McDermott Will & Emery has announced the expansion of its international platform with the opening of its office in Paris on May 2, 2011. With Paris, McDermott now has seven offices across Europe, including Brussels, London, Milan, Rome, Düsseldorf and Munich.
The new Paris office is key to achieving the Firm’s strategy of being capable to give quality local advice to clients in all the major economies where they conduct their business. To better meet the needs of multinational clients operating in France, McDermott’s Paris office will focus on cross-border transactions, offering the services of a number of the Firm’s key practice groups, notably corporate, tax, competition, employment and litigation.
McDermott’s Paris office will be led by Jacques Buhart, previously head of the Corporate and Competition Groups at the Paris office of Herbert Smith, and one of France’s leading international lawyers. Mr. Buhart, who advises a wide range of French, European, Japanese and U.S. blue-chip companies, will lead a team of five partners joining McDermott’s Paris office.
The other partners include Hervé Bidaud (pictured), a leading tax lawyer with extensive experience in international taxation, from the set-up of companies to mergers & acquisitions, restructuring and transfer pricing. Before founding specialist tax firm, ArtemTax International, Mr. Bidaud was an international partner at Arthur Andersen International where he was Practice Director and member of the Management Committee.
SNR Denton announced yesterday that Mark Thomas has joined the firm’s Dallas office as a partner in its Tax practice. Thomas joins SNR Denton from Alcon Laboratories, Inc., where he served as Senior Tax Counsel.
“Mark has the depth of knowledge and collegial attitude that makes him a perfect fit for our team,” said Todd Welty, a tax partner in the firm’s Dallas office. “When Mark and I worked together previously, I appreciated how well he serviced clients and the breadth of experience he could bring to every scenario a client brought to him. SNR Denton’s tax controversy work has been exponentially increasing and I know Mark is going to make a significant impact on our growing team.”
Thomas has split his career between law firm and in-house positions, giving him a deep understanding of federal, state and foreign tax planning and compliance; transfer pricing; tax audits and related controversies; captive insurance and tax risk management. He has significant experience working on tax issues throughout the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe, and his time at Alcon has given him a unique perspective of what large corporate clients expect from their outside counsel. He has also represented taxpayers in complex civil and criminal tax controversies and litigation, structuring and negotiating mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.
“I am absolutely thrilled to once again work with Todd and to now join the growing SNR Denton team,” said Thomas. “The firm has an expanding global platform that will allow me to significantly grow my business and, most importantly, better service clients.”
Thomas earned a LL.M. in Taxation from the New York University School of Law, his J.D. from the University of Idaho College of Law and was the Comment Editor of the Idaho Law Review, and a B.S. in Business and Accounting, summa cum laude, from the University of Idaho. Thomas is admitted to the bar in Texas and Idaho and has been named a “Texas Rising Star” by Texas Monthly and Law and Politics Magazine.
SNR Denton has been joined by over 30 lateral partners since becoming a global firm in 2010, including three in the Dallas office.
DLA Piper has announced that 53 lawyers worldwide have been promoted to its partnership for 2011. The promotions are effective from 1 January 2011 in the US and 1 May 20111 for EMEA and Asia.
The only tax lawyer to get promoted is Sibel Owji in San Franciso office.
Ms. Owji focuses her practice on corporate international tax planning, US taxation of foreign operations and related topics. These include:
- Worldwide tax minimization
- IP migration planning
- Cost-sharing and buy-in arrangements
- Planning regarding the US anti-deferral regimes
- Tax-free reorganizations of US based multinationals
- High-tech and software industry tax issues
- Tax treaty issues
- Repatriation planning
- Outbound transfers under section 367
- Withholding tax issues
- Tax issues in connection with business models such as commissionaire and buy-sell
- Inbound tax issues
- Planning in international acquisitions and mergers and
- Due diligence in relation to international corporate and asset acquisitions
She has substantial experience managing large global structuring projects in design, implementation and post-implementation phases for companies in diverse industries and jurisdictions.
Before joining DLA Piper, Ms. Owji worked for Deloitte Tax LLP for nearly seven years concentrating on international tax. She was located in Deloitte’s San Francisco office and in its Washington National Tax office, where she was a member of the Deloitte Management Development Program, a leadership training program for top tax managers. Before joining Deloitte, she spent five years as an attorney in Turkey and four years as Legal Counsel for The Confederation of the Turkish Trade Unions.
Ms. Owji is fluent in Turkish.
WTP Advisors has expanded its presence in Europe by forming an affiliation with Dublin-based Purcell McQuillan Tax Partners Ltd
“Ireland is an incredibly important country to us and we are proud to be working with the established and esteemed group of professionals at Purcell McQuillan,” says Ian Boccaccio, co-founder and partner of WTP Advisors.
The new alliance enables Purcell McQuillan to offer an expanded range of tax services for existing clients, and increases WTP Advisors’ tax and advisory offerings in the region.
“Given the growing number of Irish businesses which are engaging in international commerce, it’s important to us to be able to offer seamless tax advice, no matter where in the world they are doing business,” says Brian Purcell, co-founder and partner at Purcell McQuillan, “Now with our new associates in Europe, Asia and the Americas gained through our affiliation with WTP Advisors, we can offer Irish companies a broader range of international tax advice, and at competitive rates.”
WTP Advisors and Purcell McQuillan have a similar history and mission. Founding partners of each firm left a Big Four accounting firm in order to create a new venture that would provide high quality tax consulting based on the individual needs of a client. Both firms currently service mostly Fortune 500 type companies.
