Senior Estate Planning Attorney (San Diego, Orange County)

Job Description

Job Description

Why Work at Mercer Advisors?

For more than 40 years, Mercer Advisors has been helping families amplify and simplify their financial lives by integrating financial planning, investment management, business management, tax, estate, insurance, and more, all managed by a single team. We deliver the kind of comprehensive care once reserved for only the wealthiest households.

Today, we serve over 42,800+ families across 110+ cities across the U.S. Ranked the #1 RIA Firm in the nation by Barron's for two consecutive years, Mercer Advisors is an independent fiduciary legally bound to act in our clients' best interests — always.*

Mercer Advisors offers a workplace that stands apart in the financial industry. More than half of our employees and client-facing professionals are women, reflecting the clients we serve. With a flexible, national footprint, we build our teams around exceptional talent — wherever they are.

Join us and help families amplify and simplify their financial lives with confidence.

* Mercer Advisors was ranked #1 for RIA firms with up to $70 billion in assets. The Barron's top RIA ranking is based on a combination of metrics – including size, growth, service quality, technology, succession planning and others. No fee was paid for participation in the ranking, however, Mercer Advisors has paid a fee to Barron's to use the ranking in marketing. Please see important information about the ranking criteria methodology here.

Job Summary:

The Estate Planning team is part of our Wealth Solutions group, which is a dynamic team environment consisting of professionals dedicated to providing and implementing planning strategies for our high new worth clients.

This role will be hybrid in the Orange County / San Diego areas.

Essential Job Functions for this role include:

• Serve as an in-house resource in estate planning to wealth management teams and clients nationwide
• Maintain book of ultra-high-net-worth clients
• Review and summarize existing estate planning documents
• Remain current with related estate, trust, and tax legislation nationwide
• Supporting business development through networking, leading presentations, drafting publications, and supporting prospective client meetings, as necessary
• Conduct research on nuanced and specialized estate planning topics
• Manage a service specialist, as assigned, as related to overseeing day-to-day tasks, training, calendars, time management, coaching, and mentoring
• Mentor and coach estate planning strategists
• Other duties, as assigned

The Estate Planning Director will also act as attorney under Advanced Services Law Group, Inc. (ASLG). ASLG is a boutique estate planning firm that supports clients of Mercer Advisors. In this role, the attorney will perform the following tasks:

• Meet with clients to design, implement, and fund complex estate planning, wealth transfer strategies, and sophisticated estate and gift tax mitigation.
• Draft estate plan documents, including irrevocable trusts (GRATs, IDGTs, ILITs, SLATs, CRTs, QPRTs), revocable trusts, wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and funding related documents.
• Advise on estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax strategies.
• Coordinate with wealth advisors, tax experts and other professionals to ensure seamless execution of wealth strategies.
• Prepare and review deeds and real property transfer documents.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Juris Doctor (JD)
• LL.M. in Taxation or Estate Planning strongly preferred
• Licensed to practice law in at least one state
• Ability to interpret and convey complex estate planning topics to Wealth Management teams and clients
• 8-12 years legal experience in estate planning and deep technical expertise
• Proven track record of handling planning matters for high net worth clients
• Ability to travel up to 25%

Work Schedule:

This professional role requires availability during standard business hours of Monday through Friday from 8AM to 5PM.  At times, the role may have early or late hours to meet business tasks and deadlines for external and internal client needs.    

All roles classified as a non-exempt are required to record working time into the timekeeping system daily at the start and end of each workday plus a 30-minute unpaid lunch period.

Working Conditions:

This position may be in a professional office environment or a dedicated home office workspace which is free of interruptions.  Whether position is in a dedicated office space or home office workspace, basic technology needs will be provided to satisfy position requirements.  Routinely sitting and standing for periods of time. No heavy lifting over 10 lbs.

Application Deadline : The initial deadline for applications is 10/15/2026. Applications submitted after this date may still be considered on a rolling basis until the position/program is filled. We encourage all interested candidates to apply as early as possible. If a final decision has not been made by the initial deadline, subsequent applications will be reviewed as they are received.

#LI-Remote

Actual base pay within this range will be based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the applicant's geographic location, relevant experience, education, skills and licenses/certifications. This position is also eligible to earn incentive compensation through one of Mercer Advisors' incentive compensation programs. 

Base Pay Range

$175,000—$200,000 USD

Benefits:

Mercer Advisors offers a competitive and robust benefit package to our employees.   Our benefit programs are focused on meeting all of our employees and their eligible dependents health and welfare needs. We offer the following:

• Company Paid Basic Life & AD&D Insurance
• Company Paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Supplemental Life & AD Short-Term Disability; Accident; Critical Illness; and Hospital Indemnity Insurance
• Three Cigna medical plans offerings including two High Deductible Health Plans and a Traditional Co-Pay medical plan.
• Kaiser Medical plans available in California
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contributions if enrolled in either HDHP medical plan.
• Two comprehensive Dental Plans
• Vision Insurance Plan
• Dependent Care Savings Account for child and dependent care.
• 14 Company Paid Holidays including a full week off at Thanksgiving.
• Generous paid time off program for vacation and sick days
• Employee Assistance Plan
• Family Medical Leave
• Paid Parental Leave (8 weeks)
• Maternity benefits utilizing company paid STD, any supplemental STD, plus Parental Leave (8 weeks) to provide time for recovery, baby bonding, and enjoying your family time.
• Adoption Assistance Reimbursement Program
• Company Paid Concierge Services for you and your loved ones for the spectrum of caring needs for your aging parents, young children, life's challenges and more.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan with both Traditional and Roth plans with per pay period match as well as an after-tax option
• Pet Insurance
• Personalized financial planning and guidance from Mercer Advisors professionals, offered at preferred employee pricing

We are not accepting unsolicited resumes from agencies and/or search firms for this job posting.

Mercer Advisors is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Mercer Advisors participates in E-Verify and complies with federal employment eligibility verification requirements.

If you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please email  View email address on ziprecruiter.com. This inbox is for accommodation requests only.

For information about applicant rights, required employment notices, E-Verify participation, and state specific disclosures, please review our  Applicant Notices and Employment Rights .

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