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Each family’s legacy is as unique as the family itself. It can be a bloodline, a name, heirlooms, a legal entity or family stories, myths, and artifacts. In this fourth and final report in the series on family business succession, key insights are shared on the important role that legacies play in uniting the core purpose of the business with the f...

In this interview, attorney John Litchfield of Foley & Lardner’s Labor & Employment group discusses the key considerations family offices should keep in mind when it comes to domestic workers in the family office environment. Along with insights on household staff salary and wage treatments in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (F...

Employing service providers in your home carries considerable risk. If not handled with extreme care, the process of hiring, termination, and managing day-to-day responsibilities can create liability—and even result in claims of discrimination and retaliation by the employee. This report provides a snapshot of an increasingly complex employment lan...

Taking on the role of a direct household employer can be complicated—even for households with a single employee. This guide includes best practices for navigating the complex environment of household employment and provides practical advice on how to avoid the legal, financial, and reputational consequences associated with non-compliant employment.

The current next-generation family members are changing the way families view wealth, no longer focusing on creating wealth for wealth’s sake. It’s still about creating wealth, but now more questions are being asked about, ‘how can we use this wealth to improve society?’ and less about ‘what we can do to just keep building it.’ This process is refe...

For family offices, providing the highest level of service to their family clients includes ensuring the staff in their homes are not only skilled and qualified, but also trustworthy and ethical. However, the vetting process at every level—from housekeepers to directors of residence—has become more challenging as more applicants misrepresent themse...

Hiring domestic staff such as nannies, personal assistants, and housekeepers can expose you to liability issues and danger from unscrupulous employees. It is important to understand your areas of vulnerability and take steps to protect your family and your finances. Whether you hire your own employees or the family office hires them, three often ov...

Your household employees are necessary and helpful, but they present a risk, be it from accidents, reckless behavior, or bad intentions. While there is no way to minimize the concerns entirely, establishing clear communication, crisp policies, and appropriate checks and balances can prevent, or at least decrease most issues. We’ve created a checkli...

The complex, convergent nature of risks facing high-net-worth families requires family offices to adopt both a holistic and strategic approach to risk management than many have in the past. The ones who can make the change will be best positioned to successfully navigate the challenges that range from overarching trends of growing families to incre...

There are few issues in family business that create more conflict and tension than the employment of family members. The complexities involved and the breakdowns in communication and trust can contribute significantly to the alarmingly high rate of failed intergenerational transitions in family business. The good news is that there is a way for fam...

We have all been the new person at some point or another—the new person on the block, the freshman at the big university, a manager in a new office. In such hard-to-navigate situations, training and communications are integral parts of the on-boarding process. When both employee and employer are informed about one another’s needs, personalities, an...

While many individuals may have the skills and experience for a private staffing position, it’s the chemistry and having a system in place that makes it work for all parties. With this guide that includes job descriptions and requirements, discover the actionable insights and best practices for optimizing your private staff throughout the hiring pr...

Strategy is often thought of as an art form—an unstructured, intuitive exercise propelled by inspiration and brilliance. However, just like finance, operations, or marketing, strategy is a functional discipline with tools, frameworks, processes, best practices, and metrics. This checklist is end-to-end process for developing and executing a comp...

Creating a truly effective board doesn’t happen by accident. From selecting the right people, to running crisp meetings, to fostering good working relationships with management and one another—boards are tasked with many decisions that impact how well they function. Over time, boards fall into routines for how they operate. But how many regularly l...

By exploring the essence of legacy and its impact on business performance, this report brings together the detailed analysis, academic insights, and the firsthand experiences of family business CEOS to contribute to a deeper understanding of the importance of balancing tradition and innovation for long-term success in family businesses. From this r...