equity and venture capital principals, owners of closely held businesses, public figures in politics and entertainment, and families with substantial wealth accumulated over generations. Much of Christopher’s work with these clients concerns the preservation and transfer of wealth (often including substantial business or real estate holdings) in a tax-efficient manner. This work often involves the establishment and administration of various types of trusts, to achieve specific tax and other objectives for his clients.
Christopher also works with many charitable and educational institutions, including universities, colleges and preparatory schools. For these institutions, he works closely with planned giving officers and in-house counsel to draft split-interest trusts and other gift instruments, negotiate terms for pledge agreements and major gifts and resolve planned giving and other exempt-organization issues. Christopher is recognized for his in-depth experience in handling charitable matters of this nature and for providing clients with tax-efficient advice and creative solutions that best meet their needs. He has also been invited to speak on charitable and tax matters at seminars sponsored by the Boston Bar Association and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE).
Christopher’s practice also involves considerable experience with Section 529 qualified tuition programs, including substantial work with various mutual fund and investment firms managing these programs. For this reason, he has co-authored articles on this topic, as well as comments to the Internal Revenue Service regarding the relevant proposed tax regulations. Christopher often speaks about Section 529 programs at local and national conferences. These presentations include those for lawyers (such as at the ALI-ABA Conference on Sophisticated Estate Planning Techniques, a nationwide ALI-ABA satellite video panel on Tax-Advantaged Techniques for Financing Higher Education and the MCLE New England Estate Planning Conference), plus those for other professionals (such as at the Savingforcollege.com Section 529 Technical Conference, the AICPA National Conference on Federal Taxes and the AICPA Advanced Estate Planning Conference).
Honors & Awards
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Massachusetts Super Lawyers - Rising Stars (2005, 2006)
Memberships & Affiliations
- American Bar Association
- Boston Bar Association
Bar Admissions
Education
- 1998,
J.D., cum laude, The University of Chicago Law School; Articles Editor, University of Chicago Roundtable
- 1998,
Ph.D. (Psychology), University of Virginia
- 1990,
A.B. (Politics), Princeton University
©2008 Ropes & Gray LLP. All rights reserved.
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