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Experience.
During law school, I worked on Wall Street in the litigation department of
Shearman & Sterling LLP (http://www.shearman.com/).
I was also a summer tax associate at Briger & Associates (http://www.lawyers.com/New-York/New-York/Briger-and-Associates-456156-f.html)
concentrating on international tax issues. After law school, I worked for
one year in the international tax department of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell &
Company (now KPMG Peat Marwick LLP -
http://www.us.kpmg.com) on “inbound” tax matters.
From 1983 to 1995, I was
Tax Counsel for Warner-Lambert Company (acquired by Pfizer, Inc.
in 2000 -
http://www.pfizer.com/home/), a multinational pharmaceutical and consumer
health care products company headquartered in Morris Plains, New Jersey.
Responsibilities included worldwide executive compensation (e.g., deferred
compensation, stock options plans, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock,
401(k) plan, retirement plan, payroll reporting and tax withholding issues,
§3121(l) agreements, taxation of expatriates and aliens, travel and
entertainment expenses, consultants, etc.) and fringe benefit tax matters (e.g.,
educational reimbursements, compensation-related loans, moving expenses, flights
on employer provided aircraft, business use of home by sales force, etc.),
worldwide R&D tax issues (e.g., tax deduction, tax credits, cost sharing and
royalty agreements, expense allocations, technology transfers, local incentives,
intangibles, etc.), the Company's Canadian operations, foreign and domestic tax
audits as well as various complex international tax planning issues involving
joint ventures, acquisitions, divestitures and plant rationalizations. Other
areas of concentration included the Company's Political Action Committee, its
Charitable Foundation, its corporate accounting policies and representation of
the Company at various National Foreign Trade Council task force committee
meetings on corporate integration, VAT, tax treaties and Federal tax
legislation.
From 1995 to 1997, I
worked with Martin M. Shenkman (http://www.shenkmanlaw.com/),
focusing primarily in the area of estate planning; estate administration and tax
planning for individuals and closely held businesses. Responsibilities included
preparation of comprehensive durable powers of attorney, living wills, wills,
irrevocable life insurance trusts, revocable living trusts and trusts for
children as well as advising clients with respect to their individual estate
planning needs, including the use of credit shelter trusts, disclaimers, QTIP
(marital) trusts, living trusts, insurance trusts, charitable trusts, QPRTs
(personal residence trusts) and trusts as beneficiary of retirement assets. I
also assisted in the probate and estate administration of estates, reviewed
Federal and State estate and gift tax return filings of various clients,
assisted in gift tax audits of decedents' estates and advised clients on the use
of minority and lack of marketability discounts in valuing closely held
businesses.
Additional areas of practice included the
structuring of business and investment transactions, including sales of stock of
a closely held business, formation of family limited partnerships and limited
liability companies (LLCs), tax deferred like kind exchanges, the use of LLC
conversions and the unrelated business income tax impact of the activities of a
for profit subsidiary of a tax-exempt parent. I assisted in the preparation of
gift tax letters for year-end gifting of corporate stock, LLC membership
interests and partnership interests; in the drafting of employment contracts,
shareholders' agreements, partnership agreements and LLC operating agreements
and reviewed and prepared revisions to lease agreements and prenuptial
agreements. I also prepared IRS applications for recognition of tax exemption
for nonprofit organizations and drafted incentive stock option plans for closely
held businesses.
From 1997 to 2007, I was
engaged in my own practice, concentrating on income tax, estate & gift tax
planning matters for individuals and businesses (http://www.DianeRivers.com).
I was also "Of Counsel" to the Bohonnon Law Firm, LLC (http://www.Bohonnon.com)
whose offices are located in New Haven and Westport, Connecticut and to
Rubin, Bailin, Ortoli LLP (now
Sanders, Ortoli, Vaughn-Flam, Rosenstadt, LLP -
http://www.sovrlaw.com/aboutus.html) whose offices are located in
NYC.
