Find Lawyers in California, United States for Tax Law
Practice Area Overview
The structure of a transaction can significantly affect its tax consequences, and very small changes in structure or in the underlying facts can have enormous tax significance. Tax lawyers design structures with those consequences in mind, while also taking into account the parties’ commercial goals, timing issues, and any other legal or accounting considerations. The tax treatment of some transactions — such as a “spin-off,” where a company distributes subsidiary stock to its shareholders — is highly complex, and tax lawyers may assist clients in obtaining confirmation of their transactions’ tax consequences from the IRS in the form of a private letter ruling.
Tax lawyers also review and negotiate the terms of the transaction, ensuring that the legal agreements implement the deal in a manner consistent with its intended structure. The agreements also govern the relationship between the parties. They may help the parties understand the intended tax treatment, identify certain tax exposures, and allocate responsibility between the parties for any taxes that may apply.
Tax lawyers also work with clients to determine the most tax efficient manner of carrying on ongoing business operations, taking into account federal, state, local, and international tax considerations.
On occasion, tax-related disputes arise between the parties to a transaction or with the IRS or another taxing authority. Tax lawyers may represent clients in administrative proceedings, private settlement negotiations, or litigation related to these controversies.
Tax lawyers are responsible for providing technical advice and analysis, but must fully understand the overall business transaction in order to do so. The best lawyers give advice in a way that is clear, thoughtful, and business-minded. Tax lawyers need to be closely involved in a transaction from the very beginning and throughout the transaction, in order to be able to give the best advice on an ongoing basis and to be able to modify the structure, if necessary, in response to any changes to the business terms of the transaction.
Stephen L. Gordon, Partner
Andrew W. Needham, Partner
Lauren Angelilli, Partner
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Select a city from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
Cities
Marla Aspinwall concentrates her practice in the tax, ERISA, labor and securities aspects of executive compensation for publicly held, private and tax-exempt organizations, including employment agreements; nonqualified deferred compensation; and equity, retirement, incentive and welfare benefit plans. Ms. Aspinwall has extensive knowledge of insurance-funded executive benefits and estate planning arrangements. She also specializes in the tax and business aspects of agricultural cooperative or...
David Cheng is the chair and managing partner of Nixon Peabody’s China and Asia-Pacific practice. He is qualified in both the United States and Hong Kong. He focuses on cross-border transactions, litigations and investigations, advising on issues ranging from acquisitions, capital financing (initial public offering), intellectual property protection and disputes to fraud, FCPA and SEC investigations. He has a client portfolio from all over the world: United States, Middle East, Europe, ...
After serving as a law clerk for a Federal judge in Los Angeles, Mike began his career in tax controversy as a Trial Attorney with the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. After the Justice Department, Mike worked at a boutique tax firm in Washington, D.C., where he was elected partner in 2004. In this capacity he represented clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to partnerships and individuals. Mike returned to government in 2005...
Jill Dodd chairs the firm’s estate planning and personal representation practice, focusing on gift, estate and philanthropic planning for very-high-net-worth individuals and families. Jill counsels very-high-net-worth individuals in all aspects of gift, estate and philanthropic planning. She has extensive experience designing and implementing a variety of sophisticated structures, including family limited partnerships, grantor retained annuity trusts, insurance trusts, complex grantor t...
HFM Partner Mitch Dubick concentrates his practice in tax controversy matters, representing individuals and business entities before the IRS and all state taxing authorities, and his work also includes business, real estate, and tax planning. Mr. Dubick’s years of experience and cost-effective solutions have made him the choice of clients, accountants, and other lawyers to handle their tax disputes, including audits, overdue returns, offshore accounts, appeals, collection matters (inclu...
G. Michelle Ferreira counsels individuals, partnerships, estates and corporations in tax disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and state and local tax agencies, including the California Franchise Tax Board, the State Board of Equalization, the Employment Development Department and county assessment appeals boards. As a former tax litigator for the Internal Revenue Service, Michelle brings unique experience to clients who have complex and sensitive tax and penalty disputes. Michelle repre...
