ORINDA, Calif., Feb. 2, 2022 – The Bay Area’s premier trust and estate law firm Hartog, Baer & Hand will be known as Hartog, Baer, Zabronsky (HBZ), effective immediately. The name change recognizes the firm’s next generation leadership, including Principals Andrew Zabronsky and Andrew R. Verriere.
“Our clients are the ultimate beneficiaries of our firm’s extensive efforts to stay on the leading edge of trust and estate law for more than three decades,” said firm founder John Hartog. “Andy Z. and Andy V. stand out in their efforts to continue to command the existing law in the space and evolve the practice to meet the demands of our changing world. Adding these two names to our banner is both a recognition of the professional standing these two lawyers have achieved, as well as the promise of their continued excellence in delivering results to our clients.”
Dedicated exclusively to trust and estate law since its founding in 1991, John Hartog and David Baer, long-time trailblazers in the practice in California and nationally, assembled a team of highly credentialed lawyers with decades of experience handling complex matters involving trusts, estate planning, post-death administration, probate, and related litigation and mediation. In continuing the firm’s tradition at the forefront of trust and estate law, Zabronsky and Verriere are true leaders in the legal community, including active involvement and leadership in professional organizations and frequently publishing and presenting on emerging themes and issues in trusts and estates. Collectively, the firm’s attorneys have contributed hundreds of hours to development of materials that trust and estate practitioners across the state use as points of professional reference, and the team has litigated disputes resulting in published legal decisions and establishing case law.
With 30 years of experience focused exclusively on all aspects of trust and estate litigation, Zabronsky has prosecuted claims involving disinherited beneficiaries, defended financial institutions in national class actions, and handled everything in between. He has recently obtained probate court orders for treble damages against a trustee found liable for financial elder abuse and disinheriting beneficiaries from a $10 million bequest for filing a trust contest without probable cause. Author of the “Breach of Trust” chapter in California Trust and Probate Litigation, CEB’s two-volume practice guide, Zabronsky also has a strong background in fiduciary litigation.
Zabronsky is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and a former member of the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section of the California Lawyers Association (TEXCOM), Chair of its Litigation Committee, and Editor of its scholarly journal, Trusts and Estates Quarterly. He has written numerous articles and lectured extensively on T&E litigation to professional organizations and groups, including to probate judges and court staff for the Educational Division of the Administrative Office of the Courts. Named in The Best Lawyers in America© and Super Lawyers© every year for more than a decade, Zabronsky’s achievements have been widely recognized. He earned his J.D. from U.C. Hastings College of the Law (1984) and his B.A., cum laude, from Union College (1980).
With a passion for novel issues and creative leveraging of the Probate Code, Verriere’s practice is dedicated to trust and estate litigation, conservatorship litigation, financial elder abuse, and appeals. He has significant experience in all stages of disputes, including counseling clients before litigation, representing clients at alternative dispute resolution negotiations, conducting trials, and pursuing appeals. Verriere’s accomplishments include obtaining the dismissal of a will contest on an issue of first impression in California – whether an ancillary administration of a decedent’s estate in Washington State can preclude relitigation of the same grounds for a will contest in California, and obtaining judgments after trial, including a jury verdict of over $3 billion.
Verriere serves on the board for the Contra Costa County Bar Association and the California Lawyer’s Association Trusts and Estates Section Litigation Subcommittee. Committed to providing pro bono work in the community, Verriere received the CCCBA’s Pro Bono Service Award in 2020 and 2021. He received his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.
Margaret Hand, a former principal with the firm, has retired.
About Hartog, Baer, Zabronsky & Verriere, APC
Hartog, Baer, Zabronsky (HBZ) is a boutique, trust and estate law firm handling planning, administration, dispute resolution, litigation and taxation. Established in 1991, the firm serves clients throughout the greater Bay Area and California.
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