The Washington DC office of Latham & Watkins LLP is home to its ‘competent and creative’ tax controversy practice. The firm continues to build on its impressive track record of success in litigation in the Tax Court, the Court of Federal Claims, District Courts, Courts of Appeal, the US Supreme Court, and state courts, and continues to new precedents. In a high-profile case following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which enables courts to challenge regulations, the firm successfully challenged federal rules issued in the wake of 2017 tax reform concerning how US domestic corporations are taxed on income related to controlled foreign corporations, a matter led by Jean Pawlow. Miriam Fisher, who chairs the global tax controversy practice, recently acted for Occidental Petroleum in a Tax Court matter concerning the largest environmental remediation settlement in history. Brian McManus, who is also chair of the Boston tax team, focuses his DC practice on controversy matters with broader national tax policy implications. Joshua Wu and Andrew Strelka are also key practitioners.
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Accolades

Client satisfaction

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘What is strongest about this team is a combination of very strong substantive knowledge with incredible knowledge about what other technology companies are doing w/r/t equity and executive compensation and related issues of disclosure, etc.’

  • ‘The team is very knowledgeable in the area but more importantly, they are practical with their advice which comes from extensive experience working on transactions.’

  • ‘A fantastic group of lawyers.’

  • ‘Competent and creative; advice proves sound year after year.’

Key clients

  • Netflix
  • Occidental Petroleum
  • Microsoft Corporation
  • Siemens Corporation
  • Citigroup Inc.
  • Varian Medical Systems, Inc
  • Denham Capital Management LP

Work highlights

  • Representing Netflix in Colorado and Utah state and local tax matters regarding the taxation of streaming services. Also representing Netflix in 15 putative class action lawsuits brought by cities in Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Nevada. Kentucky, New Jersey, and Georgia, alleging that Netflix and other streaming service providers owe franchise fees when their subscribers access video content over Internet connections located in the public rights-of-way.
  • Representing US oil and gas company Occidental Petroleum in significant federal tax litigation recently tried in the US Tax Court relating to the largest environmental remediation settlement in history (US$5+ billion).
  • Advising Microsoft with respect to significant transfer pricing issues covering tax years 2004 through 2017 currently pending before the IRS in the transition stage from audit to IRS Appeals.

Lawyers

Hall of fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Leading partners

The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

Miriam Fisher

Other key lawyers

Jean Pawlow; Brian McManus; Joshua Wu; Andrew Strelka