Tax Associate Attorney

Seniority

• 4–8 years of experience in transactional tax at a law firm

Education

• JD from accredited law school (transcript required upon submission)

Miscellaneous

• Based in Los Angeles
• 4 days/week in office required

Baseline

Work Experience

• Income/transactional tax experience at a law firm (not accounting/advisory firm alone)
• Advising on tax aspects of M&A, partnerships, and restructurings

Hard Skills

• Drafting/negotiating tax provisions in transaction documents
• Federal, state, and local tax knowledge for business transactions

Soft Skills

• Comfortable billing 1,900+ hours annually

Miscellaneous

• Compensation must align within $230K–$350K base range

Nice-to-Have

Work Experience

• Experience with privately held businesses, family offices, or high-net-worth clients
• Mid-market or large law firm background preferred

Education

• LLM in Taxation

Hard Skills

• Experience with partnership structures, S corps, and C corps

Traits to Avoid

• Too junior — less than 3 years practicing law at a firm
• Tax experience limited to compliance/returns only (no transactional)
• Job hopper with multiple short stints

One thing worth flagging: the currently public JMM posting describes the position as requiring a minimum of 3 years, whereas your recruiting criteria specify 4–8 years. The public posting otherwise strongly matches your JD on transactional tax, M&A, partnerships/S corps/C corps, restructurings, and private/HNW/family-office clients.

Must have: 4–8 years practicing transactional/income tax at a law firm; M&A, partnership, restructuring, or other business-transaction tax experience; experience drafting/negotiating tax provisions in deal documents; federal and ideally state/local transactional tax knowledge; JD; willing to work in Los Angeles 4 days/week; $230K–$350K target compensation.

Strong preference: Mid-size, sophisticated boutique, AmLaw/BigLaw background; partnership/LLC, S-corp and C-corp structuring; privately held company, family-office or HNW exposure; Tax LLM.

I would not require BigLaw. JMM itself is a sophisticated mid-market platform, so attorneys from strong regional and tax boutiques can be highly relevant.

Firms:

Highest-priority Los Angeles / Southern California: Latham & Watkins, Gibson Dunn, Greenberg Glusker, Loeb & Loeb, Sheppard Mullin, Buchalter, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, Glaser Weil, Holland & Knight, Greenberg Traurig, DLA Piper, ArentFox Schiff, Venable, Proskauer, Withers, Willkie Farr, Pillsbury, Manatt, Sidley Austin, Mayer Brown, Morgan Lewis, McDermott Will & Emery, Skadden, Kirkland & Ellis, O'Melveny & Myers, Paul Hastings, Crowell & Moring, Rutan & Tucker, Allen Matkins, Snell & Wilmer. Several of these are currently recognized in LA tax, corporate, or M&A rankings, including Gibson Dunn, Greenberg Glusker, Greenberg Traurig, Holland & Knight, Latham, JMM, DLA Piper and others.

National transactional-tax powerhouses worth targeting: Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden, Simpson Thacher, Davis Polk, Sullivan & Cromwell, Cravath, Cleary Gottlieb, Weil Gotshal, Paul Weiss, Debevoise & Plimpton, Ropes & Gray, Goodwin, Cooley, Wilson Sonsini, Fenwick & West, Sidley Austin, Mayer Brown, McDermott Will & Emery, Morgan Lewis, DLA Piper, Holland & Knight, Baker McKenzie, White & Case, Milbank, Willkie Farr, Proskauer, Akin, Vinson & Elkins, Gibson Dunn, Paul Hastings, Orrick, Morrison Foerster, Pillsbury, Sheppard Mullin, Greenberg Traurig, Foley & Lardner, Crowell & Moring, Winston & Strawn.

These are particularly useful when you identify lawyers whose bios specifically mention M&A tax, partnership tax, private equity tax, reorganizations, corporate transactions or fund/LLC structuring. For example, Legal 500 identifies Cleary, Weil and Latham among leading non-contentious tax practices, while Morgan Lewis has substantial M&A, JV and partnership-tax work.

Strong mid-market/boutique targets: Greenberg Glusker, Buchalter, Loeb & Loeb, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, Glaser Weil, Withers, Manatt, ArentFox Schiff, Venable, Rutan & Tucker, Allen Matkins, Snell & Wilmer, Farella Braun + Martel, Hanson Bridgett, Miller Nash, Tonkon Torp, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, Taft, Barnes & Thornburg, Ice Miller, Faegre Drinker, Stinson, Polsinelli, Husch Blackwell, Foley Hoag, Mintz, Nixon Peabody, Lowenstein Sandler, Cole Schotz, Goulston & Storrs, Morris Nichols, Richards Layton & Finger.

Schools Preferred, But Not Limited To:

High-value JD schools: Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Penn Carey, UVA, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Georgetown, UCLA, USC Gould, Vanderbilt, Texas, WashU, Boston University, Boston College, Fordham, Notre Dame, Emory, George Washington, UC Irvine, UC Davis, UC Law San Francisco, Loyola Los Angeles, Pepperdine Caruso, SMU Dedman, Houston, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, William & Mary, Wake Forest, UNC, Ohio State Moritz, Indiana Maurer, Illinois, Iowa.

Especially useful Tax LLM programs: NYU, Georgetown, Northwestern, Florida, Boston University, Loyola Los Angeles.

Example of an ideal candidate: A Loyola LA or Pepperdine graduate with 6 years of sophisticated partnership/M&A tax at Greenberg Glusker or Buchalter is probably much more on-target than a Harvard graduate whose practice is tax controversy or tax compliance.

NOTE: Firm name is shared with qualified candidates during the interview process if chosen.