Legal Awards 2020

4 Acquisition International - Legal Awards 2020 Sep20118 Most Innovative Business & Estate Planning Firm - California There are a few more inspirational individuals to take life lessons from than only Pope John Paul II, but his words of wisdom underpin the incredible success achieved at the California-based law firm, Regnum Legacy. A passionately client-focused estate planning law firm that specializes in serving families. Regnum Legacy is all about its clients’ needs and how to secure their futures whilst building strong relationships along the way. We profile the firm to learn more about its work, and the mission that inspires its daily success. ope John Paul II once said, “The first and fundamental structure for “human ecology” is the family, in which man receives his first formative ideas about truth and goodness, and learns what it means to love and to be loved, and thus what it actually means to be a person.” That piece of wisdom has been the foundation for everything that Regnum Legacy has achieved since its inception. Its ongoing mission has been to build ongoing relationships with families and provide them with innovative and sound legal strategies to protect their legacy and those they love. Regnum Legacy was founded by James Long, whose prior experience included studying to become a Catholic priest before going to law school. After law school, he was appointed to be an Expert for the Vatican at the United Nations. After his work at the United Nations, Mr. Long started work as an estate planner and civil litigator for several local firms before settling in Eastvale, California, and founding Regnum Legacy. What sets Regnum Legacy apart from its competitors is a multitude of excellence, but chief amongst them is that, sadly, many other estate planning firms focus on the transaction rather than those involved in it. In those firms, their clients get a set of documents, and those documents are usually perfectly fine. However, the client either then does not fund the estate plan properly, or something changes between when the plan was drafted and the plan is used. There is P no system to regularly, and at no further cost, follow up with clients to make sure that the plan in place still makes sense. Mr. Long knows this, because he used to be that kind of estate planning lawyer. As a litigator, Mr. Long litigated trusts that were perfectly fine at one time, but over the years had become ill-suited for what the family needed. As a direct result of this lack of follow up communication and service, Mr. Long found himself embroiled in litigation cases that resulted in conflict. For example, between the time when a plan is drafted and the time when a plan needs to be used, the persons named as trustees can die, or worse, get addicted to drugs and end up embezzling the trust funds to feed their habit. A lot of these kinds of mistakes can be overcome with a system to regularly follow up with clients and make sure that their plan still suits their needs. Regnum Legacy ensures that clients do not hire the firm to merely complete a single transaction; they hire the firm to be their family’s lifetime legacy lawyer. One of the other things that sets Regnum Legacy apart from the competition is that it has developed systems to ensure that minor children are protected. In California, there was a horrific accident a few years ago in which a mother and father both died in a car crash. Their minor children were at home with a babysitter, and when the police came to notify them, there was no-one immediately available to take custody of the children. So, they were taken into the protective custody of the State. This could have been avoided with proper planning. Most law firms try to fix this by including a nomination for a guardian in a will, or power of attorney, but this can often be insufficient. Regnum Legacy has instead developed a system to make sure that both short term and long term guardians are nominated, and clear instructions are left behind so that if anything happens, the authorities will know exactly what to do. The third thing that the firm does to stand out from other law firms is that it makes sure that the estate plans that are drafted are not only legally sound, but that family members know what to do and how to use it. Regnum Legacy has created trustee manuals and user manuals with its estate plans, which are aimed at guiding and instructing clients and their loved ones on what the plan is, and how to use it effectively. The final thing that sets Regnum Legacy apart is that it has developed a system to preserve what families often treasure the most; their Pope John Paul II once said, “The first and fundamental structure for “human ecology” is the family, in which man receives his first formative ideas about truth and goodness, and learns what it means to love and to be loved, and thus what it actually means to be a person.”