Mr. Brier was admitted to the Bars of Massachusetts in 1980, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts in 1980, and the U.S. Tax Court in 1986. He was also licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts in 1981.

Professional Affiliations

• Member, American Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association and Boston Bar Association (Past co-chair of Trusts & Estates Section and of Estate Planning Committee)
• Member, Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants
• Member, Boston Estate Planning Council
• Member, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
• Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a national elective organization of distinguished trust and estate attorneys (Member of International Estate Planning Committee)
• Earned listing in the selective and highly regarded publications, The Best Lawyers in America® and Massachusetts Super Lawyers®

Selected Speaking Engagements

• "Qualified and Nonqualified Plan Distributions: Massachusetts Taxation of Nonresidents," presented for the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants
• Massachusetts Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates," presented at the Bentley Annual State Tax Forum
• "What Happens at Date of Death: The Role of an Executor and Others in Administering an Estate," presented for the Boston Security Analysts Society
• "Asset Protection Planning-Selected Issues," presented for the CPE Institute for Accountants
• "Recent Developments in U.S Tax Planning for the Multinational Family," presented at the Fourth Annual International Forum on Offshore Trusts for Private Clients in New York City, sponsored by the Institute for International Research; "Transferring the Business: Succession Planning," presented at a program for the Choice of Business Entity, sponsored by Professional Education Systems, Incorporated
• "Transferring the Business:  Succession Planning, " presented at a program for the Choice of Business Entity, sponsored by Professional Education Systems, Incorporated
• "Family Limited Partnerships: The Empire Strikes Back" and the sequels "Family Limited Partnerships: Return of the Jedi?" and “Update on Family Limited Partnerships: Back to the Future,” all presented for the CPA/Law Forum
• "Individual Retirement Accounts - 1998 Developments," presented at the Federal Tax Institute of New England
• "Estate Planning for 'Hot Assets,'" presented for the Massachusetts Bar Association (panelist)
• "Grantor Trusts," presented for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.
• “Transfer Tax Planning with Family Limited Partnerships and LLC’s: Current Developments and Techniques,” presented for the Federal Tax Institute of New England, Inc.
• “Unwinding Massachusetts Business Trust/QSUB Groups,” presented for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.
• “GRITs, GRATs and QPRTs,” presented for the CPA/Law Forum
• “The Increasing Interplay Between Trust Law and Family Law,” presented for the Boston Bar Association

Selected Publications

• "Death in the Digital Age",  Private Wealth, January - February 2013 (co-author)
• "A solution to the Massachusetts Basis Puzzle?" Massachusetts Lawyer's Weekly, May 30, 2011
• “State, Federal estate tax planning in a world reshaped” Massachusetts Lawyer’s Weekly, February 22, 2010
• "Estate Taxes and Carryover Basis” A World Turned Upside Down   SumNews  Winter, 2010
• “Estate Planning with the Estate Tax in Flux," SumNews, Spring 2009
• "Planning for State Estate Taxes - Pitfalls and Possibilities," Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Feb. 23, 2009
• “FLP Flips and Flops – Where Are We Now?,” Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, September 6, 2004
• “Fractured HIPAA: Dealing with the New Privacy Regulations in Estate Planning,” Massachusetts Bar Association Section Review, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2004
• "‘Decoupled’ Train through Wonderland: Planning Under the ‘New’ Massachusetts Estate Tax,” SumNews, Summer 2003
• "Deep Freeze: Parking future appreciation in the value of a high-growth asset in an offshore private placement life insurance policy can put taxes on ice permanently," Financial Planning, October 2002
• "Family Limited Partnerships and Chapter 14: Some Estate Planning Perspectives," ACTEC Notes , Spring 1996
• "Family Limited Partnerships: Decanting Family Investment Assets into New Bottles," The Tax Lawyer, Fall 1995 edition (co-author)
• "The Impact of Code Sec. 2704 on Family Limited Partnerships," Trusts & Estates , September and October 1995 (co-author)
• "A Dirty Dozen of Liability," Family Business , Winter 1994 (regarding personal liabilities arising from an incorporated business)
• "Preparing Your Clients for the Worst: Asset Protection Strategies Shield Individuals from Personal Liability," Financial Planning , October 1993
• "Reformation of Massachusetts Estate Tax," Massachusetts CPA Review , Fall 1986
• "Massachusetts Sales and Use Taxes on Computer Software," Massachusetts CPA Review , Fall 1983 (co-author)
• "Like-Kind Exchanges of Partnership Interests: A Policy-Oriented Approach," Tax Law Review, Winter 1983

Education

• Columbia University School of Law, J.D., 1979
• Princeton University, A.B., cum laude, 1975