Paul Frimmer focuses on estate planning, wills and trusts, probate and trust administration, postmortem tax planning, probate litigation, art law, charitable giving, and tax issues relating to these matters. Widely regarded as one of the top estate planning attorneys in the country, Paul has received numerous accolades for his work. He’s known for taking a collaborative approach with his clients and guiding them toward the best decisions tailored to meet their individual needs. Paul has...
Mr. Grissom's primary practice areas are nonprofit organizations, business and corporate law and tax. Mr. Grissom represents a wide variety of public charities, private foundations, and other nonprofit organizations, including scientific research organizations, social welfare organizations, professional societies, trade groups, educational institutions and related groups, religious organizations, business leagues, hospitals and related groups, social clubs, and organizations dedicated to anim...
Stephen Harris is a partner in the Tax Department of Paul Hastings, and co-chair of the firm’s Global Compensation, Benefits, and ERISA practice. Steve is a recognized leader in compensation, benefits, and ERISA law. He has been ranked by Chambers USA as one of the top employee benefits and executive compensation lawyers in California and Chambers has noted that he “maintains an impressively broad practice that includes IRS, HIPAA and COBRA compliance.” He is also recognized...
Warren J. Kessler is a highly regarded expert in taxation, real estate, estate planning, and corporate matters. He has a national reputation in advising clients on all forms of tax-deferred 1031 exchanges including forward, reverse and build-to-suit exchanges, and on sophisticated partnership and limited liability company matters. Experience: Shareholder, Kessler & Kessler, A Law Corporation, 1987 to present. President, Century 1031 Exchange Inc. and Century Reverse Exchange Inc., 2005-20...
Anne Kim is a tax partner in the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Anne has a broad-based practice and handles a wide range of complex transactions, advising private equity funds, public and private companies and publicly traded partnerships on the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, cross-border transactions, formation of joint ventures and capital markets and debt financings. Anne has been recognized for her work in tax by Chambers USA every year ...
Tom Lawson focuses his practice on income tax planning for individuals and their businesses. He also has significant experience handling sophisticated tax planning for business transactions. Tom takes pride in finding creative solutions to his clients’ issues in the most efficient manner that the tax law allows. A fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, Tom is a frequent author and lecturer on tax-related subjects, speaking numerous times at the University of Southern California ...
Alexander D. Lee, Esq., is tasked with furthering the firm’s mission to provide the highest quality legal services to clients. Alex has a multi-state practice that focuses on tax, trust and estates. Alex advises clients on domestic and international tax matters, including tax planning with respect to their structures, transactions, and estate planning matters. He has experience advising on issues relating to tax deferral strategies, tax treaties, pre-immigration planning for foreigners ...
Alvin Levitt's tax practice focuses on business, real estate and nonprofit entities. He has authored numerous articles for professional tax publications and has lectured at a number of tax institutes. Alvin has served as a Director of the San Francisco Estate Planning Council, as a member of the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California Taxation, and as the Chairman of the IRS/Western Region Bar Association. Alvin also has served as a Visiting Instructor in Tax Law at the University ...
Chip Lion is a partner in the Corporate Finance Group with Morrison & Foerster LLP in Palo Alto California where he is the immediate past chair of the firm’s Palo Alto Corporate Finance Group and is the firm-wide co-chair of firm’s Private Equity Fund Group. Mr. Lion regularly advises institutional investors and fund sponsors in connection with the formation of venture capital funds, leveraged buyout funds, real estate opportunity and other private equity funds. Mr. Lion repre...
Shahzad Malik is a partner within Nixon Peabody’s Corporate & Finance practice group and a member of our Tax team. He concentrates on tax issues for mergers, acquisitions, private equity investments and fund formation matters as well as tax controversy issues. My focus Corporate and Transactional Tax Issues I have extensive experience advising corporate clients on tax matters relating to mergers, acquisitions, private equity investments, fund formation and cross-border transactions....
Louis Mezzullo’s principal areas of practice are Taxation, Estate and Business Succession Planning, and Employee Benefits. He was on the faculty of the University of Miami School of Law Graduate Program in Estate Planning from 2004 to 2007 and on the faculty of the University of San Diego School of Law in 2009. He was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Richmond Law School from 1978 until 2006. He is listed in Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in Emerging Leaders and Who...
