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ANITA L. BARBER, LL.M., C.P.A.
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Ms. Barber has over twenty (20) years experience in the areas of tax and estate planning, trust administration, wealth management, private banking and auditing. Her law firm, Anita L. Barber, P.A., focuses on estate planning, asset protection planning, probate, guardianships, real estate and corporate law. Prior to establishing her independent law practice, Ms. Barber was a Senior Vice President in The Private Bank of Bank of America in Orlando, Florida. During her tenure with The Private Bank, Ms. Barber was a member of a four-person senior management team with overall operations responsibility for the Central Florida market of The Private Bank. She also functioned as the Chairperson of the Administrative and Investment Review Committee for Central Florida and was responsible for a portfolio of 45 clients with an asset base of over $125 million. Ms. Barber provided estate planning and investment advisory services to high net worth clients and was a technical resource within the bank in the areas of sophisticated wealth transfer planning and trust administration. Ms. Barber also interfaced with external bank counsel to oversee the negotiation, litigation and resolution of complex trust and guardianship matters.
Prior to becoming a private banker, Ms. Barber was a practicing attorney with a national and several regional private law firms. As a Senior Associate with the national law firm Foley & Lardner in Orlando, Florida, she reported to the firm’s national Managing Tax Partner and gained broad experience in all aspects of taxation; business, estate and wealth transfer planning; and probate, trust and guardianship administration. She structured and counseled clients in the formation of complex estate plans that included such aspects as family limited partnerships, defective grantor trusts and private foundations. Ms. Barber represented clients in tax court litigation and was instrumental in the preparation of an estate valuation question that was to be argued before the U.S. Tax Court. She also has represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service. Ms. Barber gained invaluable experience in the areas of corporate and partnership law as an associate with the regional firm McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe in Richmond, Virginia.
Immediately after college, Ms. Barber became a Certified Public Accountant and worked for the Office of the Auditor General, State of Florida in Tallahassee, Florida. Ms. Barber coordinated and managed an audit staff of twenty-one (21) auditors and was responsible for the audit of the Department of Health and Human Services, in addition to overseeing an audit staff that audited several medium sized departments. Ms. Barber also developed a curriculum and taught Continuing Professional Education courses to state audit employees prior to attending law school.
Ms. Barber holds an LL.M. in Taxation from the New York University, School of Law, a J.D. from the University of Georgia, and a B.S. in Accounting from Florida State University. She is an active member of the Florida Bar, Georgia Bar, Central Florida Estate Planning Council and a is Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida.