James K. Leese

James K. Leese is a Senior Partner in the law firm of Ferruzzo & Ferruzzo, LLP. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, and admitted to the California Bar in 1979. He is recognized as a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law. He earned his bachelor's degree from The Defiance College in 1975, his Juris Doctor degree from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1978, and a master’s degree in taxation from Golden Gate University in 1992.

Mr. Leese is primarily responsible for the firm's estate planning and business succession planning departments, and limits his practice to matters involving succession of business, estate and gift tax planning, preparation of trusts.  He oversees uncontested trust administration matters for individuals and owners of businesses. Mr. Leese works with both the high-net-worth client, using sophisticated estate planning strategies and tools, as well as with the client who has non-tax related planning goals in mind. He also works closely with trust officials, financial planners, insurance agents, accountants and appraisers in a team effort to design and implement plans that will best meet each client's needs and objectives.

For 25 years, Mr. Leese taught the fundamentals of estate planning in the Personal Financial Planning Certificate Program at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Continuing Education Program. For 10 years he authored and taught an advanced estate planning course and a layperson course on estate planning for UCI. He has spoken to such professional groups as the National Business Institute, the Orange County/Long Beach Chapter of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Arthritis Foundation, and the Easter Seals Society. He has contributed to the estate planning text "Estate Planning and Taxation" by John C. Bost, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company; and is a co-author of the textbook used at UCI extension entitled "Advanced Estate Planning for Financial Professionals." His chapter entitled "Best Estate Plans Take Family Dynamics into Consideration" appeared in Best Practices for Structuring Trusts and Estates, 2015 Edition, 2015 Thompson Rueters / Aspatore.