Chamberlain Hrdlicka > Houston, United States > Firm Profile
Chamberlain Hrdlicka Offices
1200 Smith Street
Suite 1400
Houston, Texas 77002
United States
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Chamberlain Hrdlicka > The Legal 500 Rankings
Tax > US taxes: contentious Tier 2
Chamberlain Hrdlicka represents Fortune 100 corporations, multinationals, and high-net-worth individuals on federal and state litigation and criminal tax defense. The team also covers IRS litigation, audits, and appeals before Federal Circuit Courts and the Supreme Court. Houston-based co-chair Lawrence Sherlock specializes in negotiating and litigating federal tax disputes. He works alongside tax controversy co-chair Juan F. Vasquez, Jr. and Larry Campagna
, a highly regarded tax defense expert. San Antonio-based federal and SALT controversy specialist Jamie Vasquez is also noted. In Atlanta, David Aughtry is noted for both criminal and civil tax controversy and litigation, and Hale Sheppard focuses on conservation easement and captive insure matters, while in Philadelphia tax litigation specialist Philip Karter covers high-profile matters including federal income tax, excise tax, and estate and gift tax. Former Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas Eva Guzman joined in August 2021, practicing out of Houston and San Antonio, and is particularly strong in SALT litigation.Practice head(s):
Juan F. Vasquez Jr.; Lawrence Sherlock
Other key lawyers:
David Aughtry; Philip Karter; Eva Guzman; Hale Sheppard; Larry Campagna; Jaime Vasquez
Testimonials
‘Their team is universally viewed as one of the leading tax controversy teams in the country.’
‘To me, what makes Chamberlain stand out in this space is the depth of their bench; and they are great people to work with, very responsive and pleasant in addition to being on top of their game.’
‘Larry Campagnia has tremendous technical insight and case judgment.’
‘World-class attorney Hale Sheppard and a number of other partners and associates who have varied backgrounds whether that be private practice, Treasury, the IRS, or DOJ. The team has veterans and new blood coming into the firm which along with its benchmark, positive client settlements and tax court wins put it at the top of the tax controversy field.
‘I think one of their innovations is compiling rich case data and sample evidence from all sources in a discipline so they leave no stone unturned when trying to craft a defense for their clients.’
‘I believe Chamberlain is up there at the very top tier of tax controversy firms.’
‘Hale Sheppard is just a world class attorney who never lets his ego in the way to include how he manages his government counterparts on the other side, is fearless in terms of seeking justice for clients and not worried about expending his firm’s capital or relationship capital in pursuit of what’s right, realistic in terms of shooting for great outcomes but not ones that take unreasonable risk, fair on client billing, and highly resourceful in terms of fashioning a fair defense. Hale is also easy to work with and generous in terms of his flexibility to meet or talk with clients.’
Work highlights
- Represented clients in Tax Court litigation against the IRS by filing petitions for dozens of partnerships that donated conservation easements to qualified organizations, claimed the corresponding charitable tax deductions, and allocated such deductions to their partners.
- Advised a restaurant group on various tax issues associated with the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and other applicable tax issues, helping to ensure these businesses can survive and keep its many workers employed.
Chamberlain Hrdlicka > Firm Profile
Firm Overview: Founded in 1965 by attorneys from the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice as a tax-focused law firm, Chamberlain Hrdlicka has grown to about 150 attorneys, servicing a wide variety of practice areas. Today, the firm’s tradition of personalized service continues to be valued by clients from the smallest start-up ventures to large multinational companies.
Main Areas of Practice:
Bankruptcy, Restructuring, & Creditor Rights: The bankruptcy practice offers a nationwide reach, regularly representing corporate and high net-worth debtors and debtors-in-possession, creditors, lenders, and trustees in all types of reorganization proceedings, including both in-court and out-of-court workouts. The firm represents some of the nation’s leading companies and investment firms in a wide range of bankruptcy issues, including contentious in-court and out-of-court restructurings, financing and cash collateral disputes, contested bankruptcy 363 sales, fraudulent transfer and preference litigation, breach of fiduciary duty, and similar disputes.
Construction: The firm represents clients from the beginning of projects through their conclusion, from the negotiation of contracts and preparation of bids to the resolution of construction disputes. The firm assists clients in project administration, job close-outs and settlement, and ‘privatization’ matters, performs disaster and injury investigations, and provides a full range of services with respect to government (federal, state and local) contracts, including bid protests and board of contract appeals claims.
Corporate, Securities & Finance: The firm represents a broad spectrum of public and private business entities involved in initial public offerings and secondary offerings of equity and debt securities; private placements; mergers and acquisitions; venture capital financing; international project finance; swaps and financial derivative transactions; corporate bonds and asset-backed securities; conventional loans; leveraged buy-outs; exchange offers; tender offers; roll-up consolidations, and other business combinations and reorganizations; technology licensing, equity incentive and compensation programs; supply chain management; and ongoing corporate and securities counseling of both public and private companies as well as their directors and executive officers.
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation: The employee benefits practice represents public companies, large and closely-held private companies, tax-exempt organizations, and the fiduciaries who oversee those entities’ employee benefit plans. From qualified retirement plans, to executive compensation, to fiduciary advice, to health and welfare programs, to mergers and acquisitions, to ERISA litigation.
