Join STEP


Dear Friends, Colleagues and Trust and Estate Practitioners:

I would like to invite you to join our Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). I can tell you that being involved in STEP has been one of the best activities of my professional career. Our LA Chapter of STEP has quickly become a key resource for regional trust and estate practitioners and the preeminent gathering for local T&E professionals to meet, to socialize and to learn from U.S. and foreign T&E luminaries.

STEP is the premier organization in the world of professionals in the fields of trusts and estates that cuts across traditional professional boundaries. Our 16,500 members worldwide include lawyers, bankers, trust officers, accountants and financial advisors whose professional activities tend to focus on high-net-worth families, their closely-held businesses and investments, and their estate and trust planning needs. STEP is the leading worldwide professional body for practitioners in the fields of trusts, estates and related issues. STEP members help families plan their long-term financial future, facilitating good stewardship and financial planning across future generations. STEP members also help high-net-worth clients comply with the often complex tax rules surrounding trusts, estates and inheritance.

Benefits of STEP membership include:

  • STEP membership makes you a part of a recognized and respected international network that includes many of the world's leading trust and estate professionals among its membership.
  • STEP issues valuable magazines, newsletters and other publications, highlighting current developments of interest to T&E professionals, including the STEP USA Supplement, the informative bi-monthly STEP Journal , the more scholarly Trust Quarterly Review, and STEP International News, a regular update on current developments via e-mail.
  • STEP sponsors excellent seminars and symposia around the world that bring together leading practitioners, academics and others to keep you abreast of key developments in the trust and estate field and death tax, income tax and other tax developments affecting high-net-worth families and their closely-held businesses. Members receive advance notice of these programs and discount admission.
  • The Annual STEP Directory and Yearbook contains contact information for all STEP members worldwide as well as summaries of the laws of major jurisdictions. It is an invaluable reference tool both for substantive questions and for locating professionals to use in other jurisdictions. Your inclusion in the Yearbook will make your name available to STEP members around the world who are looking for your expertise.
  • STEP Chapters hold periodic meetings at which members discuss topics of current interest. The Los Angeles Chapter of STEP holds regular meetings and educational programs, as well as special programs addressing new legislation and other current developments. We also have an annual year-end holiday reception for members only.
  • In addition to our breakfast, luncheon and other presentations in Southern California on topical issues and developments, the Los Angeles Chapter of STEP co-sponsors an annual Pacific Rim Conference, focusing on T&E and other planning for high-net-worth individuals living across the Pacific Region and their closely-held businesses. The 2008 and 2009 Conferences were held in San Francisco, and the 2010 and 2011 Conferences in Santa Monica.
  • As a STEP member, you will generally be entitled to a discount registration for STEP presentations, seminars and conferences, and will be entitled to attend certain members-only events!
  • As a full member of STEP , you will receive the TEP (Trust and Estate Practitioner) designation. Full STEP members can use the TEP designation and should note their STEP membership in their professional profiles in their industry. At present there are STEP Chapters in the United States in New York City, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia/Washington), Chicago and Seattle. More Chapters are in the process of being organized in Texas and elsewhere.

If you are thinking about joining the LA Chapter of STEP, please do not delay further. STEP is an international organization that originated from England and continues to be administered globally from there. Normally to become a full TEP-designated STEP member, it is necessary either to take a written exam or to write a scholarly paper on a subject specified by STEP. However, STEP is presently offering a special program for new U.S. members. For the time being, new U.S. members are exempt from the normal exam or writing requirements in order to obtain full membership and the TEP designation. Of course, all applicants must meet certain minimum experience and discipline-concentration criteria for TEP designation by STEP .

Please feel free to call me (310-820-2700) or to email me at paul@sczudlolegal.com, if you have any questions about the qualifications for STEP membership or about STEP generally. I would be happy to send you an Information Packet which contains a STEP application form for you to complete and return to me, a brochure entitled Why Join STEP USA, and other information relating to STEP . You can also contact the STEP U.S. Administrator, Jeryl Pine, at Jeryl.Pine@step.org or call 212-737-3690, if you have any procedural or qualification questions about becoming a member of STEP .

We look forward to receiving your STEP membership application and your participation in our LA Chapter. Please consider joining today, so you can receive the full benefits of STEP membership.

Sincerely yours,
Paul A. Sczudlo, TEP
Membership Chair, STEP/LA Chapter
Law Offices of Paul A. Sczudlo
12424 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1200
Los Angeles, California 90025
Phone: (310) 820-2700