Email:aalton@btjd.com
Mr. Alton primarily works with the firm’s business transactions group. He advises clients on a variety of business law matters including entity formation; corporate restructuring; corporate governance and strategic relationships; private equity, venture capital, and debt financing; recapitalizations; mergers and acquisitions; and commercial real estate transactions. Mr. Alton also works with the firm’s estate planning and taxation group (with a focus on estate planning) and assists the firm’s litigation group with complex commercial litigation matters from time to time.
Mr. Alton developed a broad range of legal experience prior to joining the firm. He practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, a preeminent international law firm, in Frankfurt, Germany and New York City (where he practiced in the areas of international capital markets and global disputes and investigations) and Beus Gilbert McGroder PLLC, a premier litigation and commercial real estate boutique in Phoenix, AZ (where he practiced in the area of high stakes commercial litigation, including disputes for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, professional malpractice, patent infringement, and other intellectual properties disputes).
Mr. Alton is married with two children. Mr. Alton was born and raised in California and his wife was born and raised in Brazil. As a family, the Altons have lived in California, Utah, Brazil, Germany, New York, New Jersey, and Arizona. Mr. Alton is fluent in Portuguese and speaks some German. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, baking, hiking, exploring national parks, and choral singing.
Email:sbennett@btjd.com
Mr. Bennett serves as an advisor to numerous entrepreneurs and various sized business enterprises. He serves on the board of trustees of various charitable and philanthropic organizations. Mr. Bennett was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 1990. He is the founding partner of Bennett Tueller Johnson & Deere.
Mr. Bennett was the principal draftsman of the Utah Limited Liability Company Act. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1963 Married, 5 children and 3 grandchildren Interests include hunting, boating, snow skiing and snowmobiling
Email:rbishop@btjd.com
Mr. Bishop is an associate in the firm’s corporate, general business transactional, and estate planning groups. Mr. Bishop assists clients with various business law matters, including formation, structure, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, contract drafting, and other business transactions.
Mr. Bishop also practices in the firm’s estate planning section, where he assists clients with various estate planning matters, including wills, trusts, and probate proceedings.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah Foreign Languages: Spanish Married, 4 children Interests include baseball, basketball, music, reading, movies, spending time with his family, and comedy.
Email:dbybee@btjd.com
Mr. Bybee works with the firm’s estate planning and taxation groups with a focus in the areas of federal and state taxation, estate and gift tax planning, and probate and trust administration. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Bybee practiced at a Salt Lake City firm where he practiced in the areas of estate planning, water law, public policy, and local government law.
Mr. Bybee is married and has 7 children. In his free time, Mr. Bybee enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf, watching sports, and spending time outdoors.
Email:mgiles@btjd.com
Mr. Giles works with the estate planning and taxation groups with a focus in the areas of federal and state taxation, estate and gift tax planning, probate and trust administration and guardianship and conservatorship law. He develops complex estate planning strategies and assists clients in implementing and administering their customized estate plans. He represents individual and entity taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service and Utah State Tax Commission regarding income, estate and employment tax issues. Mr. Giles also advises businesses and their owners regarding the tax implications of entity choice, operations, and acquisition transactions of all sizes.
Born in Taylorsville, Utah Married, 5 children
Email:mhadfield@btjd.com
Mr. Hadfield began his legal career serving as an active duty Captain in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps (“JAG Corps”). Since the time he left military service, Mr. Hadfield has focused his practice on all aspects of estate planning, including trusts, probate, estate and gift taxation and guardianships/conservatorships.
Mr. Hadfield ran his own law practice centered on estate planning services until November 2020, when he joined the estate planning section at Bennett Tueller Johnson and Deere.
Mr. Hadfield is admitted to the Arizona and Utah state bars.
Foreign languages: Portuguese (Brazilian) In his free time, Mr. Hadfield enjoys spending time with his family, serving in the community, writing, playing sports, coaching youth sports, and outdoor activities.
