Scott A. Sissel, JD, CPA, LLM

Capabilities

Scott's practice focuses primarily on estate tax planning and business succession matters (mergers & acquisitions) for ultra-high net worth families, with the majority between $35MM - $500MM.

In addition to his law degree, Scott is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and received his post-doctorate Masters in Taxation (LL.M.) from Northwestern. He is one of only two known estate tax attorneys in the State of Iowa with this additional post-Juris Doctorate (JD) training and the sole attorney in Iowa with material training (5 years) at a Tier 1 (over 1,000 attorneys) law firm in a major city (Chicago) primarily representing ultra-high net wealth clients. Scott is licensed to practice law in Iowa, Illinois, and South Dakota.

Scott’s philosophy is to identify the needs of each family / business that the firm represents, and then custom build his team at Sissel Law, PLLC around the needs for such clients, similarly to how dedicated family offices are structured.

Scott is happy to meet with prospective clients without any cost or commitment. He first seeks to educate families on the highest standards of legal structuring for their life's work and the vast benefits therefrom before determining if the firm is a good fit for the client.

Admissions

Iowa State Bar

Illinois State Bar

South Dakota State Bar

Speeches & Publications

Speaker - "Overview of South Dakota Trust Structuring and Potential Decanting Opportunities for High Net Wealth Families" presented for the Quad City Estate Planning Council, May 2025

Speaker - "Selling Your Business - A Case Study for Privately Held Business Owners" presented at the ABI Taking Care Of Business Conference, June 2016

Speaker - "Estate Tax Opportunities Prior to the Sale of a Closely-Owned Family Business" presented for Duff & Phelps, April 2016

Speaker - "The Evolution of the Virtual Family Office" presented for U.S. Bank, May 2013

Speaker - “Gifting Opportunities in 2012 — Leveraging the 2012 Tax Exemptions Through FLPs, FLLCs and GRATs, and Gifting Other Equity Interests, Life Insurance and Real Estate” presented for Strafford, September 2012

Education

Northwestern University, Master's in Taxation (LL.M.)

University of Iowa College of Law, J.D.

University of Iowa, B.A. in Business Administration and Accounting