Venable Formalizes Family Office Practice as Legal Needs Expand Beyond Wealth Planning

The 900-lawyer firm now offers coordinated counsel across M&A, real estate, governance, and specialized assets including sports teams and NIL rights.

By the Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk·Saturday, October 31, 2026·2 min read

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What does Venable LLP's expanded Family Offices practice cover and who leads it?

Venable LLP announced on October 27, 2026, the formal expansion of its Family Offices offering to deliver coordinated legal counsel across M&A, real estate, governance, philanthropy, cybersecurity, and specialized assets including sports teams and NIL rights. The 900-lawyer firm, headquartered in Washington, DC, is positioning the practice to serve family offices that now operate as institutional investors with legal needs extending well beyond traditional wealth and estate planning.

Key facts

Venable LLP announced the expansion of its Family Offices offering on October 27, 2026, according to the firm.
Venable LLP has more than 900 professionals across offices in California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington, DC, according to the firm.
Chuck Morton, managing partner of Venable's Baltimore office, said 'Family offices require counsel who understand both the family and the enterprise behind it' and described the expansion as formalizing work the firm has conducted across multiple practice areas for years.
Sandra Newman, partner in Venable Private Wealth Planning, said family offices 'create a greater intersection between private wealth, investment activity, and business operations' requiring advisers who can anticipate where legal and business issues converge.
Venable's expanded Family Offices practice covers specialized assets including art, real estate, media and entertainment interests, sports teams, intellectual property, royalties, rights of publicity, and name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, according to the firm.
Venable LLP is designated an American Lawyer Global 100 law firm and is headquartered in Washington, DC, according to the firm.

Venable Formalizes Family Office Practice as Legal Needs Expand Beyond Wealth Planning — Image: editorial illustration · Story sourced from venable.com

Venable LLP announced October 27 the expansion of its family office services to address the increasingly interconnected legal and business needs of family offices as they take on broader roles in acquiring businesses and real estate, managing investments, overseeing complex assets, and preserving multigenerational wealth.

Family offices are growing in number, scale, and sophistication, with many operating as institutional investors and complex business enterprises, the firm said. Their legal needs extend well beyond traditional wealth and estate planning to areas such as transactions, governance, real estate, employment, regulatory compliance, philanthropy, cybersecurity, data privacy, and artificial intelligence.

"Family offices require counsel who understand both the family and the enterprise behind it," said Chuck Morton, managing partner of Venable's Baltimore office and veteran corporate attorney. "Venable has been advising family offices and high-net-worth families across many areas of the firm for years. This expansion formalizes that work and gives clients a coordinated team that can address a range of issues." Morton brings decades of experience advising family offices, closely held businesses, and investors on sophisticated corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, and other complex business matters.

Using a coordinated, concierge-style approach, Venable advises across the lifecycle of family capital, from governance, tax and wealth planning to M&A, direct and fund investments, enterprise protection, philanthropy, and succession, the firm said. The firm also counsels on specialized assets relevant to high-net-worth families and public figures, including art, real estate, media and entertainment interests, sports teams, intellectual property, royalties, rights of publicity, and name, image, and likeness rights.

"Family offices create a greater intersection between private wealth, investment activity, and business operations," said Sandra Newman, partner in Venable's private wealth planning practice. "Families need advisers who can look across those interests, anticipate where legal and business issues converge, and help them make decisions with their immediate priorities and long-term objectives in mind."

Newman advises clients on structuring and administering family offices, with a focus on investment structures, risk management, multigenerational wealth planning, succession, and tax optimization strategies, the firm said. Venable is an American Lawyer Global 100 law firm headquartered in Washington with more than 900 professionals in California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

The Deployment Angle

Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk · our analysis, not the source's

Family offices making direct investments in operating companies or real estate platforms should confirm their outside counsel can execute M&A work, structure governance, and handle employment and regulatory matters in a single engagement—not just draft trusts. The shift Venable describes reflects a broader market reality: family capital now competes with institutional sponsors, and legal diligence that stops at tax planning leaves operational and enterprise risk unpriced.

For principals considering co-GP arrangements or platform equity, integrated legal counsel matters most at the front end of a deal, when governance rights, fiduciary duties, and succession mechanics are negotiated. A law firm that can draft the operating agreement, the employment arrangements for next-generation family members, and the IP assignment for a family brand in parallel will compress deal timelines and reduce coordination risk. Principals should ask prospective counsel whether they have closed transactions involving family offices as buyers—not just as beneficiaries.

The mention of specialized assets such as sports teams, media interests, and NIL rights points to a valuation consideration: family offices with non-traditional holdings need counsel who understand both the asset class and the liquidity constraints those assets impose on the broader portfolio. If a family office holds a minority stake in a sports franchise or a royalty stream from intellectual property, those positions are not marked daily and cannot be rebalanced on demand. Legal structuring should preserve optionality for future liquidity events, including tag-along rights and co-sale provisions, even if no exit is contemplated near term.

Families operating at institutional scale—those making eight-figure direct investments or managing funds with outside capital—should review whether their current legal relationships are organized around the enterprise or around individuals. If governance documents, transaction counsel, and compliance work are scattered across multiple firms, coordination friction will compound as the portfolio grows. Formalizing a lead counsel relationship, as Venable is doing for its clients, reduces that friction and makes succession planning more executable when the time comes.

Questions this story answers

01What legal services does Venable's Family Offices practice now cover?

According to Venable LLP, the expanded practice covers governance, tax and wealth planning, M&A, direct and fund investments, enterprise protection, philanthropy, succession, real estate, employment, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, data privacy, and artificial intelligence, as well as specialized assets such as sports teams, NIL rights, royalties, and intellectual property.

02Who leads Venable's Family Offices expansion?

Chuck Morton, managing partner of Venable's Baltimore office and described by the firm as a veteran corporate attorney with decades of experience advising family offices on M&A and complex business matters, and Sandra Newman, a partner in Venable Private Wealth Planning who focuses on investment structures, risk management, succession, and tax optimization strategies, are both identified as key figures in the expanded practice.

03Why is Venable formalizing its family office practice now?

Venable LLP stated that family offices are growing in number, scale, and sophistication, with many operating as institutional investors and complex business enterprises whose legal needs extend well beyond traditional wealth and estate planning. Chuck Morton said the expansion formalizes work Venable has already been conducting across many areas of the firm for years.

04Does Venable's family office practice cover real estate transactions?

Yes. Venable LLP stated that its expanded Family Offices offering addresses client needs in acquiring real estate and listed real estate as one of the specialized asset classes on which the firm counsels. Real estate is also cited among the broader legal and business need areas the practice is designed to serve.

05How large is Venable LLP as a firm?

Venable LLP has more than 900 professionals, according to the firm. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, holds American Lawyer Global 100 status, and operates offices in California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

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