Max Elliott
Top rated Estate Planning & Probate attorney in Chicago, Illinois
The Law Offices of Max Elliott, Ltd.
Practice areas: Estate Planning & Probate, Closely Held Business; view more
Licensed in Illinois since: 2011
Education: DePaul University College of Law
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2022 - 2026 
Selected to Rising Stars: 2017 - 2021 Call today:
877-535-1600
Free Consultation The Law Offices of Max Elliott, Ltd.
401 N Michigan AveSuite 1200
Chicago, IL 60611 Visit website
Max Elliott, managing attorney and founder of The Law Offices of Max Elliott, Ltd., is a licensed Illinois attorney based in Chicago who practices estate and business planning as well as estate administration. Her firm represents clients across major U.S. metropolitan areas and concentrates on culturally diverse families and business owners – among them LGBTQ+ families, professional women, multinational households and Black entrepreneurs – providing services that range from planning for nontaxable and taxable estates to asset protection, fiduciary services and estate administration.
Ms. Elliott regularly delivers presentations to attorneys, students, and community audiences on topics such as the intersection of estate and retirement planning, generational wealth transfers and fiduciary selection, protective measures for seniors and LGBTQ+ individuals, and foundational business matters, including entity choice and succession planning. Her speaking engagements have included programs hosted by Harvard’s Research Center – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association and Quimbee’s national CLE offerings.
Her leadership roles and professional memberships reflect Ms. Elliott’s long-standing engagement with the trusts and estates bar. She served as chair and was the first African-American member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Trust Law Executive Committee, participated in the Chicago Estate Planning Council, and has been involved with the Illinois State Bar Association’s Trusts and Estates Section, and an electronic wills working group. She has been recognized with an AV Preeminent* peer-review rating through Martindale-Hubbell, inclusion in The National Black Lawyers Top 100, a fellowship in the American Bar Foundation, and other honors, including a 2021 induction into Marquis Who’s Who in America.
Ms. Elliott’s nonprofit and organizational work includes serving as general counsel to the Bernie Mac Foundation from 2014 to 2020, where she led the legal restructuring that stabilized the foundation during a turbulent period. Earlier in her career, she clerked at a tax firm handling probate, domestic relations, corporate records and nonprofit compliance, and she has more than two decades of nonlegal experience in roles with the American Bar Association’s former International Liaison Office and prominent Fortune 500 employers.
Also an author and commentator, Ms. Elliott founded the blog The Lotus Rules in 2011 and has published articles in academic and advocacy journals. Her work combines legal practice, teaching and community advocacy aimed at advancing the interests of historically marginalized populations.
*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer-review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.
Practice areas
Estate Planning & Probate, Closely Held BusinessFocus areas
Estate Planning, Probate & Estate Administration
- 90% Estate Planning & Probate
- 10% Closely Held Business
First Admitted: 2011, Illinois
Professional Webpage: https://maxelliottlaw.com/about-us/
Bar / Professional Activity
- Illinois State
- Black Women’s Bar Association of Greater Chicago
- Association of Black Estate Planning Professionals
- Chicago Bar Association, First African-American Member
- Chicago Estate Planning Council, Program Committee, 2019
- Chicago Bar Association, Trust Law Executive Committee, Chair-Emeritus, 2024
- Association of African American Financial Advisors, Member
- U.S. Trust, Bank of America Center on Influence on estate planning, Member
- Illinois State Bar Association, Trust and Estates Section, Member
- American Bar Association, Real Property, Trusts and Estates Section, Member
- Uniform Law Commission Drafting Committee on Healthcare Decisions Observer, Member
Pro bono / Community Service
- DePaul University College of Law Career Services, Volunteer
- MetroSquash
- Marillac-St. Vincent Family Services
- Stonewall Legacy Project
- Bernie Mac Foundation, Inc. (“BMF”), General Counsel, 2014-2020
- Association of African American Financial Advisors, Legal Faculty Volunteer
- Lawline, Volunteer Faculty Member
- Chicago Volunteer Legal Service, Pro Bono Probate
- Cook County Bar Association, Volunteer
- Chicago Women’s Health Center, Volunteer
- Legal Advisory Board of Raise the Floor Alliance
- Black Women Lawyers’ Association, Volunteer
- Illinois State Bar Association, Volunteer
- Esquire CLE, Volunteer Faculty Member
- Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE), Volunteer faculty member
- Chicago Bar Association, Volunteer
Honors
- For more than a century, Marquis Who’s Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including business, medicine, law, education, art, entertainment, religion, and politics, Marquis Who’s Who® in America, Representing Illinois Lawyers, 2021
- Ranked “Superb”
- Super Lawyers®, 2022-25
- Super Lawyers® Rising Star, 2017-2021
- AV-Preeminent, Martindale-Hubbell, 2019
- Co-Editor-In-Chief, the DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law, DePaul University College of Law, DePaul University College of Law, 2010
