The Farr Law Firm is widely recognized as one of the best Elder Law, Estate Planning, and Special Needs Planning firms in Virginia, Maryland, and DC. With over 15 employees and offices across the region, we focus on all aspects of Elder Law and Estate Planning in the DMV — a broad practice within a narrow specialty.
Our Roots
This seemingly conflicting approach of having a broad practice within a narrow specialty developed from the early experience of our founding attorney, Evan Farr, an Arlington, VA native. After graduating in 1984 with a degree in psychology from Penn, an Ivy League college, and then returning to Virginia for law school at William & Mary, Evan started his legal career in 1987 working for a small-town General Practice law firm in Fairfax City for four years. There, Evan did a little bit in a lot of different legal areas — real estate, personal injury, divorce, criminal and traffic defense, landlord-tenant, small businesses — and of course, Evan did a lot of trusts and estates work, as that was something everyone needed. After this, Evan started his own general practice firm, which placed an emphasis on estate planning. For the next 10 years or so, Evan built up his General Practice and Estate Planning firm to be one of the most highly-respected General Practice firms in Virginia, culminating in Evan serving as President of the General Practice Section of the Virginia State Bar in 2001.
The pros and cons of two seemingly conflicting ideas about the practice of law — being a general practitioner vs. being a specialist — became apparent during Evan’s early years in practice. On the one hand, in an increasingly complex and specialized world, it became more and more important to have the in-depth knowledge and skills that come from being a specialist, as no attorney can be an expert in all areas of practice. On the other hand, a strength of the general practitioner is that such a lawyer brings to each client what that client needs from a wide range of practice experience, as it is possible to be blind to the broader picture if your perspective and experiences are too narrow. These two concepts play an important role in the development of the Farr Law Firm.
The Middle Years
Starting in the late 1990s, Evan realized he needed to add Elder Law to his General Practice because clients needed answers to their Elder Law questions. However, after a few years, Evan realized that Elder Law was the most complex area of law in existence and that it was impossible to “dabble” in It. Therefore, around 2003, Evan decided to simply discontinue his growing general practice in order to become an expert in elder law so that the firm could focus just on trusts and estates and elder law.
By 2007, Evan was recognized as one of the top Elder Law attorneys in Virginia, and every year since 2009, Evan has been recognized as one of the top Elder Law attorneys in the entire country. As the Farr Law Firm has continued to grow throughout the years to better serve our clients throughout Virginia, Maryland, and DC, the Farr Law Firm has grown from its original location in Fairfax to three additional locations: Fredericksburg, Virginia; Washington, DC; and Rockville, Maryland.
Today
Today, the Farr Law Firm continues to grow and engage in a broad-ranging practice within its focused niche of Elder Law and Trusts and Estates. Our Elder Law and Special Needs practice includes both pre-need Medicaid Planning using Evan’s proprietary Living Trust Plus® Irrevocable Asset Protection Trust, at-need (sometimes called Crisis Mode) Medicaid Asset Protection Planning, Life Care Planning, Veterans Benefits Planning, Retirement Planning, Special Needs Planning, Later-in-Life Marriage Planning, Dementia Planning, Guardianship and Conservatorship, and more. Elder Law (and particularly Medicaid Planning) is considered to be the most complex specialty area of law in existence.
Trusts and Estates is also a vastly complex world unto itself, with its own rules and practices. Our Trusts and Estates practice includes Estate Planning and Special Needs Planning, including preparation of revocable living trusts, special needs trusts, many types of complex irrevocable trusts, wills, incapacity planning with powers of attorney and advance medical directives, high net worth planning, retirement planning, financial planning, and after-death assistance with probate, trust administration, and fiduciary services. All of these areas require a concentrated focus, yet we know to keep a broad perspective in order to spot all relevant issues while practicing in these specialized areas.
There are, of course, other lawyers and law firms that do Elder Law and Trusts and Estates work. Many of these lawyers and firms, however, concentrate on one, or perhaps only a few aspects of a broader Elder Law or Trusts and Estates practice. We know that there is an important relationship among all facets of our broader practice areas. Our firm strikes a balance between a broad practice experience while continuing to maintain a very specialized focus.
Our Firm Culture and Why It Is Important to Clients
What we do is supercharged by how we do it. There are four defining attributes embedded in the DNA of our firm culture:
- We work as a well-oiled team, and our team members are like family — in fact, many of our team members are family. Our business model revolves around teamwork, and we endeavor to become an extension of your family.
- We love what we do, as everything we do is about helping people. We try as hard as possible to avoid working with families who just can’t get along; we don’t do contested litigation because, in that area of practice, someone always loses and gets hurt. For us, life is too short to deal with negativity. Many of our team members have been with the firm for decades, or have left the firm and returned after a period of time, in large part because it’s such a happy place to work and a joyful way to practice law.
- Our culture fosters a deep understanding of our practice areas. In addition to practicing law every day, Evan Farr is one of the most prolific legal scholars and educators in the country. He regularly researches and writes scholarly legal treatises, teaches courses for other lawyers around the country, and innovates new legal strategies on the cutting edge of Elder Law. These activities keep the firm at the forefront of legal knowledge and developments.
- Our firm uses a “one-firm” system where the client is treated as a client of the firm, not of any individual attorney. Some firms operate as a collection of individual lawyers who each have separate clients while sharing staff and space. Other firms, particularly very large firms, are organized by separate practice areas but the lawyers in one area tend to become isolated from the other practice areas. Our approach keeps the focus where it belongs — on the client.
From our family to yours, we hope to welcome you to our family and assist you and your loved ones, becoming an extension of your family as we serve your vital legal needs.
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