Bloomberg BNA honors Paul Frankel with Latcham Award for Distinguished Service in State and Local Tax

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bloomberg BNA today announced that Paul Frankel, senior counsel with Morrison and Foerster's State + Local Tax Group and former Chairman of Bloomberg BNA's State and Local Tax Advisory Board, is the recipient of the 2013 Franklin C. Latcham Award for Distinguished Service in State and Local Taxation.

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The Latcham Award is named for Franklin C. Latcham, the first Chairman of Bloomberg BNA's State and Local Tax Advisory Board and founder of the State Tax Portfolio Series.  The Award has been given to a distinguished state tax practitioner since 1996 and will be presented to Paul at a ceremony on December 12 in New York.

"It is hard to imagine anyone more deserving of the Latcham Award," said George Farrah, Executive Editor of Bloomberg BNA's Tax & Accounting publications.  "Paul is truly a legend in the area of state and local taxation, providing leadership and guidance throughout his career and across a wide range of topics."

He has written numerous articles for Bloomberg BNA's state tax publications and has served as Chairman of the State Tax Advisory Board for over a decade.  As Chairman, Paul helped guide the evolution of Bloomberg BNA's state tax products from a Portfolio series to a complete resource for state tax research needs, culminating in the release of the expanded Premier State Tax Library, new practice tools and other state tax resources earlier this year. 

Paul is widely regarded as a pioneer in the field of multistate taxation. "Paul's brilliance as a strategist and litigator, his generosity of spirit, and his values and basic humanity transformed the field of state taxation," said University of Connecticut Law Professor Richard Pomp, a previous recipient of the Latcham Award. "He is an icon that the rest of us can only dream of being."

In his role as senior counsel at Morrison and Foerster, Paul has represented taxpayers in major tax controversies in nearly all of the 50 states, including public record victories with important issues at stake. He is routinely recommended by Chambers USA in Tax Controversy, is named as a leading lawyer by Legal 500 US 2013, and is recommended by Best Lawyers In America 2014, Euromoney's Expert Guides and Super Lawyers 2009.

"Paul has long been and continues to be at the top of our profession – forcefully, respectfully and successfully advocating for the positions of his clients in state tax disputes across the country, winning and settling hundreds of cases in virtually every state," said Hollis L. Hyans, a partner with Morrison & Foerster LLP in New York. "He does it with great style and fun, clearly enjoying his clients and the success he brings to their matters.  I am honored to have been his partner for nearly 20 years, and to have learned from him not only about state tax issues but many important life lessons.  No one deserves this recognition more than Paul, and I wish him continued success."

Paul has served as National Chairman of Tax Executive Institute's (TEI) State and Local Steering Committee, Chairman of the Council on State Taxation (COST) Lawyer's Coordinating Subcommittee and Chairman of the National Foreign Trade Council's Worldwide Unitary Task Force. He is currently a member of the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal Advisory Committee, the NYU Institute's State and Local Advisory Board, and other state and local tax advisory boards.  He is also co-chair of the NYU State Tax Forum.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Frankel also served as Senior Tax Counsel at W.R. Grace & Co. and a senior trial attorney for the IRS Regional Counsel's Office.

Earlier recipients of the Latcham Award include Marilyn A. Wethekam, a partner with Horwood Marcus & Berk Chtd. in Chicago; University of Connecticut Professor of Law Richard D. Pomp; Judge Bill Thompson, the Alabama Department of Revenue's chief administrative law judge; Prentiss Willson, former national director of Ernst & Young's State and Local Tax Practice and Procedure; Walter Hellerstein, professor of law at the University of Georgia Law School; James Buresh, former national partner in charge of sales and use tax practice for Deloitte and Touche; Jack Cronin, former partner in charge of Deloitte Tax's Multistate Tax Practice; Jean Walker, retired senior manager with Ernst & Young; William R. Brown, first executive director of COST; the late Paull Mines, general counsel with the Multistate Tax Commission; Joanne Garvey, member of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe in San Francisco; William Peltz, senior tax counsel for Shell Oil Corp.; Gerald Goldberg, former executive director of the California Franchise Tax Board; California tax attorney John Warren; the late educator and author Jerome Hellerstein; and Eugene Corrigan, first director of the Multistate Tax Commission.

About Bloomberg BNA

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SOURCE Bloomberg BNA