Bruce P. Ely

Bruce P. Ely


Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Recognized since 1997

Birmingham, Alabama

Practice Areas

Litigation and Controversy - Tax

Tax Law

Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2025 - Tax Law
Send Bruce P. Ely an email at bely@bradley.com Navigate to map location for Bruce P. Ely Call Bruce P. Ely at 205-521-8000
Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2025 - Tax Law Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2024 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2020 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2015 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2013 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax
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Bruce Ely’s more than 40 years of experience have allowed him to handle projects as diverse as serving on the recruiting teams that successfully induced both Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai to locate their first U.S. manufacturing plants in Alabama to representing taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, the Alabama Department of Revenue and local taxing authorities. His practice focuses on three concentric areas: representing taxpayers in federal, state and local administrative and judicial forums; advising companies on choosing the proper form of entity through which to conduct business in the southeast and potential tax incentives; and advising companies and various trade and professional organizations regarding state and local tax legislative matters. He also devotes a substantial amount of time to teaching and writing on SALT-related topics.

Bruce was founding chair of the firm’s State and Local Tax (SALT) Practice Team, which represents taxpayers before the Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi Departments of Revenue, as well as local government taxing authorities and the state and federal courts. He has served as counsel to multistate taxpayers in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, but more often before the Alabama appellate courts, circuit courts, and the Alabama Tax Tribunal. He also recently co-chaired the New York University Institute on State & Local Taxation and was selected by State Tax Notes/Tax Analysts as one of its “Top Ten Tax Lawyers in the U.S.”

As part of his governmental affairs practice, Bruce has co-authored a number of landmark pieces of tax and business entity legislation in Alabama and numerous statute-specific tax bills. He was privileged to serve as counsel to several state tax reform, economic development and constitutional reform commissions over the years and has written extensively on those topics, as well as on other multistate tax issues and incentives matters. He also speaks regularly on the tax aspects of pass-through entities at the national and state levels, and co-authors a series of charts on the state taxation of LLCs and LLPs that have appeared in numerous tax and business entity journals and treatises.

Bruce also serves as co-lead editor of Bloomberg BNA’s Pass-Through Entity Navigator, a comprehensive online resource providing detailed analysis and practical guidance on a state-by-state basis for each type of pass-through entity and pass-through entity owner. The resource tool allows tax professionals to quickly access more than 1,700 topics, such as formation, federal tax classifications, taxes imposed, withholding, or composite returns, and is available to subscribers of Bloomberg BNA’s Tax & Accounting State Tax research.

As a longstanding Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and member of the Alabama Law Institute, Bruce is the only Alabama member included in the International Who’s Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers.

Contact & Links
Location
  • One Federal Place
    1819 Fifth Avenue North
    Birmingham, AL 35203
Education
  • New York University, LL.M., graduated 1981
  • The University of Alabama, J.D., graduated 1980
  • The University of Alabama, B.S., graduated 1977
Bar Admissions
  • Alabama, U.S. Supreme Court
  • Alabama, Alabama State Bar Association
Affiliations
  • New York University Institute on State & Local Taxation - Immediate Past Chair
  • Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) - Member, Board of Directors
Court Admissions
  • U.S. Supreme Court, Alabama Supreme Court, U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of AL

Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2025 - Tax Law Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2024 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2020 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2015 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2013 - Litigation and Controversy - Tax
Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers® for:
  • Tax Law, Birmingham (2025)
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax, Birmingham (2024)
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax, Birmingham (2020)
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax, Birmingham (2015)
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax, Birmingham (2013)
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2025 for work in:
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax
  • Tax Law
Special Focus:
  • Corporate
  • Federal
  • Limited Liability Companies
  • Partnership
  • State and Local Tax
  • Subchapter S Corporations
  • Tax Abatement
  • Tax Assessment
Awards:
  • Recipient of Bloomberg Tax "Franklin C. Latcham Award for Distinguished Service in State and Local Tax"
  • "Top 100 People You Should Know," 2009
  • Listed in Birmingham Magazine as "Top Lawyers in Alabama," 2008-present
  • Alabama State Bar Distinguished Service Award, 2012
  • Martindale-Hubbell AVĀ® Preeminent Rating
  • Top 50 Super Lawyers in Alabama
  • Only Alabama attorney listed in Who's Who Legal, "International Who's Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers," 2009-2019
  • Listed in Alabama Super Lawyers, Tax, 2007-2021
  • Listed in State Tax Notes, "Top 10 Tax Lawyers in the United States," 2012
  • First recipient of the Paul H. Frankel Award for Outstanding Achievement in State and Local Taxation from the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU Institute on State & Local Taxation, Dec. 2013).
  • Recipient of COST "Paul H. Frankel Excellence in State Taxation" Award (Oct. 2017)

Additional Areas of Practice:
  • Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships)

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Publications

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