Updated:
Welch & Forbes
Welch & Forbes opened its doors in 1838 as a law practice serving Boston's industrial families, evolving over 19 decades into a specialized multi-family...
Welch & Forbes
Welch & Forbes opened its doors in 1838 as a law practice serving Boston's industrial families, evolving over 19 decades into a specialized multi-family office that blends discretionary investment management with in-house trust, tax, estate, and philanthropic services. The firm remains headquartered in Boston's Old City Hall building and serves foundations, trusts, and families, applying an integrated counsel-first model that few other multi-family offices match in institutional continuity. The investment strategy runs across public equities, fixed income, venture capital, and private equity, with an explicit focus on capital preservation rather than opportunistic growth. Confirmed venture exposure targets sectors that include ESG and semiconductors, though the firm does not publicly disclose individual portfolio company names or fund commitments. On the public side, a team of portfolio managers—averaging over 25 years of professional experience—constructs bespoke separately managed accounts rather than routing capital through commingled vehicles, a design that keeps tax sensitivity and family-specific liquidity requirements at the center of every allocation decision. The firm reports 60 total staff members as of March 2026, with dedicated in-house teams for trading, tax preparation, estate settlement, compliance, and marketing. Drew Schneller serves as Chief Investment Officer, while Director of Research Adrienne Silbermann oversees manager selection and asset-class diligence. Although Welch & Forbes operates from a single Boston office, it maintains a direct relationship threshold: prospective clients must invest at least $3 million, a minimum set to preserve the personalized service model rather than scale asset gathering. In May 2026, the firm published its latest economic outlook and an investment review memo titled "Reviewing Asset Allocations: Staying Grounded During Market Changes," signaling continued active management of client portfolios through volatile conditions. Welch & Forbes distinguishes itself through an organizational architecture that embeds a fully staffed tax department, a fiduciary trust unit, and an estate-settlement practice directly alongside portfolio managers—eliminating the coordination gaps common when clients farm out these functions to separate law firms and custodians. With no external parent, no private-equity sponsor, and no publicly disclosed plans to expand geographically, the firm operates as a self-contained fiduciary compound whose only commercial incentive is the retention and intergenerational transfer of client relationships.
General information
Firm type
Multi Family Office
Year founded
1838
AUM
$9.4 billion (per the firm, 2026)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Boston
Corporate office
Old City Hall, 45 School Street – 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
Principals
Drew M. Schneller
Chief Investment Officer, Portfolio Manager
Adrienne G. Silbermann
Director of Research, Portfolio Manager
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Welch & Forbes?
Drew M. Schneller holds the Chief Investment Officer title and serves as a portfolio manager alongside Adrienne G. Silbermann, the Director of Research. Their strategy team constructs bespoke portfolios that weight capital preservation, tax efficiency, and intergenerational transfer above relative benchmarks—reflecting the firm's trust-company heritage more than a traditional asset-management culture.
Does Welch & Forbes take outside capital, or is it closed to a specific group of families?
The firm operates as a multi-family office and does accept new relationships, but it imposes a $3 million minimum investment threshold. That floor functions as a gating mechanism to preserve a high ratio of staff-to-client without pushing the firm toward mass-affluent aggregation.
How does the firm source its private equity and venture capital exposure?
Welch & Forbes confirms venture capital and private equity are part of its investment remit, with noted technology focuses that include ESG and semiconductors. The firm does not publicly disclose whether it invests directly, through funds, or via co-investment vehicles, but its integrated tax and estate departments suggest any private-market exposure is structured to fit each family's entity stack and liquidity plan.
What makes Welch & Forbes structurally different from a typical wealth management practice?
The difference is the permanently co-located fiduciary infrastructure: a fully staffed tax department, an in-house estate-settlement unit, and a trust-administration desk sit alongside the portfolio managers. Clients do not need to route decisions across separate law firms, accountants, and custodians—Welch & Forbes absorbs those functions, a model that dates back to its origin as a 19th-century law practice.
Where does the underlying client wealth come from?
The firm's origin lies in a Boston law practice that served 19th-century industrial families, and that lineage still defines the bulk of client relationships today. Although Welch & Forbes does not name current client families, its multi-generational focus, estate-settlement group, and philanthropic advisory unit indicate that much of the $9.4 billion in assets under management represents inherited wealth now on its third or fourth turnover.
Does Welch & Forbes maintain philanthropic structures for its families?
Yes, philanthropy is listed as a discrete service line alongside tax, estate planning, and trust administration. The firm's trust-company DNA makes it capable of housing donor-advised funds, private foundations, and charitable trusts within the same administrative framework used for taxable portfolios.
What is the firm's posture on co-investing alongside external managers?
The firm has not publicly articulated a co-investment program. Given its fiduciary structure and emphasis on direct client relationships, any co-investment activity would likely be executed on a case-by-case basis inside individual family accounts rather than through a commingled firm-level vehicle.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: