HUGH J. CROSSLAND
A graduate of the University of Michigan, B.B.A. and M.B.A. and Wayne State University, College of Law, J.D., Yale University, Yale Law School, LL.M. and Boston University, School of Law, LL.M. (Taxation), Mr. Crossland grew up in Toledo, Ohio where his father dreamed of his playing football at Michigan. Dreams came to fruition as he was a Varsity Football Reserve award letter winner (“Red Shirt”). Other extracurricular activities involved managing the hockey team (winner of the NCAA bronze medal in 1962). At Wayne State he was a Senior Editor of the Law Review and at Yale he was a Sterling Fellow. His icon is the noted Yale Law Professor and tax authority, Boris Bittker. Attorney Crossland is an inactive member of the Michigan Bar and was admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1970. For over 35 years Mr. Crossland has crafted an estate planning, probate and trust administration and business law practice designed to meet the challenges of an ever widening law landscape and the ever evolving needs of his clients. Document simplification, tax mitigation, probate avoidance, wealth accumulation and asset preservation are major goals of his clients achieved through using a variety of special tools and techniques. Mr. Crossland is a former Assistant Professor at Boston University, School of Law where he also headed up the Moot Court and legal research and writing program. He is currently a senior Lecturer (full time) at Northeastern University where he helped launch the Masters program in Taxation. He offers courses primarily in the fields of strategic tax planning, estate and gift taxation and business law, giving particular emphasis to matters of small and family owned businesses. He belongs to several practice related organizations, such as the Boston Bar Association and WealthCounsel, LLC.
Mr. Crossland is a recognized author, speaker, TV and radio personality and for over ten years readers will remember his weekly newspaper column, “Money Matters” which appeared in the Transcript Newspapers (Dedham). He is a well known advocate and seminar provider on legal and financial planning topics. Two of his Wayne State Law Review articles won awards, while in law school he won the National Bank of Detroit Estate Planning Prize, he has co-authored chapters in the MCLE book on income taxation of estates and trusts (revised 2002), his writings in article, manuscript and book form are many and he has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe.
Mr. Crossland is active with the “M Club”, the honor club for Michigan lettermen, and the Yale Law School, New England steering committee. He held corporate management positions at Burroughs Corporation and Chrysler Corporation. He is married to his college sweetheart, Nan, and together they have three daughters, the youngest of whom, Carrie, is a partner in his law practice. The Crosslands reside in Westwood. He is a former Boston Marathoner, a confirmed yoga enthusiast, a voracious reader, acoustic guitar player, roller blader, skier, photographer, traveler and survivor of a third miracle spine fusion operation. He lists no less than 155 challenges yet to be accomplished.
CARRIE MORGAN CROSSLAND
A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with cum laude honors in Political Science, and Suffolk University Law School where she received her J.D. degree, Attorney Crossland carries on the family tradition of private law practice. She grew up hearing about the law and learning about clients’ concerns from her father, who she practices with today. Ms. Crossland is passionately in love with estate planning and tax law where her clients find her exceedingly mature and knowledgeable. She believes these attributes follow from the early desire to be the best attorney she could be. Unfortunately, her undergraduate tenure at UMass was interrupted, but fortunately not detoured, when she was struck by an automobile from which she sustained serious medical injuries, most significantly a traumatic brain injury. After rehabilitation at Spaulding Hospital and at home she returned to UMass a year later, a woman on a mission to graduate and go to law school. During her UMass experience, Attorney Crossland worked in the Comparative Literature Department and the Academic Deans and Advising Office. Because of her global concerns and appetite for higher educational challenges in law she attended the UMass/Oxford Summer Program, in Oxford, England, where she studied Comparative Law at Trinity College. Mixing her love of travel and learning, she also studied during the summer in Nairobi, Kenya, Poros, Greece, Paris, France, Lund, Sweden and Vienna, Austria. Because of her skills and abilities gained when working for her father’s law firm, upon graduation from UMass, Ms. Crossland was immediately hired to work as a paralegal at an Amherst law firm which specialized in divorce, bankruptcy, and general law practice. Not finding the same joys in these areas of law as she had when previously working with her father at his estate planning boutique, Ms. Crossland was “drafted” by her father who asked her to return to Boston to work with him in developing the burgeoning estate planning, trust administration and probate related practice. After nearly two years of law firm experience she chose to attend a law school which would keep her close to home and still involved with her father’s large law practice. She selected Suffolk University Law School and while there Attorney Crossland honed her skills and sharpened her knowledge in the fields she loved best. She continued to work closely with her father and was very involved with clients, enjoying the challenge of meeting their advanced expectations. She is highly articulate about her subject matter and she has well developed skills in drafting documents in order to meet clients’ intentions, ranging from a simple will to a sophisticated grantor trust or family limited partnership. “The little girl who used to draw on the chalkboard in the back of the classroom” continues to accompany her father to his Northeastern University classes where she acts as his unofficial “TA”. Attorney Crossland was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 2002. She is active with NAELA, the small practice group and WealthCounsel, LLC. Carrie is also an active member of the Dedham Rotary Association and the League of Women Voters. She lives in Dedham, practices passionately, works out madly, loves to cook and travel, and tells all of her troubles to her adoring feline, Lucy.