John Porter > Baker Botts L.L.P. > Houston, United States > Lawyer Profile
Baker Botts L.L.P. Offices
910 LOUISIANA STREET
HOUSTON
TEXAS 77002-4995
TEXAS
United States
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John Porter
Work Department
Tax
Position
Partner
Career
John’s practice focuses on tax and fiduciary litigation. He represents taxpayers in sophisticated estate, gift, and income tax controversy matters, including audits, IRS appeals, and litigation. He also provides legal counsel on estate planning issues for high net-worth individuals to best position their estate plan against IRS challenge. John has served as lead counsel for the taxpayer in some of the most significant published transfer tax decisions in the last twenty-five years, including Petter, Christiansen, McCord, and Hendrix (upholding formula clauses used to transfer hard to value assets), Bongard, Stone, Murphy, Black, and Schutt (rejecting IRS attempts to apply 2036 to family entities), Jelke, Dunn, Kerr, Jameson, Davis and Richmond (built-in capital gains discount when valuing stock), Steinberg (approving the net-net gift discount), and Litman/Diener (valuation of restricted stock and reasonable reliance defense to IRS penalties).
Memberships
John is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American College of Tax Counsel and a board certified specialist in probate, trust and estate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Education
JD (cum laude), Baylor Law School, 1986, BBA, accounting, Texas A&M University, 1982.
Personal
Frequent speaker, author regarding federal tax controversy issues, including business valuation.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Tax > US taxes: contentious
Baker Botts L.L.P. fields a long-established federal tax controversy and litigation team, with strength in the energy, technology, and financial service industries, and a large SALT practice, which is active in state audits, appeals, and litigation. Clients are particularly complimentary of the firm’s aptitude for estate and gift tax controversies, and praise the group’s ‘depth and breadth of expertise.’ State and local tax chair Renn Neilson, based in Houston, covers property, income, and sales tax controversies. Also based in Houston are senior partner John Porter and the ‘fantastic’ Keri Brown, who frequently work closely together on estate and gift tax controversies. Jon Feldhammer works from the San Francisco office, and is active on tax controversies before the IRS, California Franchise Tax Board, and other state agencies. Senior associate Ben Geslison, of the Houston office, focuses on SALT matters. William Gorrod left the firm in February 2024.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Energy > Energy litigation: oil and gas
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
Firm Rankings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Energy > Energy litigation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Finance > Project finance
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Real estate > Real estate
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense