Trust Legal Counsel

Hancock Whitney

Trust Legal Counsel responsible for providing legal guidance on trusts and estates while ensuring compliance and risk management. Managing legal issues, disputes, and supporting training initiatives for financial institutions.

Posted 5/29/2026full-timeFlorida, Louisiana, Texas • 🇺🇸 United StatesSeniorLeadWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Provides trust and estates legal guidance to Trust Lines of Business to assist senior management with investment and management of trusts and estates, ensuring compliance and minimizing legal risk.
Supports Trust Lines of Business in a range of activities including legal issues, contracts, disputes, complex transactions, due diligence and risk management.
Reviews and interprets complex trust documents for investment and management of trust and estate matters, to include, for example, accounting related issues, conflicts of interests, fees, investment issues and, in coordination with the legal department, potential breaches of fiduciary duties.
Oversees and provides support on estate administration matters where Bank serves as executor, agent and/or personal representative.
Coordinates/participates with in-house/outside counsel on disputes and legal actions and manages ordinary course court actions initiated on behalf of trusts and estates for which the Bank is trustee, executor, agent and/or personal representative.
Maintains record of threatened and/or actual litigation for Management and Directors Trust Committee.
Assists in developing training programs and/or materials, as well as providing such training as appropriate or requested.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Juris Doctorate (JD) from an accredited institution with current license to practice law.
7+ years of legal and/or trust experience required, preferably in working for a financial institution
12+ years of related work experience preferred
Licensed to practice law in either Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas, or eligible to become licensed in one or more of those states
In-depth knowledge of the various legal and regulatory regimes governing collective investment trusts, including applicable securities and tax laws, banking laws, and laws and regulations concerning retirement plans (e.g., ERISA).
Proficient knowledge of Microsoft Office products including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Access and PowerPoint.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious beliefs, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, physical or mental disability or history of disability, genetic information, status as a protected veteran, disabled veteran, or other protected characteristics as required by federal, state and local laws.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

legal guidancetrust and estates lawcontract lawdispute resolutiondue diligencerisk managementestate administrationfiduciary dutiesinvestment managementregulatory compliance

Soft Skills

communicationtraining developmentcollaborationproblem-solvingleadership

Certifications

Juris Doctorate (JD)licensed to practice law