Roschier strengthens its leading Tax and Corporate Structuring practice through the recruitment of Jouni Weckström, who joins Roschier’s Helsinki office on 23 April. Jouni Weckström is a widely recognized practitioner, who has broad experience in tax law with a special focus on corporate income taxation. Weckström joins Roschier from Finnish law firm Bützow.
By adding on Weckström to its team, Roschier continues to broaden and deepen its capabilities in the area of complex tax and corporate structuring work, offering its clients increasingly integrated services in this field. Weckström will have an important role in developing and strengthening the firm’s tax practice with Partner Mika Ohtonen, who heads the team.
Roschier’s Tax team provides seamless tax and structuring advice as part of the firm’s market-leading transactional practice. The clients of the team include a large number of leading corporations, several international investment banks and securities brokers, Finnish and international private equity investors, as well as family-owned companies. During 2011 the team advised on many of the most complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the region, including the largest industrial deal by volume in Finland. Roschier’s Tax and Corporate Structuring practice is ranked Tier 1 by all major publications.
Virender Dut Sharma has been promoted to Director within KPMG’s Global Transfer Pricing Service line.
Virender has 14 years’ experience and returned to India in 2009, having spent a few years working in London with EY.
His experience includes transfer pricing planning and documentation (local and global), thin capitalization and Advance Thin Cap Agreements, loan and guarantee fees benchmarking, headquartered cross charges, Cost Contribution Arrangements, transfer pricing enquiries at various levels – transfer pricing officer, DRP/Commissioner of Appeals, and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
GDS Strategies launched as a new lobbying firm offering more than 80 years of combined experience in federal tax policy, policymaking and law. Three veteran tax experts joined forces in Washington, D.C to form the new firm. The firm’s partners–James C. Gould, Thomas R. Dwyer and Tucker C. Shumack–bring nearly two decades as advisors to senior members of the House of Representatives and Senate and have the experience of more than 30 years in representing clients in tax policy matters before Congress and the Treasury Department.
James C. Gould served on Capitol Hill for five years as staff director, chief counsel, and chief tax counsel to the Senate Finance Committee under chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas). He was involved in negotiating and writing major tax legislation during that period, including the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, the seminal Tax Reform Act of 1986, the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, and the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988. Gould served as a law clerk for the United States Tax Court, along with his GDS Strategies partner Thomas R. Dwyer.
Thomas R. Dwyer served as tax and banking counsel to Senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo.) from 1985 to 1987, when Danforth was a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee. Dwyer was the Senator’s primary advisor for the Tax Reform Act of 1986. As a partner in Washington’s Arnold & Porter law firm, in addition to representing clients in tax policy matters, he was a leader in a successful two-decade effort to recover major damages for the savings and loan (S&L) industry following the government’s retroactive repeal of tax benefits meant to encourage takeovers of insolvent S&Ls.
Tucker C. Shumack served as tax and finance counsel to Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He was involved in negotiating such legislation as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, the Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007, Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, and the Gulf Opportunity Zone Tax Act of 2005. He also worked for Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and the late Senator Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.), a member of Senate leadership and the Senate Finance Committee.
“GDS Strategies is proud to open its doors at a time when Congress is gearing up to consider major reforms in federal taxation and when unsustainable federal deficits and the aging of the population will focus unrelenting attention on the federal tax code,” said James Gould. “We offer clients the judgment and perspective that comes with many years of experience in tax law and tax policy – including the experience of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 from the inside. We are a bipartisan group that has the goal of giving our clients a competitive edge in Washington.”
DLA Piper today announced that prominent lawyer Michael Legamaro has joined the firm in Chicago as a partner.
Michael Legamaro concentrates his practice on a range of tax and business planning matters, principally for private clients, assisting ultra-high net worth multi-jurisdictional families, foreign and domestic private banking, fiduciary and investment management institutions and managers, public and private foreign and domestic corporations, partnerships, and REITs with all manner of mergers and acquisitions planning, domestic and international tax and business planning, and foreign and domestic estate planning, usually to provide an integrated global solution across multiple jurisdictions. With a partner from our office in Hong Kong, Michael co-chairs the Global Private Practice group at DLA Piper, coordinating the activities of private client lawyers across the firm globally.
