Karen MacKay Bio

Karen MacKay is the senior member of the Wealth and Succession Planning Group of Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella. Karen’s practice focuses on estate and gift tax issues and family wealth transfer planning, with a particular emphasis on estate planning for closely held business owners. She has substantial experience in assisting business owners with succession issues and equity transfers, including family partnerships, corporate recapitalizations, and related strategies. Her practice encompasses all aspects of estate planning, trust litigation, administration of decedents’ estates, and charitable giving techniques. Karen has written extensively and made numerous presentations on subjects including estate planning, trust administration, charitable giving, succession planning, ownership transition, trust and estate litigation, and risk management. She is the author of several courses on estate planning topics for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education and has been a frequent speaker for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois CPA Society and Illinois CPA Foundation, the University of Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, and other professional groups. Karen is a past president of the Chicago Estate Planning Council and is a past chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Trust Law Committee. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and is a faculty member of the American Bankers Association National Graduate Trust School.