Hugh F. Drake

Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP, Springfield

Hugh F. Drake is a Partner at Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP, in Springfield, where he practices in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, and business planning. Drake represents clients in all aspects of wealth transfer as well as trust and estate administration matters, including designing and implementing sophisticated and personalized estate plans, which leverage the use of gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to pass wealth. He also represents fiduciaries in the administration of estates and trusts, the formation and operation of public charities and private foundations, and sophisticated charitable giving techniques.

Drake is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He has served in various leadership positions with the Illinois State Bar Association, the Sangamon Valley Estate Planning Council, and the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln, including as Section Chair of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section. He is a frequent lecturer, both nationally and locally, and has published numerous articles on tax and estate planning in publications such as Trusts & Estates, The Practical Tax Lawyer, and Probate & Property.

Drake received his B.A. from the University of Illinois, his M.A. from Southern Illinois University, and his J.D. cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law.