R. Lee ELSBERG
Lee (age 61) was born and raised in Sioux
City, Iowa. The son of a small business owner, he worked at his
dad’s furniture store during high school and when he was home
from college. That experience gave him his desire to help small
business owners in his accounting and legal career as he saw
first hand all the burdens placed on small business for
compliance with government rules and regulations and especially
as to taxes. In 1967 Lee came to Colorado for college and
received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from
the University of Colorado in 1971. He worked as a tax
accountant for a national CPA firm in Denver before returning to
the University of Colorado and receiving his law degree in 1975.
After spending time in Montana and Idaho and briefly back at the
furniture store, Lee returned to Colorado and obtained a
Master’s Degree in tax law from the University of Denver in
1977. While pursuing his masters degree he worked on 17th Street
in Denver for a large tax and estate planning law firm, then
moved to Longmont in 1978 to regain the small town life he had
growing up. Lee’s a heavy lifter in business and in his personal
life having won several weightlifting titles in college and
afterward, before raising children and running a law practice
consumed more of his energies, though he continues to find time
to exercise every day.
Since moving to Longmont over 30 years ago,
Lee has represented local businesses, professionals, farmers and
individuals in all variety of legal and business matters with an
emphasis on taxation. He has advised on real estate matters from
the most basic purchase and sale of a personal residence to the
formation and funding of complex real estate partnerships owning
millions of dollars worth of commercial buildings and
apartments. He has helped clients start dozens of businesses and
been fortunate enough to advise on the eventual sale of many of
those businesses, often in very tax sophisticated ways.
Similarly he has helped many clients by preparing their first
wills establishing trusts and safety for their children and also
helped create sophisticated estate plans saving clients many
thousands in death taxes. As a lawyer in a city that has grown
from 20000 people to over 80000 people in the time he has lived
here, he has been counsel to families with modest means, but
also represents clients with large annual incomes and estates
with millions of dollars of assets. He has prepared hundreds of
individual, trust and estate income tax returns and many complex
US Estate tax returns.
Lee has been designated a peer-review AV-rated
attorney for many years. He has served on the board of directors
for the Longmont Red Cross and the Hover Retirement Community as
well as being an officer and member of the board of trustees for
the Longmont Odd fellows. In 2009 Lee was named by 5280 Magazine
as one of Colorado’s Best Personal Wealth Managers. Lee’s
practice focuses on Business Law and Entity Formation, Estate
Planning and Administration, Real Estate, and Taxation.