Linklaters has announced the election of 14 new partners and the appointment of 21 counsel, together with the election of 11 national partners to equity. The promotions take effect on 1 May 2010.
New Tax Partner:
Ricardo Ferreira Bolan, São Paulo
A leading corporate tax lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in the energy sector, has joined Vinson & Elkins RLLP as a tax partner, effective immediately.[private]
Michael Thompson, who for 20 years was a partner in Freshfields’ tax department, has extensive experience advising clients involved in oil and gas exploration, production, refining, and marketing. In addition to his specialisation in energy taxation issues, Michael has regularly advised on the UK tax aspects of corporate, capital markets, and banking transactions and has extensive experience in cross-border transactions involving a variety of jurisdictions.
Michael will be based in V&E’s London office where he will work alongside other recognised energy industry experts to provide V&E’s clients with tax support and advice on their corporate transactions including energy projects and financings.
V&E’s London office managing partner Alex Msimang commented on the move: “Michael is one of the most talented and best-known energy tax experts in the city. Our aim is to maintain one of the strongest teams of energy transactional and dispute resolution lawyers in London, and Michael’s skills are a perfect fit for us.” Michael, an active member of the UK Oil Industry Taxation Committee, stated: “It is an exciting prospect for me to join a dynamic team dedicated to an area of work in which I have a real interest and also to help the firm’s international expansion of its tax practice.” George Gerachis, global head of V&E’s Tax practice, said, “Our clients are increasingly requiring sophisticated UK and international tax advice on their transactions, and we are thrilled to add a solicitor of Michael’s calibre to our firm.”
Michael is the sixth new partner hired by Vinson & Elkins since January this year, and his arrival closely follows that of Sami Al-Louzi and Ahmed el-Gaili in the UAE, James Hanna and Rita Glavin in the United States, and Jay Kolb in Asia. It also closely follows V&E’s recent win of the Legal Business 2010 Award “Energy & Natural Resources Firm/Team of the Year” and the opening of the firm’s Palo Alto office.[/private]
WOLF THEISS has announced that it has expanded its tax capabilities by adding[private] Mr Andreas Baumann to its tax practice. Wolf Theiss now has one of the largest teams of tax experts among CEE and SEE law firms.
Recognizing that clients often need integrated legal and tax advice when carrying out transactions, Wolf Theiss began a process to expand its tax practice several years ago. Andreas Baumann is the most recent addition to the firm’s tax team, joining the firm on 1 April. Baumann boasts a proven track record of tax law accomplishments with law firms, as well as chartered accountants and tax consultants, such as KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He specialises in M & A taxation, corporate restructuring and national as well as international corporate tax planning. Before joining Wolf Theiss, he was head of the tax practice group at Schönherr. Baumann lectures regularly on national and international corporate restructuring, as well as corporate tax planning at the Johannes Kepler University and the University of Graz. Furthermore, he is a member of the Scientific Tax Board of the Austrian Chamber of Tax Accountants. Baumann has authored and edited several publications in the field of corporate tax law, with the Handbuch Konzernsteuerrecht and the Handbuch Unternehmenskauf & Due Diligence – Volume II: Tax (both LexisNexis) being the most recent publications he co-edited.
Niklas Schmidt, tax partner at Wolf Theiss is delighted that Baumann has joined his team: “We succeeded in having Andreas Baumann, an outstanding tax expert, join us; not only does he have excellent legal experience, but he has also gained extensive expertise in transactions with international chartered accountants and tax consultants. His profile is a perfect match for our strategy, which is aimed at increasing our efforts as a law firm focusing on tax law in CEE and SEE.” Andreas Baumann adds: “Wolf Theiss attracted me in particular because of the partnership’s unique and genuine commitment to further expanding its tax practice in Austria and Eastern Europe. The team I encountered is very experienced as well as highly dynamic, and I am confident that our tax practice will assume a leading position in CEE and SEE.”[/private]
Mirroring developments within Wolf Theiss in offering tax advice in addition to top legal services in such countries as Austria, Serbia and Hungary, Wolf Theiss has announced the official opening of Wolf Theiss Tax Advisory Services S.R.L., a Romanian limited liability company.
