Deirdre Henderson, Partner

Ms. Henderson attended Vassar College (A.B., History) and Brown University (M.A.T., History). She read law for admission to the New York Bar, one of the few people to do so successfully in recent times. Ms. Henderson served as General Counsel and Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Economic Development. She also served on the board of the Adirondack Park Agency and the Olympic Regional Development Authority and introduced negotiated rulemaking in New York State government. 

Ms. Henderson concentrates on: trusts and estates; family offices; ancillary investment management; and closely held businesses. She advises on: domestic and offshore asset protection and allocation; trust creation and choice of domicile; and securities and real estate investment issues for businesses and individuals. 

Ms. Henderson was the Director of the Legal Program to reduce the cost of business disputes at the Center for Public Resources in New York. There she worked on the Wellington Accords, an alternative means of settling asbestos litigations. She served as Chair of the Subcommittee on Alternative Dispute Resolution of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Ms. Henderson serves on the Columbia County (New York) Environmental Management Council. She has also served on her town’s committees to protect farmland, redraft the local mining law, draft the first conservation subdivision law, and draft a comprehensive plan. Ms. Henderson is a volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a non-partisan, national grassroots organization that works to build political will for a sustainable climate, a concern of many family offices and foundations.

Primarily in the Capital Region office, Ms. Henderson also attends to client matters in the New York City office.