Bill’s practice concentrates on business and tax law issues, especially those involving closely held business organizations (S and C corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies), and their owners. Bill is routinely involved in entity selection and reorganization decisions, many different types of business and investment transactions, succession planning, and a wide variety of other issues affecting these organizations, businesses, and owners.
Bill is a former adjunct professor at the William Mitchell College of Law.
Experience
- Structured several private-equity investment funds and represented investors in evaluating investments in private-equity funds and hedge funds
- Represented sellers in >$250 million stock sale involving 60 S corporations operating a highly-regulated business in more than 25 states
- Represented limited liability company members in successfully defending an IRS assessment of more than $3 million of self-employment tax
- Prepared organizational documents for partnerships owning and/or operating professional sports businesses
Publications
- “Life Insurance Funding of S Corporation Buy-Sell Agreements,” Tax Management Memorandum, Nov. 15, 2004
- “Insurance Counselor,” S Corporations and Life Insurance, coauthor, 2nd edition, publication of the ABA Real Property, Probate and Trust section
- “PPC Tax Planning Guide: Partnerships,” Practitioner’s Publishing Company, 1987-2006
- “Back to Basis: Rationality in Back-To-Back Loan Transactions,” Journal of S Corporation Taxation, Winter 1997
- “State Limited Liability Company and Partnership Laws,” Aspen Law & Business, Minnesota Reporter
- “State Limited Partnership Laws,” Aspen Law & Business, Minnesota Reporter
Education
- University of Michigan Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 1979
Order of the Coif - St. Olaf College, B.A., summa cum laude, 1976
Phi Beta Kappa
Professional Activities
- American Bar Association, Tax Section, S Corporations Committee, vice chair,
Revenue Rulings Subcommittee, past chair - Minnesota State Bar Association, Business Law section, Executive Council, member; Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, and Limited Liability Companies Committee, chair; Tax section, past chair, 2002-2003; Governing Council, past member, 2000-2006
Honors and Distinctions
“The Best Lawyers in America,” Woodward/White, 2008-2012
“Super Lawyer®,” Thomson/Reuters, 2003-2011
Distinguished Service Award, Minnesota State Bar Association, Tax Law Section
- "Minnesota's Best Lawyers," Minnesota Monthly, 2009
- Top 40 Business & Commercial Transactions Lawyers, Minnesota Super Lawyer, 2005
Community Involvement
- City of Lakes Rotary Club, Member, former board member and treasurer
- Minneapolis City of Lakes Rotary Foundation, former board member and treasurer
- Camp Get-A-Well-A, board member
- Katahdin, Inc., board member and past board chair
- Highland District Council (St. Paul, MN), president, 2008-2009; board member, 2002-2009; secretary, 2003-2008
- City of Saint Paul, Ford Site Planning Task Force, cochair