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Biography
Don is the Administrative Partner of the firm's Austin office. His practice is focused on the resolution of tax controversies with the Internal Revenue Service, including litigation before the U.S. Tax Court and U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and personal income tax and estate planning. He has handled numerous income, estate, and gift tax cases before various IRS appeals offices. He deals extensively with the National Office of the IRS on the settlement of tax disputes, and also has litigated several tax cases in the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court, and U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He has spoken frequently on the use of mediation to resolve tax disputes and is recognized as one of the country's experts in that area.
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Representative
Experience
Tax controversies - Serves as lead counsel in a U.S. Tax Court case involving the valuation of a closely held oil and gas company; the proposed value adjustment is approximately $10 million
- Serves as lead counsel to an estate claiming very significant valuation discounts of a thinly traded over-the-counter stock
- Successfully resolved at the Appeals level a proposed pension plan disqualification matter with no payment by the client and no disqualification of the plan
- Served as lead counsel representing Halliburton in a multi-issue case in U.S. Tax Court involving proposed deficiencies in federal income tax in excess of $100 million (Halliburton v. Commissioner, Docket No. 7838-96)
- Successfully settled Coppock v. Commissioner (U.S. Tax Court Docket No. 5147-95), which involved the valuation of a 77,000-acre ranch
- Served as lead counsel in one of the first major cases in U.S. Tax Court settled by new IRS mediation procedures (Halliburton v. Commissioner, Docket No. 21245-94); proposed adjustments of more than $100 million were resolved for less than 5% of the proposed deficiencies
- Served as lead counsel in a major Section 482 pricing case for a Fortune 100 company and settled the case the day before trial
- Served as lead counsel in a partial-termination case involving a defined contribution profit-sharing plan that was resolved entirely in the client's favor
Personal income tax and estate planning - Provide continuing tax representation for a husband and wife with an estate in excess of $400 million
- Provide continuing tax representation for a client with an estate in excess of $1.2 billion
- Provide continuing tax representation for a client with significant multi-generation planning and assets in excess of $150 million
- Represent a charitable foundation with assets in excess of $800 million
- Restructured three closely held family corporations (worth $30 million, $10 million, and $5 million), designed to implement estate planning goals and yielded highly successful results for the family involved
- Designed an estate plan and intra-family transactions for a $40 million family-owned manufacturing business
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Activities and Affiliations
- Fellow: American College of Tax Counsel
- Former Co-Chair (1995-1997) and current member: National Conference of Lawyers and CPAs
- Former President: Houston Bar Foundation
- Member: Court Procedure Committee, American Bar Association; Section of Taxation, State Bar of Texas; Houston Bar Association
- Listed: The Best Lawyers in America in tax law, 1987-present; Who's Who in American Law, 2003-2004; "Texas Super Lawyers", in tax law, Texas Monthly and Law & Politics, 2003-2006
- Faculty member: numerous professional meetings, including the United States Tax Court Judicial Conferences and National Institute of Trial Advocacy Program on Tax Court Litigation
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Education and Professional Background
- Washington University, B.S.B.A. accounting, 1966
- Harvard Law School, J.D. cum laude, 1969
- Admitted to practice: Texas, 1970; U.S. Tax Court; U.S. District Court; U.S. Court of Federal Claims
- Licensed: Certified Public Accountant, 1970
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