Legamaro received a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law and an A.B. summa cum laude from Washington University.
Gary P. Kaplan and William J. Needle are joining the firm’s Tax practice in the San Francisco office. Mr. Kaplan is joining as a partner and Mr. Needle is joining as counsel.
“Both Gary and Will are highly respected tax lawyers in the Bay Area,” said Sharon R. Flanagan, Managing Partner of Sidley’s San Francisco office. “Gary’s experience in addressing international tax issues will be of tremendous value to our U.S. and international clients.”
Mr. Kaplan focuses his practice on international tax and business transactions. He represents U.S. and international clients in connection with cross-border mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic relationships. He regularly provides advice regarding structures for conducting global business and investment activities, establishing foreign holding companies, representative offices, branches and subsidiaries, forming offshore funds, international transfers of assets including intellectual property, and specifically on issues such as Subpart F and passive foreign investment companies, tax treaties, FIRPTA, foreign tax credits, buy-ins and cost-sharing arrangements and transfer pricing.
“I am very excited to be joining Sidley,” said Mr. Kaplan. “I was drawn to Sidley’s outstanding global platform which is an ideal fit for my international tax practice. I was impressed that Sidley has been in Asia for 30 years, demonstrating their leadership in that important region of the world. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to further expand our tax practice locally and internationally.”
Mr. Kaplan was ranked in the 2011 edition of Chambers USA as a leading practitioner of tax law. He is currently listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of tax law. Mr. Kaplan taught for many years as an adjunct professor in the graduate tax program at New York University School of Law and has served as a guest lecturer in tax at Stanford Law School. He received his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law, his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A. from the University of Florida.
Mr. Needle is engaged in a broad-based tax practice involving all aspects of federal taxation. He advises corporate and individual clients on a wide variety of issues arising in the course of international tax planning, corporate transactions, compensation arrangements, wealth transfer planning, and tax audit and controversy work. His practice also includes state income and sales tax. He received his J.D., from Stanford Law School and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world’s premier full-service law firms, with approximately 1700 lawyers practicing in 18 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. This year, Sidley celebrates 30 years in Asia. Repeating its performance in the inaugural 2010 survey, Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings of any U.S. law firm in the 2011/12 U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” survey. Sidley was also named the U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Law Firm of the Year” in both Corporate Law and Securities Regulation in the 2011/12 survey (the first year of such designations). BTI, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, has named Sidley as one of only three firms to have been in the top ten of the BTI Client Service rankings every year since the inception of those rankings in 2001, and as number one in three of those years.
Mayer Brown, a leading global law firm, announced today that Shawn R. O’Brien has joined the firm’s Tax Controversy practice in the Houston office. Previously, Mr. O’Brien managed the Tax Controversy Practice Group at Jackson Walker LLP, where he was a partner in Houston.
“Shawn has a proven track record of handling complex, cutting-edge tax disputes, and he represents clients on various significant tax issues before the IRS as an advocate in trial and appellate litigation,” said partner Joel Williamson, co-leader of Mayer Brown’s Tax Controversy practice. “His experience with a wide range of tax controversy issues and tax transactions, particularly within the energy industry, further expands the reach of Mayer Brown’s prominent Tax Controversy and Transfer Pricing practices to Texas, one of the most important markets in the United States.”
Referencing the firm’s global platform, Mr. O’Brien said, “As tax laws rapidly evolve, Mayer Brown’s geographic scope and exceptional Tax practice capabilities will enable me to offer multinational companies a superior level of experience with cross-border tax issues. I look forward to applying my deep knowledge and experience to solve tax disputes and transactional tax issues for clients facing aggressive enforcement by worldwide taxing authorities.”
