Education

Law School/Year: University of San Diego, 1984

Other Graduate School/Year: Long Island University, Masters in Tax, 1977

College/Year: Baruch College of CUNY, BBA in Accounting, 1975

Bar Admissions

State Bar of California, 1984; U.S. Tax Court, 1985

Practice Area

Taxation

Major Cases

I am a tax controversy attorney. My law practice is limited to defending taxpayers against the IRS in civil tax and criminal tax cases. During my 22 years of law practice, I have defended many prominent San Diego business owners and corporate executives against a wide variety of IRS tax charges, including tax evasion, criminal failure to file, aiding and assisting tax fraud, and conspiracy to commit tax fraud. I have also represented many clients in civil tax cases in the U.S. Tax Court and administratively within the IRS covering many different tax issues.

Professional Background

I am certified as a Tax Law Specialist by the State Bar of California. During 2003 and 2004, I was the Editor of the California Tax Lawyer Journal, which is the official tax law journal of the Taxation Section of the State Bar. During 2005, I served a one-year appointment as Vice Chair of the more than 3,000-member Taxation Section of the State Bar. I am a Certified Public Accountant. Prior to attending law school, I worked as a CPA for four years for an international CPA firm in the Wall Street section of New York City. I have written 14 published articles on taxation.

Professional Affiliations

Since 1993, I have been a part-time Adjunct Professor at the University of San Diego School of Law teaching both the Criminal Tax Fraud and the Tax Court Litigation classes. In addition, I am the founder and Director of the Tax Clinic at USD, where law students under my supervision help, without charge, low-income taxpayers who have disputes with the IRS. Since the inception of the Tax Clinic in 1999, we have helped hundreds of taxpayers resolve their IRS tax problems. Also, to date, USD has received over $800,000 in federal grant funding for the Tax Clinic in recognition of the high level of worked performed there.

Personal Background

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York.