Since 1999, I have been
an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the New York City Taxi & Limousine
Commission (TLC) (http://nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/home/home.shtml)
where I have conducted “Applicant Fitness” hearings, “Fitness” hearings and
“Consumer” hearings. Since 2007, I have been a member of the TLC’s Appeals
Division. I have also advised the TLC's Chair and the TLC’s General Counsel on
special projects, including the federal, state and local tax treatment of
medallion owners, drivers and leasing agents as well as tax incentives for
alternative fuels (CNG) and electric vehicles. I have prepared studies on
wheelchair accessible taxicabs; partitions and in-vehicle cameras for livery
vehicles; licensing adjudication procedures; financing aspects of the medallion
industry; and leasing reform. I have drafted proposed legislation that would
provide owners of taxicabs and for-hire vehicles with a tax credit for the cost
of purchasing and/or converting vehicles to make them accessible to the
disabled. I have represented the TLC in various franchise meetings, drafted
procedures concerning medallion transfers and civil forfeiture of unlicensed
vehicles as well as created and maintained an extensive database on medallion
transfers and vehicle seizures.
I also actively
participated in the 2004 auctions of 573 new medallions and tracked the proceeds
raised from the medallion sales.
I authored a chapter in the ALJ Manual on Taxicab Agents and drafted proposed
Rules on pilot programs and service improvements.
Since 2007, I have also
been an ALJ in the Appeals Unit of the Environmental Control Board (http://home2.nyc.gov/html/ecb/html/home/home.shtml),
where I review decisions involving violations of NYC’s quality-of-life laws that
protect the health, safety and cleanliness of the City’s environment and
neighborhoods (e.g., Asbestos, Air Code,
Building Code, Fire Prevention Code, Food and General Vendor Rules, Health Code,
Noise Control Code, Parks Department Rules, Public Health Law: Canine Waste,
Recycling Rules, Sanitation Code, Sewer Code, Transportation Rules, Vehicle &
Traffic Law, Water Code, Zoning Resolution, etc.).
Publications.
I have co-authored the following articles: Form 1040: Road Map to Your
Client's Financial Future (October 1995 NAPFA Advisor); Valuing an
Accounting Practice For Purposes of Divorce (January 1996 The Matrimonial
Strategist); and Using Tax Returns to Spot A Client's Legal, Financial and
Personal Issues (May-July 1996 The Bergen Barrister). I have also ghost
written articles for other attorneys (e.g., on qualified domestic trusts,
portfolio interest, etc.) that have appeared in California legal periodicals.
Admissions.
New York (1981), New Jersey (1996) and Connecticut (1997) Bars. The United
States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern
District of New York and the United States District Court for the District of
New Jersey. Texas Certified Public Accountant (1985).
Memberships.
The New York City Bar. The American Institute for Certified Public Accountants.
The BMW Car Club of America. The Seventh Regiment Rifle Club. The Military Law
Committee of the Brooklyn Bar Association.
Education.
French Baccalaureate from the Lycée Français de New York (1974); B.S. in
Accounting, Summa Cum Laude, from the New York Institute of Technology (1978);
Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School (1981) and an LL.M. in Taxation from New
York University (1989). Trained by the NYC Bar as a Certified Guardian and Court
Evaluator under Article 81 of the N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law. Completed selected
courses in the Certified Financial Planner Program at New York University.
Completed the NYC Bar’s Basic Mediation Training: Conflict Resolution Theory &
Techniques four day (28 hours) course. Completed a psychopathology course in a
Master of Science program in Marriage and Family Therapy (2007).
Languages.
Fluent in French; working knowledge of Spanish.
Translations.
Legal documents from French into English.
Trusteeships. Manage
financial affairs of incapacitated individuals. Track and monitor receipts and
outflows. Prepare cash flow statements and tax analysis. Track and monitor
portfolio investments and performance. Research, identify and implement new
investment opportunities. Review asset
allocations. Rebalance as necessary.
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