Michelle DeLappe

Michelle DeLappe, Partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, helps businesses reduce their state and local tax exposure through effective planning, defending against assessments and pursuing refunds.

Admitted in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, she handles state and local tax matters in a variety of contexts, including strategic planning, transactions, audits, administrative appeals and litigation. Her experience includes litigating some of the largest property tax disputes in Washington state history. She also helps businesses navigate issues involving nexus, apportionment, sales and use tax, B&O tax, real estate transfer taxes and other excise taxes and fees.

Michelle also represents clients in rate cases and other proceedings before the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC). Her experience with administrative law, financial analysis and regulated industries in her state and local tax practice enables her to successfully advocate for clients in UTC proceedings.

A frequent contributor to the discussion on state and local taxes in the Pacific Northwest, Michelle has written for Tax Notes State (a Tax Analysts publication) and co-authors the Washington and Alaska chapters of the ABA Property Tax Deskbook. She regularly presents at events around the country, such as conferences hosted by the Council on State Taxation, Institute for Professionals in Taxation, American Bar Association, Seattle Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and the NYU Institute on State and Local Taxation. Michelle also participates in professional associations in the area of state and local taxes and regularly provides pro bono representation on state and local tax issues to charitable organizations.

Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, Michelle was a partner in the taxation practice at a regional law firm in the Pacific Northwest.

Mark Mullin

Laura Westfall

Laura Westfall, Counsel, Executive Compensation and Benefits, Skadden

To be confirmed

Speaker and date to be confirmed.

Caroline Ciraolo

Caroline D. Ciraolo, former Acting Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division, is a partner with Kostelanetz LLP and a founder of its Washington, D.C. office. Her practice focuses on complex and sophisticated civil tax controversies, including representation in sensitive audits, administrative appeals, and litigation in federal and state courts and administrative tax tribunals, providing related tax advice, conducting internal investigations, consideration of domestic and foreign compliance options including voluntary disclosures, and representing individuals and institutions in criminal tax investigations and prosecutions.

During her tenure with the Justice Department, Caroline was actively involved in all aspects of Tax Division operations and responsible for approximately 500 employees, including more than 360 attorneys in 14 civil, criminal and appellate sections. Under her leadership, the Division reached agreements with 80 Swiss financial institutions that admitted to facilitating tax evasion and the avoidance of reporting requirements by U.S. account holders, and imposed and collected more than $1.36 billion in penalties, increased civil and criminal enforcement with respect to offshore tax evasion, employment tax violations, and traditional tax offenses, assisted the IRS through summons enforcement proceedings, and engaged in affirmative and defensive litigation involving abusive tax shelters and schemes, refund claims, and challenges to statutes and regulations.

Prior to joining the Department, Caroline was Chair of the Tax Controversy and Litigation practice group of a regional firm in Baltimore, Maryland, where she represented individuals and businesses in all phases of state and federal civil tax controversies and criminal tax investigations and prosecutions. She has appeared before the IRS, the Comptroller of Maryland and the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, the Maryland Tax Court, the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Courts, the Maryland circuit and appellate courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth and Federal Circuits.

Caroline is Immediate Past President of the American College of Tax Counsel and former Chair of the Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation. She currently serves as the Section of Taxation’s Vice Chair of Membership, Diversity & Inclusion. Caroline has also served as an instructor with the IRS Military Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program at Ft. George G. Meade in Maryland.

She has been recognized by Chambers (Tax Fraud (Nationwide), Tax (DC), Benchmark, Best Lawyers in America (Litigation and Controversy – Tax, Tax Law), Super Lawyers (Top 10 Attorneys in Maryland, Maryland cover story in 2013, DC), Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards (Best in Tax Dispute Resolution) (2014), and The Daily Record’s Top 100 Women Circle of Excellence. Caroline is a recipient of the ABA Section of Taxation’s Janet Spragens Pro Bono Award, and in January 2017, she was recognized by IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins with the Chief Counsel Award, the highest honor that can be conferred by that office.

Caroline is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center (International Tax Controversies, Criminal Tax Law and Procedure) and University of Baltimore School of Law Graduate Tax Program (Investigation, Prosecution and Defense of Tax Crimes).

Jerry Hesch

After 20 years as a full-time law professor, Jerry Hesch became a practicing tax lawyer, but continues as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Miami School of Law, Graduate Programs in Estate Planning and Taxation and joined FIU Spring 2009.

He has appeared on CLE programs throughout the country, such as the NYU Annual Institute on Taxation, the University of Southern California Tax Institute and the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning.  He served on the Drafting Committee for the Florida REvised Univorm Partnership Act and the Florida Governor’s Unitary Tax Study Committee.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan and his law degree from the University of Buffalo.  He was with the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Washington, D.C. from 1970 to 1975, and was a full-time law professor from 1975 through 1994.