Chris received a B.S. in Accounting, magna cum laude and with honors, from the University of Wyoming in 2001, and then his J.D. with honors in 2004. He obtained a master of laws in taxation (LL.M.) from the University of Denver in 2006.

Chris is licensed to practice law in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah, and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, United States Tax Court, and the United States District Court of Wyoming.

Chris is a former Director of the Wyoming Trust Association, and has served as a Director of the Wyoming State Bar Foundation, Director of the Teton County Library Foundation, Chair of the Wyoming State Bar Taxation Committee, Commissioner of Equal Justice Wyoming (formerly known as the Wyoming Center for Legal Aid), and the First Interstate Bank Community Advisory Board.

• Chair of the USA Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) – the leading worldwide professional body for practitioners in the fields of trusts, estates and related issues, overseeing 17 branches and chapters in the USA. Visit STEP USA Leadership Page.
• State Chair (Wyoming), and Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, members of which are elected by demonstrating the highest level of integrity, commitment to the profession, competence and experience as trust and estate counselors (Visit ACTEC Page).
• Member of the International Tax Planning Association.

Chris served as an Adjunct Professor of Law (Estate Planning) at the University of Wyoming College of Law for the spring semester of 2011.

• STEP Los Angeles, July 27, 2021, “California in the Rearview Mirror – Residency Termination (or Jackson Hole Here I Come!)”
• STEP Miami 10th Annual Summit, Miami, Florida, May 31, 2019, “Planning + Substance: Wyoming Private Trust Companies, Asset Protection Trusts and Statutory Foundations”
• STEP International Tax and Estate Planning Forum: Around the Globe in 2018, Laguna Beach, California, May 3, 2018, “Roundtable Discussions: Planning for International Families in the New World Order and Anti‐Money Laundering for Wealth Planners”
• State Bar of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, March 1, 2018, “Hot Topics in Contemporary Estate Planning: Wyoming Private Trust Companies and Domestic Asset Protection Trusts”
• STEP New York, New York, NY, January 11, 2018, “A Comparison of U.S. Trust Jurisdictions: Private Trust Companies”
• International Tax Planning Association, Villa d’Este, Lago di Como/Cernobbio, Italy, October 24, 2017, “The United States: Tomorrow’s Leading Trust Jurisdiction; and US-Europe Trust Migration”
• Economical Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming (ENDOW) Seminar Co-Panelist, Teton County Library, Jackson, Wyoming, June 28, 2017, “Trust Industry”
• Conference of State Bank Supervisors District IV Meeting, Jackson, Wyoming, July 14, 2016, “Trust Company Supervision”
• STEP International Tax and Estate Planning Forum, Laguna Beach, CA, May 6, 2016, “Using US Structures to Maintain Privacy in a CRS/OECD World”
• International Bar Association 21st Annual International Wealth Transfer Conference, February 29, 2016, London, England, “I Want a Say in My Wealth Management – Controlling Trustees and Foundation Boards”
• 2015 Wyoming State Bar Annual Meeting and Judicial Conference, September 9, 2015, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, “Innovation Over the Years: A Look at Wyoming’s Evolving Trust Climate”
• Transnational Taxation Network, May 1, 2015, Miami, Florida, “Private Trust Companies: Recent Developments”
• Family Office Exchange (FOX) Webinar, February 11, 2015, “Key Trust States’ Innovative Proposals Supporting Private Family Trust Companies and Family Trusts”
• CCC Alliance Member Meeting, the Algonquin Club, Boston, MA, January 13, 2015, “Trust Situs Workshop: Private Trust Companies and State Income Taxation Update”
• JP Morgan Wealth Advisor Teleconference, November 18, 2014, “The Great Migration: Onshore Trust Situs Selection and Migration Issues, Including -Ing Trusts, and Using a PTC as Trustee”
• Teton Pines Lunch Group Member Event, Wilson, Wyoming, October 23, 2013, “Wyoming Trust Update: Pressures from Income Taxing Sister States and FATCA”
• Withers Bergman Presentation, New York, New York, October 15, 2013, “Wyoming as a Premiere Trust Situs for Onshore and Offshore Planning”
• Alliance Bernstein Lunch Presentation, New York, New York, October 15, 2013, “Wyoming as a Favorable Trust Situs for New York Residents”
• STEP Silicon Valley Chapter, Palo Alto, California, June 5, 2013, “Interstate Trust Planning”
• 2013 6th Annual STEP Pacific Rim Conference in Los Angeles, California, May 3, 2013, “Dealing with Conflicts Between Divorce Decrees (or Forced Heirship Law) and Trusts”
• 2013 6th Annual STEP Pacific Rim Conference in Los Angeles, California, May 3, 2013, “Use of Trusts or Other Vehicles to Hold the International Family Business”
• RBZ, LLP CPAs Lunch Presentation, Los Angeles, California, May 2, 2013, “Wyoming as a Favorable Trust Situs for California Residents”
• STEP Wyoming Ski Boot Camp, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, March 1, 2013, “The Ethics of Giving Tax Advice”
• 49th Annual Hawaii Tax Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 6th, 2012, “Situs Selection of Trusts: How Asset Protection and State Income Taxes Factor into Trust Situs Selection”
• STEP Wyoming Webinar, October 31, 2012, “2012 Year End Estate and Gift Tax Strategies”
• St. Johns Hospital Board Lunch Presentation, October 8, 2012, “Planned Giving”
• STEP Los Angeles Lunch Presentation, September 11, 2012, “Use it or Lose it: Alternatives to using the 2012 Exemption”
• Financial Designs Ltd. Lunch Presentation, Denver, Colorado, September 10, 2012, “2012 Lifetime Exemption Gifting: Easing Client Concerns”
• First Western Trust Webinar, July 10, 2012, “The Advantages of Wyoming Trusts”
• Today Shooting Star Speaker Series, July 9, 2012 & August 20, 2012, “The Advantages of Wyoming Situs for Individuals, Businesses, and Trusts, with Special Emphasis on 2012 Planning Opportunities”
• Teton Pines Lunch Group Member Event, June 27, 2012, “Uncertainties in Estate and Gift Planning and 2012 Planning Opportunities”
• 2012 5th Annual STEP Pacific Rim Conference in Santa Monica, California, May 3, 2012, “Ownership and Management of a Family Business — Planning for the Latin American Family”
• STEP Chicago Lunch Presentation, April 17, 2012, “The Undiscovered Country: Wyoming’s Emergence as a Leading Trust Situs Jurisdiction”
• New York State Bar Eighth Annual International Estate Planning Institute, New York, New York, Thursday, March 22, 2012 “Dodd-Frank and the International Trustee”
• Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty Breakfast Presentation, March 7, 2012, “Opportunities for Wealth Preservation and Planning for Business Entities, Individuals and Trusts Having a Situs in the State of Wyoming.”
• ABA International Private Client Committee member teleconference, February 27, 2012, “Ethics in International Estate Planning”
• 48th Annual Hawaii Tax Institute, Honolulu, Hawaii, December 8th, 2011, “The Impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on Private Trustees: A Guide for Practitioners and Their Clients to Avoid Investment Advisor Status”
• 2011 19th STEP Jersey Annual International Conference in St. Helier, Jersey Channel Islands, November 4, 2011, “The Undiscovered Country: Wyoming’s Emergence as a Leading Trust Situs Jurisdiction”
• 2011 Wyoming State Bar Convention in Cheyenne, Wyoming, September 16, 2011, “The Undiscovered Country: Opportunities for Wealth Preservation and Planning for Business Entities, Individuals and Trusts Having a Situs in the State of Wyoming”
• 2011 4th Annual STEP Pacific Rim Conference in Santa Monica, California, May 13, 2011, “Asset Protection Practice in the United States: Current Best Practices, and Predictions for the Future”
• 2011 4th Annual STEP Pacific Rim Conference in Santa Monica, California, May 12, 2011, “Domestication and Expatriation of a Trust: Change of Governing Law and Forum of Administrations”
• 2010 Osborne Tax Luncheon in Salt Lake City, Utah, May 20, 2010, “Utah/Wyoming Asset Protection Trusts”
• 2009 Wyoming State Bar Convention in Evanston, Wyoming, September 17, 2009, “Domestic Asset Protection Trusts and their Trustees: Wyoming vs. Utah”
• 2009 Edward Jones Seminar on Estate Planning, Jackson, Wyoming, January 14, 2009
• 2008 Wyoming State Bar Convention in Cheyenne, Wyoming, September 10, 2008, “Irrevocable Trusts”
• 2006 Wyoming State Bar Summit & Judicial Council in Laramie, Wyoming, August 16, 2006, “High End Estate Planning – Recent Developments”