Energy & Maritime: The energy practice encompasses expertise in power development, project financing, industry mergers and acquisitions, dispute resolution, with emphasis on gas to power marketing and trading, asset development and financing, energy management agreements, gas supply agreements, power purchase and sale agreements, fuel transportation agreements, transmission queue position swaps, electrical and fuel interconnection agreements.
Estate Planning & Administration: The estate planning and administration practice provides legal counsel on wills, planning for incapacity, gifting strategies, life insurance planning, trust planning, charitable giving, succession planning, family limited partnerships, marital property agreements, estate administration and probate, preparation and filing of returns, representation in estate and gift tax audits.
Immigration: The immigration practice expertise includes outbound planning for US-based clients, inbound planning for foreign clients, cross-border business support and counsel, personal planning for ‘citizens of the world’, resolving tax controversies involving international issues, and obtaining appropriate US immigration status.
Intellectual Property: The IP practice provides comprehensive services in patent, trademark and copyright protection and dispute resolution. The firm prides itself on understanding clients’ IP needs and providing exceptional service in promoting, preserving, and protecting their IP rights. The firm’s team of attorneys can assist with the development of an IP approach, portfolio or licensing program, with the evaluation and development of an existing IP portfolio, or the enforcement of your IP rights.
International: The diverse team of international practitioners works to minimize the risk and simplify the complexity of international activities for clients. From individuals and families, to public and private businesses, the firm serves a broad spectrum of clients based both in the US and abroad. Through collaborative work across practice areas, the firm’s international team takes a comprehensive approach to provide full legal support.
Labor & Employment: The labor and employment practice specializes in protecting the interests of employers from executive stock and bonus plans, to hourly dispute resolution plans. The firm also has extensive experience in successfully resolving labor and employment litigation matters.
Litigation and Appellate: The deep, diverse and experienced litigation practice is designed to protect the rights of our clients as plaintiff or defendant as the need arises. We handle all phases of litigation in state and federal court, arbitration and appeals. We handle cases throughout the United States. We have the ability and resources to handle cases for large national and multi-national corporations, small to mid-sized companies, and individuals. We handle “bet the company” cases. We have wide-ranging experience in handling nearly all types of litigation faced by clients during the course of their business activities. Each of our partners brings unique expertise and experience to their practice area, resulting in superior representation for our clients. We have built our reputation upon strong representation of our clients, handling cases at the highest levels, and winning cases for clients in matters large and small. The firm has extensive experience in insurance coverage litigation. The firm provides comprehensive litigation services in a wide variety of specialized areas, including antitrust, insurance, business fraud, consumer law, deceptive trade practices, contract disputes, environmental law, federal multi-district litigation, products liability, toxic torts, IP rights infringement, white collar crime and other areas.
Probate & Fiduciary Litigation: Trust and estate litigation involves a wide array of composite issues such as fiduciary duties, tax and real estate issues, rights of creditors, family business and even bankruptcy. As a result, it is vitally important for clients to have a strong team of expert litigators dedicated to resolving complex trust and estate disputes with the best possible outcome. Knowing that every case comes with its own distinct and sometimes overwhelming issues, Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s trust and estate litigators approach each matter with genuine concern for clients, coupled with an extensive foundation of legal and procedural knowledge.
Real Estate: The firm’s real estate expertise includes development, financing, purchase and sale of a wide variety of real estate assets, including residential and commercial office and retail complexes, manufacturing facilitates, resort facilities and land development. The firm handles negotiation and drafting of real estate contracts and leases, title and survey review and curative actions, closing agreements and documentation, workouts and foreclosures, and eminent domain and condemnation proceedings.
Tax & Tax Controversy: Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s nationally ranked tax section is a core strength of the firm’s diversified law practice. The firm’s tax section represents domestic and foreign multinational companies in cross-border financial transactions, international structuring, global tax minimization, including transfer pricing and contract manufacturing arrangements, foreign tax credit management and planning, section 199 deductions, accounting method issues, including inventory methods and capitalization issues, and advising on the application of FIN 48 to domestic and international tax issues. The firm also provides counsel on all phases of the tax controversy process, from the beginning of the tax audit, to the preparation of tax protests and negotiation with IRS Appeals, to litigation in the federal tax courts and representation on appeal. Similarly, at the state level, the firm represents taxpayers in all phases of the tax litigation process. Chamberlain Hrdlicka is also the sole United States law firm belonging to the International Tax Group (‘ITG’), an elite group of international tax lawyers from five continents. Our service includes representation in all facets of SALT controversies, and in the full spectrum of taxes imposed by state and local tax authorities. Our state and local tax attorneys’ substantive experience spans the full scope of SALT including: corporate income tax, capital stock tax, franchise tax, personal income tax, sales and use tax, realty transfer tax, bank taxes, insurance company taxes, utility taxes, gross receipts taxes (state or local), hotel taxes, fuel taxes, real estate tax assessment, and real estate tax exemption.
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Larry Campagna | larry.campagna@chamberlainlaw.com | 713.654.9609 | |
| John Meredith | john.meredith@chamberlainlaw.com | 713.356.1681 |
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