Michael Kerner

I am a shareholder of Janin, Morgan & Brenner. I received a B.A. degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1976, a J.D. degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1979, and a LL.M. degree in taxation from Golden Gate University in 1995. I joined Janin, Morgan & Brenner in 1999 and became a shareholder in 2000.

I am certified by the State Bar of California as a specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law. I am a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Solano County Bar Association, and the San Francisco Estate Planning Council. I have achieved the highest AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings(TM) and have been designated as a Northern California Super Lawyer by Law & Politics and San Francisco Magazine.

My practice focuses on sophisticated estate planning, organizing and advising partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations, business tax and succession planning, tax-deferred exchanges, and tax-related real property transactions. I am a frequent speaker and lecturer on estate planning and tax-related topics.

Janin, Morgan & Brenner, a professional corporation, was founded by Louis Janin in 1939 and based in San Francisco until 2008 when we moved our principal offices to downtown Oakland, the hub of the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Our offices are conveniently located at 13th Street and Broadway, adjacent to the 12th Street BART transfer station across Broadway from the Federal Plaza. We occupy the eleventh floor penthouse of the historic 1904 Beaux-Arts style office building now known as the Mash Building, Oakland's original skyscraper.

In our practice, we represent clients throughout the Bay Area and across the country. Our knowledge and understanding of our core practice areas are unsurpassed, and we take pride in our history of building and developing lasting relationships with our clients. We continually strive to achieve the highest level of excellence in our practice, seeking creative and simple solutions to complex problems. Our goal is to meet our clients’ legal needs as fully and cost effectively as possible. We understand that legal services can be expensive, and we are vigilant in keeping costs in check and maintaining our billing rates at competitive and reasonable levels. We strive to foster a creative and collegial environment in our daily practice so that we can most effectively serve our clients.