Diane L. Bassett was born and raised in Natick, Massachusetts until the age of 11 when she moved with her family to Bangkok, Thailand. Diane returned to the United States to complete her education and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. She was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts where she joined Csaplar & Bok, a boutique law firm in Boston with a specialty tax practice. Csaplar & Bok subsequently merged with Gaston & Snow and Diane joined the tax department and specialized in small business tax advice, particularly with respect to employee benefit plans.
Diane opened her own firm in 1992 opting to broaden her practice into the areas of estate planning, trust formation, probate, entity formation and general small business advice. After six years of practice Diane relocated to Maine to begin work as in-house counsel for one of her business clients, a prestressed concrete manufacturing company, eventually taking over as Comptroller of the business. Having developed a love for business, Diane continued in the prestressed concrete field, eventually relocating to Florida, and rising to the position of General Manager of South Eastern Prestressed Concrete in West Palm Beach, Florida. At this time, she chose to apply for and was admitted to the Florida bar. Her current practice includes estate planning, trust formation, probate and small business advice, particularly with respect to contract review and negotiation.
Diane’s background and experience, particularly in the area of tax for small businesses and estate planning make her abilities especially helpful in representing our clients whose interest in horses is not solely for pleasure but are involved for a business purpose and own their horses through a business entity where the tax consequences and tax planning are critical. Her business background is also helpful in the formation and organization of the business entities through which our clients own their horses.
Accomplishments and Accolades
Practice Areas:
- Tax
- Estate Planning
- Probate
- Business Law
Experience:
- Csaplar & Bok
- Gaston & Snow
- Diane L. Bassett, Attorney at Law
- In House Counsel, Precast Structures, Inc.
- Comptroller, Precast Structures, Inc.
- Chief Legal Officer, South Eastern Prestressed Concrete, Inc.
Education:
- Dartmouth College, Bachelor of Arts
- Cum Laude, Awarded with Distinction
- London School of Economics, FSA
- Boston College Law School, Juris Doctor
- Magna Cum Laude, Awarded Order of the Coif
- Boston University Law School, LLM Program
- Graduate Tax in Pension and Profit-Sharing Plans
Court Admissions
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1989)
- State of Florida (2005)