With the incorporation of this new tax advisory service, Wolf Theiss Bucharest can now provide its clients with integrated tax and legal services. This is particularly important as tax issues often constitute a key driver in relation to corporate and commercial transactions, as well as complex project structuring. The move follows a trend in Romania and other countries in which law firms are offering tax advisory services which traditionally have been the domain of the large accounting firms.
“In the past, business clients had to use one firm to address the legal aspects and another to handle the tax aspects of any given matter,” said [private]Balazs Bekes, an international tax law expert who serves as Wolf Theiss’ regional tax partner. “At Wolf Theiss, we offer a one-stop-shop where clients can resolve issues from both a legal and tax standpoint.”
“Our tax team is not made up of lawyers who handle tax issues on the side. They’re dedicated tax lawyers who are experts in their field,” Bekes added.
Leading Wolf Theiss’ tax practice in Romania is Iulia Radocea, who joined the firm in December as Head of Tax Services. Ms. Radocea has extensive experience in taxation in Big Four professional firms, previously serving as International Tax Manager at Deloitte in Bucharest, and before that as Senior Tax Consultant at Ernst & Young in Bucharest. She’s been involved in counselling international companies operating in various industries such as real estate, media, pharmacy, oil and gas, banking, telecommunication and consumer goods.
“We’re excited that Iulia has joined our Bucharest office and is leading our effort to provide clients with seamless tax services alongside our legal advice,” said Bryan Jardine, head of Wolf Theiss Bucharest. “We believe the formation of this new company, Wolf Theiss Tax Advisory Services S.R.L., demonstrates our commitment to serving the Romanian market.”
Wolf Theiss Tax Advisory Services can provide clients either standalone tax advice on matters of domestic and international taxation on a variety of complex assignments such as cross-border tax-efficient holding company planning, international treaty planning or cross-border tax effective financing, due diligence reviews, tax “health-checks”, projects on VAT-related matters and individual taxation or advise on the tax implications of larger transactions, such as public offerings or the structuring of an investment in Romania.[/private]
Boodle Hatfield has strengthened its Private Client and Tax teams with the promotion of two new partners – [private]Sofie Hoffman and Elizabeth Middleton. The promotions take effect from 1 May.
Sofie Hoffman specialises in high value and technically complex contentious trust and estate work. She acts for trustees, executors and beneficiaries on significant domestic and international disputes. Sofie also has expertise in wealth protection structures, including pre and post-nuptial agreements, trust asset tracing and fraud claims. including cases of undue influence and forgery. Sofie regularly speaks at leading private client and contentious trust and estate conferences.
Elizabeth Middleton is a business tax specialist with particular experience in advising businesses owners and shareholders, particularly in the family business sector. She also offers considerable expertise in the structuring of a range of fund and alternative business vehicles, including Limited Partnerships, FLPs and LLPs, again focussing on providing integrated tax advice to both the owner and the business vehicle.
Amanda Edwards is also promoted to Associate on 1 May. Amanda advises UK and international clients on trust, estate and tax planning, working also with executors of large and complex estates. She also acts for the trustees of numerous trusts with very valuable underlying assets or businesses. Amanda writes a monthly student column for the STEP Journal.
Commenting on the promotions Sue Laing, Head of the Private Client & Tax department, said: “Boodle Hatfield is well known for its private client work and the promotions of Sofie, Elizabeth and Amanda in this key area makes us even better positioned to advise our clients on the full range of issues that affect their private lives, their businesses and their family trusts.
“Our clients look to the long term and we at Boodle Hatfield see the potential for further growth across the firm. We have already made five key lateral hires over the last 12 months and promoted two new partners. This investment leaves the firm extremely well positioned for the future, especially in the private client field.
“My congratulations go to Sofie, Elizabeth and Amanda for their excellent work and their well deserved promotions. These will enable us to strengthen the overall service to our private clients even further.”[/private]
M+A Partners has announced the appointment of two new Partners to the Firm; [private]Clare Goodswen and Martyn Page.
Clare Goodswen joined M+A Partners in November 2008 as Director of Personal Taxation and Private Client Services. During her short time with the Firm Clare has clearly demonstrated why she is rightly regarded as one of the region’s best personal tax advisers, with a significant following of clients and other professionals.
Clare says “I am delighted to be a Partner with the Firm and I am looking forward to further contributing to the Firm’s growth in the future, particularly through the development of the Personal Taxation and Private Client Services. We provide our clients with a professional and sensitive service, tailored to each individual’s financial needs. We are committed to ensuring that we maintain this individual service as the tax department continues to grow.”