Mr. O’Brien represents clients in all types of civil and criminal tax controversies and in every kind of dispute resolution with taxing authorities on the state and federal levels. He routinely advises clients on various tax issues before the IRS during examinations, in appeals and as an advocate in trial and appellate litigation before the US Tax Court, US District Courts and US Court of Federal Claims. Mr. O’Brien’s tax controversy and litigation experience spans a broad range of areas, including transfer pricing controversies, advance pricing agreements, “tax shelter” disallowances, estate and gift tax valuations, research and development tax credits and change of accounting methods.
He also advises corporations, partnerships, and LLCs seeking corporate and tax advice in connection with various types of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, structured financings and oil and gas transactions.
“Shawn’s arrival establishes a local presence for Mayer Brown’s highly regarded Tax practice,” said Neil Wasserstrom, Partner-in-Charge of the Houston office. “His extensive experience representing energy companies on tax-related matters and deep understanding of the Houston and Texas markets are significant assets to the firm.”
Prior to joining Jackson Walker, Mr. O’Brien was a tax partner with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
Mr. O’Brien received an LLM degree from New York University School of Law, a JD degree from Loyola Law School and a BBA degree in accounting from Millsaps College.
CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business today announced that Teresa Mackintosh has been named Executive Vice President & General Manager of Tax, effective immediately. In this position, Mackintosh will head CCH’s Tax business unit serving the needs of tax professionals in accounting firms with innovative, integrated, customer-focused solutions. Mackintosh will report to CCH North America President and CEO Mike Sabbatis. CCH is part of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, a global leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services (CCHGroup.com).
“I’m very pleased to welcome Teresa to CCH and our leadership team,” said Sabbatis. “With her vision for serving the profession, broad experience as an industry leader and deep customer insight, she’s a great fit for CCH and the advancements we’re driving in the profession. Teresa will help further support CCH as a market leader as we continue to invest in innovative, best-in-process solutions that are core to our customers’ success.”
“I could not be more excited than to join CCH at this time,” said Mackintosh. “CCH has a clear vision for advancing the profession and has demonstrated continued commitment with recent investments in the space. I’m pleased to be part of an organization that is dedicated to innovation and serving professionals in important new ways.”
As the Executive Vice President & General Manager of Tax, Mackintosh will head CCH’s largest business line, leading Tax Product Development, Tax Technology, Product Management for software and content, Sales and Tax Operations.
Mackintosh, an industry leader, has been recognized consistently by CPA Practice Advisor for being a Top 40 Under 40 leader in the profession, and by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the accounting industry. Her reach blends well with CCH customers, business partners and industry-recognized leaders.
Mackintosh joins CCH from Thomson Reuters, where she served as General Manager/Senior Vice President of Indirect, Property & Trust, where she ran business units that served corporate customers across a diverse domain tax set. Prior to this role, Mackintosh held a series of executive leadership roles in the tax and accounting market, including General Manager/Senior Vice President of Americas Professional, where she led a business unit serving U.S.-based accounting firms of all sizes with software such as tax compliance, accounting, practice management and web services.
Mackintosh, CPA, CITP, earned both a Bachelor’s degree and M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP announces today the appointment of partner Hartley Foster to the firm’s Tax Group. Hartley specialises in contentious tax matters and joins the firm from Olswang.
Hartley has over 13 years’ experience advising clients on contentious tax matters, during which time he has acted on over 40 reported tax cases. He focuses on the technical and tactical management of enquiries by HM Revenue & Customs and he uses his considerable litigious experience successfully to negotiate and conclude settlements with HMRC. His experience includes setting up and managing Group Litigation Orders and devising EU law based tax planning structures.
Hartley’s appointment will further strengthen the firm’s tax practice and in particular, will boost its tax litigation capabilities. His expertise in the media sector will complement the firm’s leading reputation in the industry.
Derek Hill, Head of Corporate Tax at Field Fisher Waterhouse, said: “Hartley is recognised as one of the UK’s leading contentious tax practitioners. His appointment will allow the firm to expand significantly its ability to handle contentious tax matters. We are delighted that he is joining our team. He will be a significant addition to our existing strengths.”