- Recipient of the Top Contributor in Estate Planning Award from Avvo
- Top 100 Black Lawyers by the National Black Lawyers organization
- Editor, The Advocate, DePaul University College of Law
Educational Background
- Northwestern University, Political Science, International Relations, 2007
Scholarly Lectures / Writings
- Estate Planning and the Illinois Civil Union
- LGBT Employment and Relationship Rights
- Marriage Equality, Hot Topics in Family Law
- Basic and Intermediate Estate Planning Fundamentals
- Changes in the Estate Planning Landscape in Light of the Illinois Civil Union
- Fundamental Estate Planning Documents for Same-Sex Couples
- Basic Estate Planning Is an Oxymoron
- Succession Planning for Attorneys
- Fundamental Estate Planning Documents for Today’s Families
- The Silver Tsunami: Are You Prepared? (Estate Planning for Baby Boomers & Their Families)
- Tax and Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples
- Celebrating Black History Month: The Essence of the African American Community and the Law
- Estate Planning for LGBTQ Couples: Legal Changes in Plain English
- Estate Planning for LGBTQ Couples: Legal Changes in Plain English, Part Deux
- What if I Am Neither: Estate Planning for the Transgender and Queer Community
- The Lottery & Estate Planning for Elders: You Don't Need A Ticket to Win
- Estate Planning and Wealth Preservation Considerations
- Working in a Solo Small Firm Practice Environment
- Professional Wills and Advanced Directives for the Solo/Small Firm Practitioner
- Avoiding the ARDC Checkmate: The Ethical Difficulties of Lawyers Functioning in Dual Roles
- How to Incorporate Estate Planning into Your Offering: The Silver Tsunami, Planning Trends, and Estate Planning Myths
- Diversity Matters: In/Tolerance Tales from the Solo/Small Firm Trenches
- Planning Family-Owned Businesses: Avoiding Earthquakes and Landslides while Building Legacies
- Future Planning: Cryptocurrency, Cryonics & Posthumously Conceived Children
- Preventing Disasters: Estate Planning for Older, Unmarried, LGBTQ Couples in Illinois
- Virtual Estate Planning: Digital Currency & Posthumous Children
- 12 Estate Planning Tips for Generational Planning
- 20 Practice Tips to Wow Your SmallBiz Clients
- Estate Planning and Administration for Unconventional Assets: Digital Currency, Frequent Flier Miles, and SpaceX Reservations
- Powers of Attorney: What You Should Know but Don’t
- How to Advocate for LGBTQ Families Using Tax & Estate Planning
- LGBTQ Estate Planning and Related Rights under the Current Supreme Court
- Post-Death Estate Administration: Real Property, Closely Held (Family Businesses), Simultaneous Death, and Special Assets
- Sustaining Growth Post-COVID for Small Businesses
- Estate Planning for LGBTQ+ Families and Individuals in the Dramatists Guild
- Drafting Wills for Challenging Family Dynamics
- National Estate Planning Council Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Estate Planning
- Lawyers Who Care
- Mighty Powers of Appointment: How They Create Dynastic Legacies
- LGBTQ+ Rights in Light of the Current Political Climate
- Economic Legacies and Estate Planning
- Estate Planning for Multinational Families: Citizenship, Choice of Laws, and Cultural Issues
- Haters & Big Spenders: Drafting Trusts for Challenging Family Dynamics
- Intestate Administration: It Might Just Kill You
- Estate Planning for Generational Wealth
- "Improving Afghanistan Maternal Mortality Rates despite the Lack of the Rule of Law," International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) Human Rights and Rule of Law Review, Fall 2010
- Generative AI in Estate Planning
- Craft Your Legacy: Estate Planning
- LGBTQ+ Estate Planning and Related Rights under the Current Supreme Court
- Planning for 2026 and Beyond: Smaldino, GRATs, and QPRTs
- Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs)
- Helping Preserve and Create Wealth for Today’s Families
- Artificial Intelligence – Ethics and Best Practices for Lawyers and Law Firms
- Pitfalls, Benefits, and Risks Lawyers Face When Using Generative AI
- DePaul’s public interest law newsletter, “The Advocate”, Editor
- DePaul University College of Law, co-founded, as Co-Editor-In-Chief, the former DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law, the first legal journal in Illinois dedicated to women and gender legal issue.
- Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education (IICLE), Faculty, 2024
- "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: What the Reversal of U.S. Asylum Law Means to Advocates and Women Asylum Seekers," The Women's Advocate, Fall 2009
- "Catching Up with International Criminals in the Twenty-First Century: Modifying and Accelerating U.S. Extradition," White Paper, Library of the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda, Spring 2009
- Author, "Ms. Thang, Real Knights Don't Show Up at 3 in the Morning," published by Pocket Books, a Division of Simon & Schuster
- Presented for Harvard’s Research Center – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, and Quimbee – the award-winning Bar Review Program
Other Outstanding Achievements
- American Bar Foundation, Fellow, 2016
These comments were made by fellow attorneys during the annual nomination process.
“An astute business professional and attorney. Max has managed to grow a successful small firm from the ground up.”
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2022 - 2026
- Rising Stars: 2017 - 2021
