HMS Law Group LLP distinguishes itself in Sacramento’s legal market through a founding structure that most law firms do not advertise: its attorneys have worked not only as lawyers but as company founders, entrepreneurs, private equity investors, and in-house executives. That practical business background is the explicit foundation of the firm’s advisory model, which holds that understanding what a business decision actually involves, rather than only the legal parameters around it, changes the quality of legal counsel.
Overview
HMS Law Group LLP is a Sacramento, California law firm founded in 2010. The firm describes itself as a family-run small business and operates with a team of 2 to 10 employees. Its practice spans estate planning, business law, real estate, and litigation, with particular depth in high-net-worth estate planning, trust and probate litigation, and business counsel for companies of various sizes.
Two of the firm’s attorneys have been selected to Super Lawyers, which recognizes attorneys who have achieved a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The firm serves individuals, small to mid-size businesses, and nonprofit organizations throughout the Sacramento region.
The attorneys at HMS Law Group carry backgrounds as executive management and in-house counsel for small to large businesses and nonprofits. This is not merely biographical context. It means that when the firm advises a business client on risk, structure, or a dispute, the attorneys are drawing on experience making those decisions from the inside of an organization, not only from the legal service side.
Practice Areas
Estate planning is a primary offering with specific depth in high-net-worth matters. The firm handles wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and health care directives, along with charitable giving structures and business succession planning. Prior to joining HMS, Laurel Dein worked on complex trust and trust litigation matters at firms including Trainor Fairbrook, Weintraub Tobin, and The Burton Law Firm, giving her specific procedural depth in trust administration and contested trust proceedings.
Trust administration and probate cover the guidance provided to successor trustees and executors in administering a trust or estate after a death, as well as formal probate proceedings in California court.
Business law at HMS covers business formation and ongoing counsel, nonprofit law and governance, tax law in the business context, construction law, and in-house counsel services. The in-house counsel model allows companies that need regular legal support, but not a full-time in-house attorney, to access that expertise through the firm on an ongoing basis.
Real estate law is offered, though specific services in this area are not detailed in publicly available sources.
Litigation is handled in business disputes and trust and probate litigation. The trust and probate litigation capability is a logical extension of the firm’s deep estate planning and trust administration practice, providing representation when the administration of a trust or estate becomes contested.
Attorney Profiles
Laurel Dein is an attorney at HMS Law Group selected to Super Lawyers. She earned her JD from the University of California Davis School of Law, where she studied from 2005 to 2008, and has approximately 15 years of estate planning experience. Her prior employers include Trainor Fairbrook, Weintraub Tobin, and The Burton Law Firm, where she worked on complex trusts, trust and probate litigation, and business planning. During law school, she externed at the Solano County and Yolo County District Attorney’s offices, giving her trial exposure. She is a Sacramento native who attended Loretto High School and Sacramento Country Day School. She is a member of the Sacramento Women Lawyers Association and the Junior League of Sacramento and volunteers at Shriner’s Children’s Hospital. She is admitted to the California bar, admitted approximately 2008.
Rebecca Gardner is a partner at HMS Law Group and has been selected to Super Lawyers. She assists clients with estate planning, trust administration, probate, charitable giving, and business succession. Her skills include civil litigation, mediation, elder law, and special needs trusts. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Communications Studies Department at her alma mater, where she teaches Freedom of Speech and Argumentation. Her specific law school is not identified in publicly available sources. She is admitted to the California bar.
Location and Service Area
The firm’s office is at 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 605, Sacramento, CA 95814. Phone: (916) 252-0200.
The firm serves Sacramento and the surrounding region. Contact and consultation scheduling are available by phone at (916) 252-0200 or through the firm’s website at https://www.hmslawgroup.com/
Client Focus
HMS Law Group serves individuals and families with estate planning and trust needs, with particular depth for high-net-worth clients who require more complex planning structures. It also serves small to mid-size businesses and nonprofit organizations that need ongoing legal counsel in a practical, business-aware context.
The firm describes its culture as emphasizing community involvement and work-life balance, which is reflected in the attorneys’ individual community activities: Laurel Dein’s hospital volunteering and professional association memberships, and Rebecca Gardner’s adjunct faculty work.
Language capabilities at the firm are not publicly specified.
FAQ
What does it mean that the attorneys have in-house counsel and executive management experience?
The firm’s attorneys have worked inside companies as legal counsel and as management, not only as outside counsel advising from a distance. This background means they understand the operational context in which legal decisions are made. When advising a business on a risk, a contract, or a dispute, they are drawing on experience making similar decisions from the inside of an organization.
Does the firm handle contested trust and probate matters?
Yes. Trust and probate litigation is an offered service. Laurel Dein’s background includes complex trust and trust litigation work at prior firms, and the firm handles contested matters when trust or estate administration becomes disputed.
Does the firm serve nonprofit organizations?
Yes. Nonprofit law and governance are part of the business law practice. The firm’s attorneys have in-house experience with nonprofits as well as for-profit businesses.
What is included in the in-house counsel service model?
The in-house counsel offering provides businesses with ongoing legal support under an arrangement that gives them consistent access to legal advice without hiring a full-time in-house attorney. The specific scope of services is structured based on the client’s needs.
Does the firm handle special needs trusts?
Yes. Special needs trusts are a listed capability for Rebecca Gardner, who is noted as having skills in elder law and special needs trusts alongside estate planning and probate work.
Closing
HMS Law Group’s Sacramento practice is defined by two things that reinforce each other: estate planning depth that reaches into trust litigation and high-net-worth structures, and business law counsel grounded in attorneys who have been on the executive and operational side of the companies they advise. The combination gives the firm a credible position in Sacramento’s legal market for clients who need more than document preparation and standard transactional advice.