Michael P. Sampson

Michael's legal practice focuses on high-end estate and tax planning, estate and trust administration, charitable planning, and business succession planning. Michael helps his clients focus on what it is they really want to accomplish with their wealth. After assisting his clients in identifying their specific wealth planning goals, Michael works with them and their other professional advisors to develop and implement wealth transfer strategies that are consistent not only with their goals, but also with their cash flow needs and tolerance for risk.

It is this practical focus on the real-life impact of wealth transfer planning that distinguishes Michael's approach from that of the typical estate planning attorney. Beyond preparing legal documents, he also serves as his clients' wealth coach, personal CFO, professional pest, and skeptic-for-hire. Michael also provides his clients with access to his deep network of contacts, which often leads to solutions for many of life's little problems, even if they're completely unrelated to what one would normally think of as "estate planning."

Michael is a fellow of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and has also been recognized as a Notable Practitioner in Minnesota for Private Wealth Law in the 2018-2024 editions of the Chambers High Net Worth (HNW) guide. He is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars and has served as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul and the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. Michael serves as the chair of Maslon's Estate Planning Group and is also very active in the Minnesota State Bar Association, recently serving as chair of the Probate and Trust Law Section Council and previously as chair of the Section's Legislation Committee.