Tax Law

Most Useful Law School Elective Was Evidence, GW Alumni Survey Finds

Evidence is the most useful elective law school course, according to an email survey of George Washington University law school alumni. The school asked about 13,500 alumni to list their most useful elective courses and the courses they wish they had taken, report the Volokh Conspiracy and the Wall Street…

Aug 26, 2011 1:03 PM CDT

Meet Michele Bachmann, Oral Roberts Law Grad and Former IRS Tax Attorney

Now that Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and portraying herself as a potential tax reformer, her background as an Oral Roberts University law graduate and tax attorney is news even though it dates back to the late 1980s. Bachmann also earned a master’s…

Aug 22, 2011 10:31 PM CDT

Juror’s Hidden Legal Past Spurs New Trial Motion by Convicted Tax Lawyers

A Manhattan juror who voted to convict two former Jenkens & Gilchrist partners in a tax shelter scheme never disclosed she was a suspended lawyer with an arrest record, according to a motion for a new trial. Defense lawyers began to investigate juror Catherine Conrad after prosecutors turned over a…

Aug 16, 2011 12:44 PM CDT

Lawyer-CPA Indicted in Alleged Scheme to Bilk Real Estate Investors by Resolving Fake IRS Probe

A New Jersey lawyer is facing criminal charges for allegedly participating in a scheme to bilk real estate investors by falsely claiming they were the target of an Internal Revenue Service probe. A co-defendant also allegedly told them they were being investigated by the Monmouth County prosecutor’s office for mortgage…

Aug 10, 2011 6:04 PM CDT

Former Sullivan & Cromwell Partner Allegedly Failed to File Returns and Pay Tax on $10.8M in Income

A former mergers and acquisitions partner at Sullivan & Cromwell has been criminally charged for allegedly failing to file returns and pay federal tax on almost $10.8 million in income he earned at the firm between 2001 and 2008. John O’Brien is accused of spending money he should have used…

Aug 4, 2011 6:00 PM CDT

Family Wary of Russia’s Decision to Reopen Tax Case of Lawyer Who Died in Custody

Russian officials announced they are reopening a criminal tax evasion case against a lawyer who died in custody two years ago after he accused police officials of corruption. Prosecutors in Russia say the decision could result in clearing Sergei L. Magnitsky’s name. But Magnitsky’s family is wary of the news.…

Aug 4, 2011 12:56 PM CDT

Aggressive Calif. Ceiling on Property Tax Lacks a Floor, So Gov’t Revenue Plunges with Home Values

Declining home values are a problem throughout much of the country, for a multiplicity of reasons. But they are a particular problem in California because of a state constitutional amendment adopted by a ballot measure known as Proposition 13, which routinely limits property tax rate increases until a home is…

Jul 27, 2011 12:28 AM CDT

Lawyer Charged with Tax Evasion, Accused of Using Firm Accounts to Pay for Daughter’s Wedding

A Tennessee lawyer has been charged with evading taxes by using law firm bank accounts to bankroll his daughter’s wedding and other personal expenses. Knoxville lawyer John Threadgill was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of evading more than $1.4 million in income taxes, the Knoxville News reports.…

Jul 20, 2011 12:25 PM CDT

Former Kirkland & Ellis Partner Indicted, Accused of Cheating on Personal Income Tax

A former bankruptcy partner at Kirkland & Ellis has been indicted on four counts of income tax fraud. Theodore Freedman, 63, is accused of underreporting by over $2 million his nearly $5.4 million in total income between 2001 and 2004. He is also accused of claiming over $500,000 in expenses…

Jul 14, 2011 6:38 PM CDT

Prominent Lawyer Gets 8 Months as Her Attorney Husband Urges Court to Blame Him in Tax Case

A third-generation lawyer in a prominent Michigan legal family was sentenced to eight months yesterday in a federal tax case. Nancy Dilley, who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor of failing to file a 2007 tax return, must also serve a year of supervised release after she completes her prison term…

Jul 7, 2011 4:54 PM CDT

Lawyer Disbarred for Verbal Aggression to Pay $9.8M Fine for Hiding Cash Overseas

A one-time New York lawyer disbarred for screams, threats and disparaging remarks against judges and adversaries has pleaded guilty to tax evasion for hiding more than $26 million in a Swiss bank account. Kenneth Heller, 81, agreed to pay a $9.8 million fine, according to Reuters, Bloomberg and the New…

Jun 28, 2011 10:40 AM CDT

Ex-McGuireWoods Partner Gets Home Detention for Falsifying IRS Doc to Avoid Levy for Unpaid Tax

A former partner of McGuireWoods has been given home confinement and community service for interfering with Internal Revenue Service efforts to collect more than $110,000 she owed in unpaid income tax for 2006 to 2008. When the IRS attempted to levy on partnership payments to Michelle Renee Walker, she provided…

Jun 21, 2011 5:39 PM CDT

Ex-IRS Commissioner Links Financial Crisis to Lawyers, Says Privilege and Pay Part of the Problem

The basis for the financial crisis is still being analyzed, but a former commissioner for the Internal Revenue Service suggests tax and corporate lawyers may have been partly to blame. In an op-ed for the New York Times, former IRS commissioner Mark Everson points to law’s evolution as a business.…

Jun 20, 2011 1:28 PM CDT

Hike Social Security to 50% of Average Worker’s Preretirement Earnings, Labor Lawyer Says

Labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan has a problem with Social Security. Some people worry that the program is too expensive, but Geoghegan worries that it’s too cheap. Some elderly people survive on Social Security with earnings of less than $10,000 a year, he writes in an op-ed for the New York…

Jun 20, 2011 12:04 PM CDT

Suspended LA Lawyer Gets 32 Months, Must Repay $41M, in Quellos Tax-Shelter Scheme

A suspended Los Angeles lawyer has been sentenced to 32 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release for participating, along with the CEO and an attorney-principal of Quellos Group in a tax-shelter scheme involving wealthy investors. Sentenced Friday by a federal district court judge in western…

Jun 13, 2011 7:27 PM CDT