Ed serves as a key tax advisor to companies embarking on any type of corporate restructuring, from acquisitions and dispositions to spinoffs and management changes.
He has spent his 40-year career ensuring business owners avoid costly tax liabilities and gain the best possible value during critical corporate transitions.
As the chair of Thompson Coburn’s transactional tax practice, Ed counsels clients on recapitalizations, consolidated return matters, net operating loss issues, compensation arrangements, financial instruments and a large variety of other corporate-shareholder tax matters.
Ed also works extensively in the partnership and limited liability company area, especially transactions in the private equity and hedge fund arenas, and those involving domestic joint ventures. His diverse experience in real estate transactions includes acquisitions and dispositions, financings, REITs, and like-kind exchanges, a highly technical area that carries the risk of exposing the entire transaction to taxation and for which Ed has developed some highly creative solutions.
Ed frequently offers counsel on special tax events in the life of a business, including when companies pay funds to settle litigation or serve as creditors or debtors in bankruptcy proceedings. In his work resolving complex tax controversies, he has secured victories for major corporations that resulted in no tax levied or tax payments amounting to a fraction of the tens of millions initially levied by the IRS.
Clients seek out Ed for his creativity, his novel approach to tax dilemmas, and his deep experience on the best way to approach a transaction so that clients can avoid unnecessary friction, secure key concessions, and get the deal done.
Professional
- American Bar Association
- Tax Section, Corporate Tax Committee
- Chicago-Kent College of Law
- Adjunct Professor, Graduate Program in Taxation, course in Tax Planning for S Corporations and Closely-Held Businesses, 1994-1996
- Washington University School of Law
- Adjunct Professor, Graduate LL.M. Program, course in Tax-Free Reorganizations, (1983-1988)
- Journal of Passthrough Entities
- Member of Advisory Board
- Fellow, American College of Tax Counsel
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (by BL Rankings), 1995-2025
- Listed in Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers (by Thomson Reuters), 2005-2015
- German