Christine Nguyen Piersall

Practice Areas

Private Client & Fiduciary Services

Wealth Transfer Planning

Tax-Exempt Practice

Entity Formation and Strategic Planning

Career

Christine Nguyen Piersall is chair of the Private Client & Fiduciary Services Practice at Williams Mullen. She focuses her practice primarily on estate tax planning, estate and trust taxation and administration. Christine has experience with conservator and guardianship matters, family limited partnerships and business succession planning. She also represents clients in commercial banking and real estate matters.

Before joining the firm, Christine was an associate with Hofheimer Nusbaum, P.C., which merged with Williams Mullen in 2004. She is admitted to practice before State Courts of Virginia, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Christine is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Bar Association and the Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar Association. Additionally, Christine is a member of the Portsmouth Bar Association and previously served as secretary (2005-2006), president-elect (2006-2007) and president (2007-2008). She is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. She has been certified as an Accredited Estate Planner® by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Trusts and Estates Law (2018-present). Christine is listed in the Chambers USA High Net Worth Guide for Private Wealth Law (2021-present). She has been recognized as one of the state’s “Legal Elite” by Virginia Business magazine (2018-present, 2015-2016, 2012) and was listed in Virginia Super Lawyers magazine (2013-2014, 2020-present). She was also listed in Virginia Super Lawyers Rising Stars magazine (2010-2012).

Active in civic organizations, Christine serves as the president of the Portsmouth Partnership Foundation and a board member of the Portsmouth Museums Foundation, previously serving as president. She serves on the board of trustees of the Beazley Foundation and is the president of the Virginia Board for Branch Pilots. Christine is also a sustaining member of the Portsmouth Service League, and she volunteers her time to the Wills for Seniors Program.

Christine is a member of the firm's board of directors. She received her law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law, magna cum laude, in 2001. She was an associate editor of the University of Richmond Law Review and a member of the McNeill Law Society. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and government from the University of Virginia in 1997.

Professional Memberships

Professional Affiliations

Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar Association

Portsmouth Bar Association – President (2007-2008); Secretary (2005-2006)

Virginia Bar Association

Hampton Roads Community Foundation – Professional Advisors Committee

Accredited Estate Planner® – National Association of Estate Planners & Councils

American College of Trust and Estate Counsel – Fellow (2020)