Martyn Page has a wealth of experience focusing on the taxation issues arising for businesses and their owners and shareholders. He has gained a significant reputation for developing innovative tax solutions and making complex tax and planning issues easy to understand. This has been a major factor in the continued growth of M+A Partners’ business taxation services.
Martyn comments “Businesses and their owners will inevitably have exposure to a number of different taxes, either annual taxes or those arising from key strategic events. It always gives me great satisfaction to provide our clients with quality proactive advice which results in a significant reduction in the total lifetime tax cost for the business and its owners.”
M+A Partners’ Operations Director, Jeremy Robson says: “In recognising the talents of Clare and Martyn these promotions reinforce the commitment of M+A Partners to providing a quality service to our clients. It is an exciting time for M+A Partners and I am pleased that both Clare and Martyn have agreed to commit to the role of Partner and look forward to working with them closely in the development of our tax department and the practice as a whole.” [/private]
The Internal Revenue Service [private] announced the selection of seven new members for the Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee (IRPAC).
“Members of IRPAC provide key perspectives and recommendations that assist the IRS in making the right decisions about information reporting for taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
The appointees will join 23 returning members who are in the second year or third year of a three-year term. The following people have been appointed to serve on the committee:
* Candace B. Ewell, Tax Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Washington, DC.
* C. Leonard Jacobs, Manager, Tax Agency Relations at Intuit Inc. in Reno, Nev.
* Anne C. Lennan, Vice President of Hunt Management Systems in Chevy Chase, Md.
* Donald C. Morris, Counsel at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago.
* Marjorie A. Penrod, Managing Director in the Corporate Tax Department at JP Morgan Chase in New York.
* Kathryn S. Tracy, partner at Kat & Bud Enterprises, LLC in Buckeye, Ariz.
* Arthur B. Wolk, Senior Vice President at SunGard Wall Street Concepts in New York.
The IRPAC was established in 1991 and focuses on information reporting issues. The committee’s purpose is to provide an organized public forum for discussion of relevant tax administration issues between IRS officials and representatives of the public.[/private]
Baker& McKenzie has added a team of experienced customs and tax lawyers led by partner [private]Jasper Helder, senior associate Brian Mulier, associate Chiara Klaui and junior associate Goran Danilovi?.
The team further strengthens Baker & McKenzie’s trade & customs and tax law capabilities in Amsterdam and globally, particularly in the areas of customs classification and valuation (including transfer pricing), tax and customs efficient supply chain structuring (including sourcing strategies and rules of origin) as well as EU export controls and sanctions.
“The addition of Jasper and this team builds on an already strong tax practice,” said Mike Jansen, Managing Partner of Baker & McKenzie, Amsterdam. “We are committed to strengthening our overall market position in order to provide our clients with full, seamless service in tax and legal matters here and abroad.”
Mr. Helder focuses his practice on customs and international trade, export controls and economic sanctions and product regulatory advice. He has extensive experience advising on customs classification, customs valuation and transfer pricing, rules of origin, the use of customs approved treatments, general customs compliance and the application of EU export controls and economic sanctions.
“The Amsterdam tax practice offers Dutch and foreign multinationals independent local and cross-border tax advice of the highest level. With trade and customs matters becoming more important for our clients, Jasper and his team will be able to complement our fully integrated practice, working in close collaboration with our VAT and transfer pricing teams as well as our commercial group,” said Herman Huidink, head of Baker & McKenzie’s Tax practice in Amsterdam.
Koen Vanhaerents, Chairman of the Firm’s Europe, Middle East and Africa region, added: “Now more than ever it is important for us to add value to our clients, and Jasper and the team will provide a full suite of international tax and customs services, which will be beneficial to clients.”
Mr. Helder graduated from Rotterdam Erasmus University in 1992. He then worked for Dutch firm Trenité Van Doorne, which later merged into Simmons & Simmons, before joining Bird & Bird LLP in 2007.
“Baker & McKenzie has a fantastic international network and its renowned tax, customs and trade practices cover multiple key markets across the world,” said Mr. Helder. “Our team’s knowledge and experience easily fits with this Firm, enabling us to provide clients with high-quality, multijurisdictional advice.”[/private]
