Robert S. Pratt

rsp@vermontcounsel.com
(802) 775-7141 x210

Biography

I was born in Rutland, Vermont, October 9, 1949, and attended Rutland High School where I achieved brief and completely localized fame as the captain of a state championship basketball team. I attended undergraduate school at Brown University, Providence, R.I., from which I graduated without distinction with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971. I then obtained the joint four-year, Masters in Business Administration at the University of Denver, College of Business, and Juris Doctor at the University of Denver, College of Law in 1974 and 1975, respectively, while taking advantage of the Rocky Mountains as much as diligent study would permit.

After working for a year with a Rutland, Vermont, law firm, I returned to school to do further graduate study at Boston University School of Law, receiving a Masters of Laws in Taxation in 1977.  I have been engaged in the private practice of law since that time.

I have two children (Donald, Gettysburg, 2012, and Whitney, Georgetown, 2014).

Legal Experience

Since returning to Vermont in 1977, and rejoining the firm with which I had previously been associated, I have worked primarily in real estate, banking, and continuously, and in the last twenty-five years, predominantly in the areas of estate planning, professional planning, business succession planning, elder law, probate and trust administration, and business organizations. Advising local professionals, developing business organization plans and documents, and preparing and implementing estate planning projects from simple Wills and powers of attorney to more sophisticated projects that involve multi-tiered trusts, business organizations, and other financial and personal management instruments, are the focus of my practice. I work closely with representatives of other disciplines such as accountants, insurance agents, financial planners, investment advisors, and trust officers, to develop integrated planning opportunities and solutions.

I  completed a certified financial planner professional education program at the College of Financial Planning to permit me to analyze and critique the financial plans and products offered to my clients, and to help them understand from an independent perspective, the benefits and costs of those plans and products, both for the businesses and their personal, and family situations.  I am not a financial planner.

Since 2004 I have been co-chair or chair of the Probate and Trust Law Section of the Vermont Bar Association, overseeing and personally participating on committees for the adoption of a trust code, an update to our inheritance law, an update to our principal and income act, and conducting a general review and reform of decedents’ probate law.

Personal

Outward Bound, Utah canyon lands, 1982

Korea family business, Seoul and outlying areas, visits in 1982 and 1983;

Community Involvement

Former President, Rutland Mental Health
Former Director Rutland Hospital (Rutland Regional Medical Center)
Former president Lake Dunmore – Fern Lake Association
Former Chair or co-Chair of ACS Relay for Life and longtime volunteer ACS
Former Coach Girls’ basketball at Barstow Memorial School, Chittenden, VT