• The Wyoming Chapter of International Tax Planning Association publication: ITPA Purpose Trust Handbook, 2021
• “Wyoming Trusts and Trust Alternatives,” International Tax Planning Association, Topic 129, 2021
• The Wyoming Chapter of Globe Law and Business’s Private Trust Companies: A Handbook for Advisers, 2020
• “Ethical Issues in International Estate Planning,” BNA Tax Management Portfolio 872-1st, 2015
• “Ethics in International Estate Planning,” a Chapter of International Estate Planning, ABA Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law, 2d. Edition, 2014
• “Why Choose Wyoming,” STEP Journal, Vol. 21., Issue 5, June 2013
• “Appropriate Naming Conventions for Wyoming Unregulated Private Trust Companies,” Wyoming Lawyer, April 2012
• “Private Trustees Beware: A Review of the Sweeping New SEC Registration Requirements Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,” Michigan State University College of Law Journal of Business & Securities Law, Volume 12, Number 2, 2012
• “International Trust Domestication: Migrating an Offshore Trust to a U.S. Jurisdiction,” Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal, Volume 25, Number 2, 2012
• “Ethical Considerations in International Estate Planning,” BNA Tax Management Estates, Gifts and Trusts Journal, September 2011
• “Asset Protection, Then and Now: Tools to protect wealth from creditors,” Trusts & Estates, August 2011
• “The Advantages of a Wyoming Private Trust Company for Managing Private Wealth,” Private Asset Management, June 2011
• “The Undiscovered Country: Wyoming’s Emergence as a Leading Trust Situs Jurisdiction,” Wyoming Law Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2011 ** “Special Report: Review of Reviews,” Trusts & Estates, February 2012
• “Non-Commercial Aircraft Sales – Planning Strategies to Ensure FAA Compliance and Minimize Taxes,” Wyoming Law Review, Volume 10, Number 1, 2010
• “Domestic Asset Protection Trusts: A Comparison of the Laws of Utah and Wyoming,” Utah Bar Journal, March/April 2010
• “Qualified Settlement Funds and Section 468B”, Wyoming Lawyer, June 2009
• “Internal Revenue Service Office of Practitioner Liaison: 2007 Annual Meeting,” Wyoming Lawyer, December 2007
• “Communicating with the Internal Revenue Service Through the Office of Practitioner Liaison,” Wyoming Lawyer, April 2007

• Selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star.
• Holds the highest rank achievable by Chambers USA as a Wyoming tax practitioner.
• Formerly represented the Wyoming State Bar before the Stakeholder Liaison Division of the Internal Revenue Service.