Each month we spotlight members of the Community Foundation of Broward’s Professional Advisors Council.

The PAC includes attorneys, CPAs and financial planners who help their clients achieve their charitable goals by collaborating with the Community Foundation. Council members have referred clients who establish charitable funds at the Foundation or who include the Foundation in their estate plans.

This month’s Q&A features Professional Advisors Council member James Davis, of Gunster.

James, who has been practicing law since 1975, co-leads Gunster's tax practice and serves in the firm's Office of General Counsel for ERISA. His vast experience includes estate, wealth and sophisticated tax and asset protection planning. He serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law in the Heckerling Graduate Program in Estate Planning (LLM). James is a former Community Foundation Board member and longtime PAC member.

Professional & Philanthropy

Q.What inspired you to enter your field?

My father and grandfather. My father was a CPA and an attorney but practiced tax law in a national CPA firm in their Chicago office. He also was an adjunct professor in accounting at Northwestern and De Paul Universities in Chicago. His father was an accountant, too, who met Henry Firestone at the 1904 World Fair in St. Louis. Henry Firestone hired him and he served as the Firestone Tire  Company Controller until the 1940's.

Q.What areas of planning do you focus on?

Trusts/Estates and ERISA and their sub-specialties are my primary two areas of practice, but I also work extensively with tax-exempt entities, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, etc. In 2025, I completed my 13th year as an adjunct professor teaching partnership and S corporation taxation in the LLM Heckerling Estate Planning Curriculum at the University of Miami School of Law and am looking forward to my next class this fall.

Q.What do you enjoy most about helping clients with long-term or legacy planning?

Close professional relationships with clients involved with closely held businesses and intergenerational wealth transfers are most rewarding. The relationship is further enhanced when they are in tandem with philanthropic objectives.

Q.How do you approach conversations around charitable giving?

Philanthropic objectives are often discussed in the initial client meeting. However, if the estate is a sizable estate, especially a taxable estate or one which includes a large IRA, the emphasis on charitable giving becomes more important. I will also ask if they are personally involved with any charitable organizations.

Q.Why is philanthropy important in a strong estate or financial plan?

Philanthropy permits clients to give wealth back to society that permitted the accumulation. But philanthropy can also fulfill personal objectives regardless of financial ability. Legacies and lifetime gifts permit clients to become stewards of their communities.

Q.Are there causes or community issues that are especially meaningful to you?

Those who cannot help themselves, both animals and people, are close to my heart.

Q.What drew you to engage with the Community Foundation of Broward?

I became familiar with the function of Community Foundation at its outset through a former law partner and over the years through a long-time friend and colleague, Frank Brogan. I also learned the specific ways the Community Foundation benefited the community through clients and Foundation publications, which have been great. However, it was Linda Carter who approached me to serve on the Community Foundation Board years ago. That was a beginning of a great relationship with the Community Foundation!

Q.How has partnering with the Community Foundation benefited your clients?

My seven years as a Community Foundation Board Member permitted me to personally understand what the Community Foundation does to assure a donor that the donor's legacies will be used for the purposes intended at the lowest possible cost and that the funds are used prudently by the charity benefiting from that donor's funds. No other organization can perform that function as well as the Community Foundation through its seasoned staff. In turn, this provides clients the assurance that their legacies will accomplish their intended objectives.

Q.What trends do you see emerging in charitable giving or estate planning?

Lifetime gifts have been somewhat disincentivized by low interest rates and tax law changes in past years; however, large donors still have sufficient philanthropic motivation to initiate lifetime gifts. I have not seen testamentary philanthropic legacies significantly impacted as those philanthropic motivations typically transcend economic hurdles.

Q.What advice would you offer advisors looking to include charitable planning in their practice?

Advisors in all areas, financial, law, accounting, trust officer, etc. are positions of confidence with their clients. They are fiduciaries and coaches. Give client advice prudently, objectively and remember everyone should give back to the community in whatever form that may permit.

Personal & Fun

Q.What area of Broward/South Florida do you call home?

Fort Lauderdale in the Coral Ridge Country Club Estates.

Q.What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?

My ninth great-grandfather was Richard Warren, a passenger on the Mayflower.

Q.How do you like to spend your time outside of work?

The nature of my downtime has changed many times over the years as I have aged. Scuba diving, underwater photography, cultivating orchids, hunting, target shooting, running, reading and anything that piques my interest from time-to-time. It is what has made my life so much fun. And I ain't done! These days, I am happy to simply be with my wife, Pia.

Q.What is a favorite Broward restaurant, coffee spot or local gem?

Cafe Vico and Cafe Seville are two of our favorites

Q.What is a book, podcast, or resource that’s inspired you recently?

"River of Doubt," about how the incredible hurdles Theodore Roosevelt overcame in his lifetime reflect that everyone can succeed if they just persevere and don't give up.

Q.What is one word colleagues would use to describe you?

Honest.

Q.A favorite quote or guiding motto?

I defer to my spouse's (Pia) motto she used when she coached our daughter and other young softball players on the "Lightning" softball team at Holiday Park some years ago: "Don't be amazed, be amazing." I just can't top that!

More about the PAC

Our PAC is an elite group of tax and estate attorneys, CPAs and financial advisors who collaborate with the Community Foundation to achieve their clients’ charitable goals. Council members have referred clients who establish charitable funds at the Foundation or who include the Foundation in their estate plans. Working together, we help their clients to make a lasting impact through grantmaking support from their charitable funds at the Community Foundation. PAC members are invited to networking opportunities, continuing education sessions and special Community Foundation events.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PAC MEMBERS.

To learn more about how the Community Foundation can collaborate with you to help accomplish your clients' charitable goals, contact Mary Margaret Toole, Director of Philanthropic Services, at mmtoole@cfbroward.org or 954-761-9503.

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