Legal Elite 2024: Taxes/ Estates/ Trusts Q&A Elizabeth “Liz” Soc

Legal Elite 2024 Q&A is sponsored content.

Title: Founder and managing attorney

Other legal specialties: Business and corporate law, commercial contracts and leasing, personal injury 

Education: Bachelor’s degree, George Mason University; law degree, Penn State Dickinson Law

Family: My beautiful, amazing and bada** parents, Khom Soc and Thanh H. Ly, as well as my sister, Soriya Walker, nephew, Ezra, and nieces, Micah, Mikaila and Joelle. I am a “bachelorette” currently seeking the right person to try and start a family of our own.

Career mentors: Too many to name them all but from Randy Ogg and Peter Grenier, the first lawyers I ever worked for as a paralegal at a “well-oiled machine” personal injury firm, to Jamel Rowe, a phenomenal domestic relations attorney with whom I worked side by side gaining tremendous courtroom and highly contested case experience, to Tonya Penn and Tori Bramble, fellow women of color law firm owners, to Andrea Bryk, another amazing woman warrior law firm owner, to retired Judge Lorraine Nordlund and Judge John Tran, who have kindly and graciously been litigation, general career and life mentors, I have been tremendously blessed.

TV show I’d recommend: “Life Below Zero,” a National Geographic documentary series about subsistence hunters making a living in remote parts of Alaska

How does being a second-generation American influence you as an attorney? Being a second-generation American informs my belief in the core American values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Navigating different home and societal cultures and expectations equipped me with more patience, empathy and compassion and also trained me as a cultural bridge, helping to find and/or create solutions to meet complex goals among diverse individuals that foster growth and mutual respect. 

What do you find most satisfying about estates and trusts work? Helping clients attain peace of mind by guiding them through the complexities of estate and succession planning, ensuring the future of their assets, businesses and families are protected and well cared for. I call it “happy law” because I help them to proactively avoid and/or solve conflicts and problems before they arise rather than duke it out after a conflict arises.

Read all of the 2024 Virginia Legal Elite here.

Legal Elite 2024 Q&A is sponsored content.