Gwendolyn Powell Braswell, Esquire
Gwendolyn is an experienced attorney who has been helping clients solve complex problems for over 25 years. Throughout her career, Gwendolyn has enjoyed building relationships with her clients and making a difference in their lives by approaching challenges with enthusiasm and dedication. Her estate planning practice focuses on helping families enhance their lives today and secure their futures tomorrow. She excels in guiding her clients through the often confusing maze of financial and legal decisions required to create plans that ensure the well-being of their families and help them accomplish cherished family goals. Her considerable legal expertise includes family protection, wealth preservation, and values-based planning, as well as planning strategies for unmarried couples and divorced individuals. Whether you are married or single, with a traditional family or a blended one, just starting out or looking back on a life well-lived, Gwendolyn will help you craft a plan that achieves your goals for your loved ones today and for years to come.
Gwendolyn graduated in 1991 from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. While in law school, Gwendolyn received the moot court award for Excellence in Oral Advocacy and clerked in the Disability Rights Clinic. Upon graduating from law school, Gwendolyn served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Spencer Williams in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Gwendolyn then joined the prestigious law firm of Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), in Washington, D.C., where she practiced complex commercial litigation. Years later, Gwendolyn was recruited to Marriott International, Inc., as in-house corporate counsel responsible for operations in the Mid-Atlantic region. She subsequently joined Crestline Capital Corporation, a Marriott spinoff, to serve as Assistant General Counsel and Vice President. In 2002, Gwendolyn relocated to her native state of Florida and built an appellate litigation practice. As a board-certified appellate specialist, she litigated over 250 appeals and presented over 75 oral arguments. She was selected as a “Florida Super Lawyer” in appellate practice for eight consecutive years. In 2012, Gwendolyn moved to Southwest Michigan with her husband and their elementary-school aged son. She also has an adult stepdaughter.
Gwendolyn is the founding partner of Legacy Counsel, PLC based in Southwest Michigan. Gwendolyn holds a Certificate in the areas of probate and estate planning issued by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education and the Probate and Estate Planning Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She is a member of the Southwestern Michigan Estate Planning Council (a division of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils). Gwendolyn is also a member of Wealth Counsel, a national organization of trusts and estates attorneys and other legal, tax and business professionals who design sophisticated planning techniques for individuals and families. She is actively licensed to practice law in Michigan and Florida.
Gwendolyn is passionate about working closely with each of her clients to ensure they receive unique, individualized services that suit their needs. Her compassionate and dedicated approach takes the stress and complexity out of estate planning. Because Gwendolyn understands that every family is unique, “one-size-fits-all” is not in her vocabulary.
Giving Back to the Community
Throughout her career, Gwendolyn has been a firm believer in using her legal experience to give back. She has worked in the areas of disability rights advocacy and civil rights law, both as a volunteer and a pro bono attorney. Gwendolyn also enjoys teaching and mentoring young people interested in becoming lawyers. She has volunteered with several moot court programs and served as a guest lecturer to pre-law students.
