Former Tax Committee Chief of Staff Joins Ivins

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ivins, Phillips & Barker, Chartered, the nation's premier corporate tax and employee benefits law firm, is pleased to announce that Harry L. ("Hank") Gutman has joined the firm as Of Counsel, effective July 1, 2016.  Mr. Gutman, former Chief of Staff of the United States Congress Joint Committee on Taxation, joins the firm's corporate tax group and will lead the firm's Federal Tax Policy Group.

"Hank's reputation as one of Washington's preeminent tax lawyers precedes him, and his unrivaled familiarity with tax policy and the Washington tax landscape adds a dimension to the practice that will be invaluable to our clients as they plan for their future in this era of tax uncertainty and potential reform," commented Ivins partner, Les Schneider.  Rosina Barker, a partner in the Ivins employee benefits group noted that, "Hank allows us to give clients what they need – actionable Washington intelligence and insight tailored to their specific facts."

Mr. Gutman has had a distinguished legal career.  He started practice in Boston, but was soon called to Washington to serve in the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy from 1977 to 1980, first as an Attorney-Adviser and then as Deputy Tax Legislative Counsel.  While at Treasury, Mr. Gutman received the U.S. Treasury's prestigious Exceptional Service Award.  He then turned his sights to academia, teaching tax law full-time to aspiring attorneys at the University of Virginia and University of Pennsylvania.  In 1991, however, Mr. Gutman was again called to public service, to serve as Chief of Staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.  In that role, Mr. Gutman served as the key non-partisan adviser to the fiscal committees of each branch of the U.S. Congress.  Following this service, Mr. Gutman again returned to private practice and, in 1999, was asked to join KPMG's Washington National Tax practice.  At KPMG, he served for more than fifteen years as Principal-in-Charge of the firm's Tax Legislative and Regulatory Services group and as Director of the KPMG Tax Governance Institute.  Mr. Gutman left KPMG in 2015.

Throughout his years in private practice, Mr. Gutman has counseled major multinational corporations on various implications of tax legislative change.  He has also represented clients in legislative and administrative matters before Congress, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.  He has delivered over 1,000 presentations to corporate boards, audit committees, C-Suite executives, financial executives, Chief Tax Officers and corporate tax departments, on diverse topics associated with U.S. federal income taxation.  Recent presentation topics have focused on international and domestic legislative activity relating to the taxation of business income, the tax legislative process, the economic effects and policy implications of alternative methods of taxing business income, and the implications of international efforts to curb base erosion (e.g., BEPS).

Regarding Mr. Gutman's decision to join Ivins, he said, "I am delighted to join the superb lawyers at Ivins and augment the firm's existing world-class tax practice with a practical policy component.  The synergies of our combined experiences create an unmatched ability to assist clients in understanding, navigating and influencing the ever-changing tax legislative landscape."

Mr. Gutman has served as Chairman of the Tax Policy and Government Relations Committees of the American Bar Association's Tax Section, and has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the NYU/IRS Continuing Legal Education Program and the NYU Federal Tax Institute Advisory Board.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and was a trustee of the American Tax Policy Institute.  He is a Life Member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and has served as Reporter for the ALI Generation-Skipping Tax Project.  Mr. Gutman earned his undergraduate degree cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, a B.A. degree in Jurisprudence from University College, Oxford University and his LL.B. cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Ivins, Phillips & Barker, Chartered, is a specialty law firm devoted exclusively to tax and employee benefits, with offices in Washington, DC and Los Angeles.  Ivins specializes in representing Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients in corporate tax and employee benefits matters, and has developed an extraordinary number of senior-level tax executives in U.S. government service.  For more information about Ivins, please visit our website at www.ipbtax.com.

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