Samuel M. Dotzler

Sam’s experience in a large firm has exposed him to and allowed him to focus on to complex estate and business planning opportunities.  Sam’s experience with a small firm taught him how to meet the client’s needs in the most efficient manner possible.  His experience in these two firms enables Sam to serve his clients at the highest level while staying grounded enough to provide the services the client actually needs.

The client experience with Dotzler Law focuses on the fact that the client’s needs drive the relationship, not the attorney’s.  We want to get to know you and what you are really trying to accomplish.  Then we can build on that to identify your legal needs and wants.  Then we can work with you to put a plan in place that takes care of all of those things, a plan that takes care of you.

Prior to founding Dotzler Las, as a member of the Trusts and Estates Practice at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Sam focused on estate, tax and business planning for clients of significant wealth, including the structuring of tax-advantageous solutions for transferring wealth and closely-held business interests to younger generations. Mr. Dotzler advised clients with regard to gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax planning, succession planning, leveraged wealth transfer techniques, charitable planning, trust and probate administration and the integration of estate plans and corporate structures. 

Prior to joining Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Mr. Dotzler practiced law at Hoogendoorn & Talbot LLP focusing on Probate, Trusts and Estates. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, where he serves as a Co-Chair of the Estate Planning Committee of the Young Lawyer Section, the American Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association. Mr. Dotzler earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Olaf College in 2000, where he now serves as a Director on the St. Olaf College Alumni Association Board of Directors, and his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 2006. He is admitted to practice in Illinois.