Charles (Chuck) Moll focuses his practice on state and local tax (SALT), primarily concentrating on the resolution of tax controversies. He regularly appears before the various California tax authorities—including the State Board of Equalization, the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and the Office of Tax Appeals—as well as local authorities such as assessors and assessment appeals boards. He has litigated at all levels of Cal...
Schuyler Moore practices entertainment, corporate and tax law. He has been practicing in the entertainment industry since 1981, represents producers, sales agents, foreign distributors and financiers, and has handled some of the largest financing transactions in Hollywood. He is Chair of Stroock’s Entertainment Practice Group.
In his law practice, HFM Partner Bruce O’Brien’s focuses on all aspects of federal and state taxation, with a particular emphasis on tax controversies, partnerships, limited liability companies, and business planning. Mr. O’Brien represents taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, Franchise Tax Board, and State Board of Equalization. He also represents clients before the United States Tax Court, and he is a certified specialist in Taxation Law. Additionally, Mr. O&rsqu...
Alyse Pelavin focuses her practice on estate and gift tax planning for high net worth individuals and closely held businesses and in the administration of estates and trusts. She also has extensive experience in the areas of charitable giving and tax-exempt organizations. Her clients range from young entrepreneurs and corporate executives to multigenerational family groups. Alyse works closely with clients at every stage to implement tax-efficient wealth transfer and preservation strategies t...
Sanford C. Presant, Chair of the firm's Real Estate Fund Practice, focuses his practice on providing fund and joint venture best practice business and tax structuring advice to sponsors of the leading real estate private equity funds, REITs, and their local partners and investors in the U.S. and internationally. Sandy has more than 30 years of experience as a tax and business lawyer for major funds and real estate companies. He has structured and negotiated the tax and business aspects for ov...
C. Jean Ryan is Of Counsel in Buchalter’s San Francisco office and a member of the Tax, Benefits and Estate Planning practice group. Ms. Ryan concentrates her practice on general tax matters, which include tax planning for businesses, as well as tax and estate planning for high net worth individuals. With over four decades of experience, Ms. Ryan has a broad tax practice with many areas of expertise. She counsels her clients on corporate, partnership, individual, real estate, gift and e...
Paul is of counsel in the private client and tax team at Withers Bergman LLP. He has over 35 years’ experience focused on global planning matters. Paul is widely recognized for his practice in cross-border and entertainment tax planning. His clients have ranged broadly from high-net-worth individuals; foreign investors in U.S. real estate and other U.S.-situated assets; Americans with offshore investments, acquisitions and business activities; and actors, musicians, writers, producers, ...
Michael Shaff joined the firm in 2011 as Of Counsel. He is the Chair of the Tax Practice group. Michael specializes in all aspects of federal income taxation. Mr. Shaff has served as a trial attorney with the Office of the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service for three years. Mr. Shaff is certified by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California as a specialist in tax law. Mr. Shaff is a past Chair of the Tax Section of the Orange County Bar Association. He is co-...
Myron Sugarman concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning, deferred compensation, taxation of nonprofit and charitable institutions, and family and personal tax planning. His experience extends to all areas of federal and local taxation. Prior to entering private practice, Myron served in the Office of The Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army at the Pentagon. A former president of the San Francisco Tax Club, he is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the San ...
HFM Trusts & Estates Partner Brian Tsu is a Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estate Counsel and California Certified Legal Specialist. Mr. Tsu represents high-net-worth individuals in the areas of domestic and international estate planning, related areas of taxation and closely-held family business planning. He also advises fiduciaries in complex trust and estate administrations, particularly when tax or cross-border issues are present. His work includes: International Estate ...
Troy Van Dongen focuses his practice on the resolution of state and local tax (SALT) controversies through negotiation and litigation. He advises clients across the country in a variety of state and local tax matters, including income, franchise, sales, and use taxes, and he has a particularly strong background in property taxation. Read full biography here: https://www.mwe.com/people/van-dongen-troy/
Tom Wisialowski is a partner and chair of the Palo Alto office of Paul Hastings and is a member of the firm’s Tax and Real Estate Departments. Tom provides advice regarding structuring of real estate transactions, primarily through the use of limited liability companies and partnerships, including the formation of private equity and real estate funds, and real estate investment trusts (REITs). He also represents public and private pension plans and foreign sovereign wealth funds (SWF) a...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.