Education
Law School/Year: Indiana University SOL, 1977
Other Graduate School/Year: MBA, Indiana University Graduate School of Business, 1977
College/Year: Indiana University, 1974
Bar Admissions
Indiana; California; U.S. District Court, Southern District of California; U.S. Tax Court
Practice Areas
Estate Planning, Probate & Trust, Taxation
Major Cases
Plaintiff, Armstrong v. United States, 759 F.2d 1378 (Ninth Circuit, 1985)
Professional Background
After law school, I began my professional career as a tax accountant with the San Diego office of Haskins & Sells and, later, Deloitte Haskins + Sells. After passing the California bar and waiting out that recession, I began practicing tax and estate planning law with Lawrence S. Branton APC, which later became Branton, Wilson & Armstrong APC. Then, 25 years ago, I set up my practice as a sole practitioner.
Professional Affiliations
I hold inactive CPA licenses in California and Indiana. I am a California State Bar Certified Legal Specialist in both estate planning, trust and probate law and taxation law. I belong to the Taxation Law and Estate Planning Sections of the State and San Diego County Bar Associations, and have served as chair of the local bar’s Taxation Law Section. I am a director of the San Diego Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference. I have, at various times, taught tax and estate planning courses for SDSU, UCSD Extension, Golden Gate University Graduate Taxation Program, SDCBA and CEB.
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