“We don’t have the bulk of the big accounting firms, but we do have the experience. In this way we can provide a higher level of service, delivered in a better, more personalized way,” says Ian Boccaccio.
Purcell says “We started Purcell McQuillan because we believed that, other than the Big Four accounting firms, there was an absence of pure tax advisory service providers in Ireland. Big accounting firms tend to only look after multinationals and I thought that the Irish business community was losing out. Now, by being affiliated with WTP Advisors, we can offer both Irish companies and foreign multinational corporations an alternative to the Big Four. Based on WTP Advisors’ current clients’ experience, we know they’ll be happier with us,” says Brian Purcell.
About Brian Purcell, Purcell McQuillan
Brian Purcell has over 20 years of experience in taxation, and is a member of the Irish Taxation Institute. He served as an Inspector of Taxes with the Revenue for eight years, and was formerly in PricewaterhouseCoopers. Brian is a member of the Council of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants and a member of TALC (the liaison committee between tax consultants and the Revenue). He is also the editor of the Irish Taxation Institute’s book on Capital Allowances and lectures extensively on taxation for professional bodies and to business people. Brian specializes in advising on Inward Investment into Ireland.
KPMG in the UK has boosted its UK People Services Tax practice with the appointment of a new head and three further senior appointments.
Mike Linter is now head of People Services Tax at KPMG in the UK. Mike has been with KPMG for 20 years, and has been a partner since 2000.
Marc Burrows, currently a tax partner at KPMG in Switzerland is becoming a partner in the UK firm and will lead KPMG’s International Executive Services practice.
Angus Menzies and Chris Hogan both join as directors. Angus Menzies, formerly at McGrigors, is heading a new employment law team within KPMG’s UK employment tax practice. Chris Hogan, is transferring from KPMG in the US, where he was a tax managing director, to KPMG’s UK International Executive Services practice.
Alastair McLeish, Head of Tax and Pensions at KPMG in the UK, said: “We are investing significantly in our People Services Tax practice as there are enormous growth opportunities there. There are huge changes afoot in this area of tax: new rules on remuneration, new guidance on full time working abroad, changes to PAYE, a move to real time information provision on PAYE, a move to a statutory residence rules changes to the remittance basis and a proposal to merge NIC & Tax to name a few. Our clients are demanding more and more advice on all these employment tax and other ‘people’ related issues together with the wider and more general challenge of just dealing with an increasingly globally mobile workforce.”
Mike Linter, Head of People Services Tax at KPMG in the UK, added: “It’s a very exciting time for us in People Services Tax. These new hires join an already strong team to significantly boost our capabilities and I look forward to working with Marc, Angus and Chris to make the most of the opportunities presented to us.”
KPMG’s People Services Tax practice in the UK is currently recruiting over 30 people nationally to complement its existing workforce of 350 people, including 16 partners. It consists of the International Executive Services practice which Marc Burrows joins to lead, Private Client Advisory, led by Dermot Callinan, Employment Tax, led by Jayne Vaughan, Employee Incentives, led by Chris Page and People Services Tax Technology, led by Harvey Perkins. The practice’s client base spans all sectors of the large corporate market as well as the middle market space.
Watson, Farley & Williams has announce dthe appointment of 2 new tax partners by promotion. The appointments take effect from 1 May 2011, and bring the total number of partners in the firm to 110.
Romain Girtanner, Paris
Romain Girtanner is a lawyer in the Tax Group. He focuses on advising international tax structuring for companies, funds, bank and individuals.
Verena Scheibe, Hamburg
Verena Scheibe joined Watson, Farley & Williams in October 2006 after a five year experience at PriceWaterhouse Coopers’ tax group in Hamburg. She qualified as a tax consultant in January 2004. Verena specialises in M&A, private equity, real estate and closed-end funds.
Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, L.L.P. has announced the addition of Ron Wainwright as a partner with the firm in its N.C. practice.
Wainwright has more than 25 years of experience in the area of taxation. A Certified Public Accountant, he serves a diverse client base, including multinational, public, and closely held companies. These clients include a number of industries, such as manufacturing, distribution, technology and life sciences, real estate and construction and private equity. Wainwright guides clients through a number of taxation issues including international and domestic tax, provisions, FIN 48, tax controversy and complex transactional matters.
Wainwright earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Auburn University and his Master of Taxation from Georgetown University, graduating with highest honors. He served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown and a member of the Advanced Business Advisor Program with University of Chicago GSB. Wainwright is a Steering Committee Tax Member with the National Association of Manufacturers and was named to the “Who’s Who in American Business Leaders” in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Australian business law firm DLA Phillips Fox, which is due to integrate with global law firm DLA Piper on 1 May, has welcomed new partner, James Newnham, to its corporate practice in Melbourne this week.
James Newnham is a corporate tax specialist with more than 13 years experience consulting to leading Australian companies and foreign owned corporations operating in Australia. Previously a partner at BDO, he has also worked at Minter Ellison and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
Tony Holland, Chief Executive of DLA Phillips Fox, said “We are delighted to welcome our newest partner and a well respected tax specialist to the firm.”
David Morris, Head of DLA Phillips Fox’s corporate practice said “As we continue to grow our corporate and commercial practice and advise on increasingly complex and high profile transactions, our clients are demanding specialist tax advice.
“It is wonderful to have someone of James’ calibre join the firm. He brings not only years of expertise but also strong corporate connections,” he said.
James’ tax structuring experience stems from advising on various transactions including mergers, demergers, capital restructures, IPOs, private equity acquisitions and sales, share buy-backs, employee share schemes, stapling, international restructures and cross-border acquisitions.