Email:kmargetts@btjd.com
Mr. Margetts’ experience includes tax planning for business formations, financings, acquisitions, reorganizations, and liquidations; advising on tax aspects of complex business and real estate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and like-kind exchanges; design and implementation of deferred compensation arrangements and equity incentive plans; resolution of federal and state tax controversies; and formation and qualification of exempt organizations.
Mr. Margetts also has extensive estate planning experience, including the design, drafting, and implementation of sophisticated estate plans to meet unique tax and nontax objectives.
Foreign languages: Spanish and Portuguese Married, 5 children Interests include backpacking, hiking, cycling, and gardening.
Email:jmatson@btjd.com
Mr. Matson represents privately held companies, investors, and entrepreneurs in complex business transactions, with particular focus in business formation corporate restructuring, private equity and venture capital transactions, securities offerings and regulation, intellectual property licensing, corporate governance and compliance work, trademark and other general business, commercial and contractual matters.
Mr. Matson’s practice also encompasses all aspects of real estate law, including sales, purchases, leasing, financing, development and redevelopment, easements, CC&Rs, owner’s associations, development agreements, due diligence review for title and survey matters and associated agreements.
Born in Ogden, Utah Foreign Languages: Norwegian Married, 5 children Interests include reading, running, basketball, softball, golf, and spending time with family.
Email:dparkinson@btjd.com
Mr. Parkinson focuses on Estate Planning, Probate, Elder Law, Guardianships, Contested Estates, and Tax and Business Planning.
Mr. Parkinson served as President of the Mountain States Pension Conference (1985-1987), Chairman of the Tax Section (1985-1986), as Chairman of the Elder Law Section of the Utah State Bar (2019-2020), and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Outdoor Resources Foundation of Utah (1988-2007). He is currently serving as a Board member of the Elder Law Section of the Utah State Bar and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Holladay Community Messiah Foundation. He also serves as a member of the Probate Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee to the Utah Supreme Court on the Rules of Civil Procedure.
Married, 5 children Interests: Backpacking, fishing, running, pioneer history.
Email:rtippett@btjd.com
Robert S. (Rust) Tippett is a partner at Bennett Tueller Johnson & Deere in Salt Lake City. His practice focuses on all aspects of estate planning, including trusts, probate, estate and gift taxation and conservatorships. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), and is a member of ACTEC’s Asset Protection and Legal Education Committees.
Mr. Tippett holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan. From 2003 to 2008 he served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Brigham Young University (BYU) J. Reuben Clark School of Law.
Mr. Tippett was the principal author of Utah’s asset protection trust statute, which was signed into law by the Governor on March 28, 2013.
Mr. Tippett has appeared on the Court Roster of Approved Mediators for the State of Utah, and is a member of the Utah Council on Conflict Resolution. He is available to mediate probate and trust disputes.
Mr. Tippett was selected as one of Utah’s “Legal Elite” by Utah Business Magazine in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
In addition to authoring The Utah Law of Trusts & Estates (a comprehensive 700-page legal reference treatise) and other materials available at www.utahestateplanning.org, Mr. Tippett has published and presented many articles and papers in the trust and estate field.
Email:jsmith@btjd.com
Ms. Smith has been working as a paralegal for over 14 years, after receiving her Paralegal Certificate in 2009. She joined BTJD in 2023.
Salt Lake Community College (A.S. Paralegal Studies, 2009)
University of Utah (B.S. Anthropology, 2013)
Interests include cooking for friends and family, traveling, and graphic design.
Email:hturner@btjd.com
Ms. Turner has been with the firm since 2016 and works with the firm’s corporate and estate planning groups. Among many things, Ms. Turner’s experience includes work relating to corporate formation and governance, transaction closings, estate plan preparation and funding, trust and estate administration, and real estate matters, including boundary issues. Ms. Turner was one of the first to be commissioned as a Remote Notary in the State of Utah and maintains such commission as a convenient option for the firm’s clients.
Married, one child, two dogs, one cat. Interests include skiing/snowboarding, hiking, fly fishing, camping, horseback riding, gardening, baseball, photography, plants, and generally anything outdoors.