Our Firm Culture and Why It Is Important to Clients:

There are four defining attributes imbedded in the DNA of our firm: (1) We are an estates and trusts firm. The law of estates and trusts is largely a world unto itself with its own rules and practices. It requires a concentrated focus. (2) We keep a broad perspective while practicing in a defined practice niche. We “do it all” within that niche – estate and business planning, estate/trust administration, and fiduciary litigation. This means that each lawyer constantly sees issues from various perspectives which gives a continuing education courses on estates/trusts topics. These activities give back to the profession and deepen and extend the firm’s collective understanding of the law of estates and trusts. unique depth to the lawyer’s advice. (3) We work as a team. We do not just give lip-service to intra-firm collaboration, but we follow a business model to achieve it and make it a habit. Clients are clients of the whole firm – not just of one lawyer in the firm. (4) Our culture fosters a deep understanding of our practice focus. The practice of law, like medicine, engineering, and other professions, is a learned profession. Our lawyers regularly write and teach courses for lawyers and judges. These activities keep the firm at the forefront of legal developments.

We serve clients located various distances from our physical office in Annapolis: from the Eastern Shore, the Southern counties, and those counties surrounding Baltimore and Washington. The remote service options that we first developed in response to the pandemic continue to provide our more distant clients ease and convenience without sacrificing the quality of our services.

For more information about our firm and how we approach representing our clients, visit our website at www.frankebeckett.com.

The firm consists of four partners: Fred Franke, Jack Beckett, Deb Howe, and Jon Lasley; and three associates, Hannah Coffin, Regan Caton, and Sam Cuomo. Both Fred and Jon are Fellows of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and both are past chairs of the Estate and Trust Section Council of the Maryland State Bar Association. All partners have written articles for law reviews or other legal publications and they routinely present