Leslie Daff is certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization as a Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law, a designation earned by 78 of the approximately 15,000 licensed attorneys in the county.  Formerly with the law firms of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, Best Best & Krieger LLP, and Palmieri, Tyler, Weiner, Wilhelm & Waldron LLP, she founded Estate Plan, Inc., a professional law corporation with offices in Laguna Beach and Irvine in 2005. 

Leslie received her B.S. degree in Finance from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and her M.B.A. degree from the University of California, Irvine Paul Merage School of Business. Prior to law school, she worked as a financial analyst and as Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis at subsidiaries of the Coca-Cola Company and Baxter Healthcare, respectively. 

She received her J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she served as an editor on the Loyola Law School Entertainment Law Review, received American Jurisprudence Awards for Excellence in Legal Research and Writing and Ethical Lawyering, and was installed as a member of the St. Thomas More Law Honor Society. She also served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Sheila Prell Sonenshine, Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal. 

Leslie is co-author of the Estate Planning Considerations chapter update for the State Bar of California Continuing Education of the Bar book Buy-Sell Agreements.  She is co-editor of the 2009 book WealthCounsel (R) Estate Planning Strategies, Collective Wisdom, Proven Techniques.  She is a regular contributor to the Journal of Financial Planning.

Leslie serves on the Board of the South Orange County Bar Association.  She is also a member of the Trusts & Estates Section of the State Bar of California, the Real Property, Probate and Trust Section of the American Bar Association, the Trusts & Estates Section of the Orange County Bar Association, and the Orange Coast Estate Planning Council. 

She is involved with the Alumni Board of Directors for the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business – Orange County Chapter, a member of the Dean’s Leadership Circle of the University of California, Irvine Paul Merage School of Business, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Laguna Beach Rotary Club Foundation.  She regularly speaks on estate planning topics for a variety of groups and organizations, including the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Staff Profiles

Katherine J. Hughes, Of Counsel