Margaret R. O'Sullivan

Law Practice

Margaret O'Sullivan's practice involves all aspects of private client work, including estate planning; will and trust planning; incapacity planning; estate litigation; advising executors, trustees and beneficiaries and administration of estates and trusts. Margaret is recognized in Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Trust and Estate Practitioners (2009), in The Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory 2009 as a leading practitioner in estate planning and in The Best Lawyers in Canada 2009. Prior to establishing an independent practice, Margaret was a partner in the Toronto office of the national Canadian law firm Stikeman Elliott where she directed its trusts and estates practice. She has practiced exclusively in the area of trusts and estates since 1983.

Professional Activities

Margaret is a founding member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (Canada) and former Deputy Chair and Chair of the Editorial Board of its newsletter STEP INSIDE. She is a member of Council for STEP Worldwide, a member of the Management and Finance Committee and Chair of the Professional Standards Committee. She is a past Chair of the Trusts and Estates Section of the Ontario Bar Association and has been an active member of the Section's Executive. She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the Canadian Tax Foundation. She was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel in 1995. She was elected a member of Council of the Ontario Bar Association (1993 - 1998) and is a founder and former member of several committees of the Ontario Bar Association and the Law Society of Upper Canada. She is also a member of the Development Steering Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Publications

Margaret has been a frequent guest speaker, writer and conference chairperson for various professional organizations on the subject of trusts and estates, including for the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the Canadian Bar Association, The Law Society of Upper Canada, The International Bar Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation and various private conference sponsors. She has also written extensively in the area of trusts, estate planning, estate administration and estate litigation. She is past editor and contributor to the Ontario Bar Association - Trusts and Estates Section Newsletter. Margaret authored two textbooks and developed the courses Engineering of a Trust and Trust and Estate Management for the Trust Institute of the Institute of Canadian Bankers. She is a co-author, Canada Chapter, International Succession Laws (Tottel) 2007, and a contributing author to Widdifield on Executors and Trustees (Carswell) 2002.