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. maintains longstanding expertise in the energy, technology, and financial services sectors and is highly active in both federal and SALT matters. The group, which demonstrates expertise in audits, appeals, and litigation, is additionally noted for its robust private client practice, which has expertise in estate and gift tax disputes. Houston-based SALT chair Renn Neilson covers disputes relating to sales tax, property tax, and income tax and is particularly sought out by clients in the energy sector. John Porter and Keri Brown work alongside Neilson in the Houston office and are both highly active on behalf of high net worth individuals and families. San Francisco’s Jon Feldhammer has a broad practice covering work for both individuals and public companies, while Ben Geslison, in Houston, is experienced as a trial and appellate litigator. 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 and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
Firm Rankings
- Energy > Energy litigation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- 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
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Finance > Project finance
- 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)
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Real estate > Real estate
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: transactions
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)