Greg Maxwell, Esq., CFP^® is one of the founders of Amicus Settlement Planners. He focuses his practice on providing comprehensive settlement planning solutions for personal injury attorneys and their clients. In this article, Greg shares his path to settlement planning — and why he’s passionate about what he does.

After graduating from Brigham Young University, Greg attended Texas Tech University Law School. While at Texas Tech, Greg also received a Master’s Degree in Financial Planning.

While getting his law and master’s degrees, he clerked for a law firm that handled personal injury cases. As a law clerk for the firm, he was often tasked with settlement-related issues that the other associates/partners did not want to deal with. He was responsible for identifying and handling each client’s government benefits and ensuring that those benefits would not be jeopardized after settlement. Greg also helped clients create financial plans and helped ensure the clients had a clear vision of how the settlement proceeds could meet their future needs and goals. Greg found that this type of work with clients was as rewarding as helping the clients with their underlying cases. 

After graduating with his law degree, Greg Maxwell worked with a structured settlement broker who was delving into other aspects of settlement planning. This was in 2004 when “settlement planning” was just emerging as a profession.

Greg got in touch with his former professor in the financial planning program at Texas Tech and discussed how settling personal injury clients could benefit from a more comprehensive planning approach.

Personal injury clients who receive settlements need help with financial planning. In many cases, they have just gone through a terrible situation and are looking to get their life back in order. Many of these clients have not handled significant sums of money before, and careful planning is needed to maximize the long-term value of the settlement.

In some cases, structured settlement annuities are a perfect fit for the client’s needs, but annuities are not a one-size-fits-all solution. And so, after spending a few years with the structured settlement broker, Greg decided to start a comprehensive settlement planning firm dedicated to providing wholistic planning to personal injury victims. He and his former professor (Joe Tombs) co-founded Amicus Financial Advisors, Amicus Settlement Planners, and Tombs Maxwell with the mission to give personal injury clients the same rigorous comprehensive financial planning service that a doctor, dentist, or successful businessperson would receive.

Each entity plays a vital role:

• Amicus Financial Advisors is a Registered Investment Advisory firm that handles the investments
• Tombs Maxwell LLP is a law firm handling special needs trust, settlement protection trusts, Medicare Secondary Payer compliance, and other legal issues that arise at settlement
• Amicus Settlement Planners is the settlement planning firm that puts all the pieces together for these clients and helps them come up with a plan to transition successfully into their post-settlement life.

Greg’s passion lies in coming up with real, comprehensive settlement plans for personal injury clients who might lack financial sophistication.

Greg’s passion for settlement planning has led him to help build and lead national organizations focused on settlement planning. Greg was an early member and is a past president and past board member of the Society of Settlement Planners (SSP). The SSP is a national organization of attorneys, financial planners, and structured settlement brokers that aims to help settlement planners provide comprehensive service to their clients.

Greg also helped create the Registered Settlement Planner (RSP) designation. This designation requires applicants to complete three rigorous courses on settlement planning topics. Greg helped design the content of the courses — and he is currently the instructor for the RSP course modules. 

For the past 13+ years, Greg has been helping attorneys and their clients navigate the maze of settlement-related issues—while helping personal injury clients at one of the most stressful times of their lives.

Greg’s goal in co-founding Amicus was to be the premier, comprehensive settlement planning firm for all of the financial and legal issues that arise at the time of settlement.

Greg Maxwell, Esq., CFP® would be honored to help you and your clients handle settlement-related issues so that you can focus on what you do best: advocating for your clients.