2022–2023 Portland Tax Forum Program Schedule

Purchase Season Tickets (23% Discount): $300 ›

Leila Vaughn

Leila Vaughan advises clients on business and investment tax matters, especially relating to private equity and real estate investment funds and mergers and acquisitions. Leila also advises nonprofit clients on tax-exempt issues.

Leila is an author for Bloomberg’s BNA Tax Management Portfolios and teaches nonprofit law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice.

Client Experience

Private equity, real estate and lending funds.
Mergers and acquisitions.
Real estate investment trusts.
Tax-free reorganizations and spin-offs.
Nonprofits and nonprofit executives.
Qualified Opportunity Zones.

October 20, 2022 TICKETS

Qualified Opportunity Zones & Internal Revenue Code Section 1031

Leila Vaughn

BIO ›

René Morency

René Morency joined Sandberg Phoenix in 2021 and is a member of the Business and Business Litigation practice groups. He advises clients on day-to-day business matters such as contract drafting and negotiation, purchases and sales. René keenly understands the intersection of closely-held business and estate planning. Prior to law school, René was the principal of a boutique consulting company, where most of his clients were private foundations, charitable trusts and Fortune 500 corporate giving programs. Two of his key clients included a multi-billion-dollar private equity company and a family foundation made possible by the wealth of the private equity company. There, René’s passion for successful mergers & acquisitions and strategic philanthropy grew. This led him to seek degrees in law, business, finance and tax.

René believes that you can only provide effective counsel if you understand your client’s interests, why those interests are valuable, and what circumstances may change your client’s value proposition. This is of great importance to René because he understands first-hand what it is like to have grown a business, through two major recessions, while he counseled others.

Outside of the office, René enjoys his family; the arts; and swimming, biking and running.

November 3, 2022 TICKETS

Estate Planning

René Morency

René Morency joined Sandberg Phoenix in 2021 and is a member of the Business and Business Litigation practice groups.

BIO ›

Speaker TBC

NOTE: The speaker and date for this session are to be confirmed.

April 20, 2023 TICKETS

Installment Sales

Speaker TBC

NOTE: The speaker and date for this session are to be confirmed.

BIO ›

Elizabeth Norman

Elizabeth attended a tiny high school in Kentucky before receiving her B.A. from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. After graduating from Swarthmore, Elizabeth spent a few years living in Brooklyn and working as a paralegal and an assistant at a local bookstore, until she moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan Law School as a Clarence Darrow scholar (Michigan Law’s highest academic scholarship). While attending law school, Elizabeth won several awards for top class performance and was a member of the University of Michigan law review (including as a member of the editorial staff). Elizabeth also worked as a teaching assistant for legal research and writing and served on the board of directors for the Michigan ACLU. Elizabeth received her J.D. magna cum laude in 2004, and was awarded membership in the Order of the Coif. Elizabeth has also studied literature and philosophy at the University of Oxford (Wadham College) and has completed post-graduate coursework in physics, mathematics, corporate finance, and FinTech.

After graduation, Elizabeth joined the tax department at Ropes & Gray LLP, where she worked for a number of years. She has also practiced at mid-sized law firms, and most recently as a partner of Baker Tax Law, a boutique law firm specializing in transactional tax and executive compensation.

Elizabeth is based in Boston, MA, and enjoys the learning opportunities offered by the many local colleges and universities, as well as the vitality of the emerging company and biotech industries. She volunteered for many years as a director of the Massachusetts National Organization For Women as well as the Boys and Girls Club of Middlesex County. Her hobbies include bragging about her fantastic daughter, collecting grammar and/or chemistry-related jokes, and navigating Boston’s less-than-ideal weather with her two “fairly good” dogs. While not a cook, Elizabeth has amassed extensive knowledge of all of Boston’s food delivery services and enjoys the many excellent local restaurants.

May 18, 2023 TICKETS

Partnership Tax

Elizabeth Norman

NOTE: The date for this session is to be confirmed.

Elizabeth Norman is an attorney with Touchstone Strategic.

BIO ›

Darien Shanske

Professor Darien Shanske holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Rhetoric, an M.A. from McGill University in Philosophy, and a B.A. from Columbia University. Before law school, Professor Shanske worked as a financial consultant to California local governments; after law school, he worked as an attorney in the public finance department of Sidley Austin in San Francisco. Professor Shanske then clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Professor Shanske’s academic interests include taxation, particularly state and local taxation, local government law, public finance, and political theory, particularly jurisprudence. Some of his current projects are on the local property tax, the state and local fiscal relationship, the fiscal constitution of California, and the role of reciprocity in Aristotle.

June 8, 2023 TICKETS

State & Local Tax

Darien Shanske

Professor Darien Shanske holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Rhetoric, an M.A. from McGill University in Philosophy, and a B.A. from Columbia University.

BIO ›

Matthew Rappaport

Matthew Rappaport chairs Falcon Rappaport & Berkman’s Taxation and Private Client Groups. He concentrates his practice in Taxation as it relates to Real Estate, Closely Held Businesses, Private Equity Funds, and Trusts & Estates. He advises clients regarding tax planning, structuring, and compliance for commercial real estate projects, all stages of the business life cycle, generational wealth transfer, family business succession, and executive compensation. He also collaborates with other attorneys, accountants, financial advisors, bankers, and insurance professionals when they encounter matters requiring a threshold level of tax law expertise.

Matthew is known for his work on complex deals involving advanced tax considerations, such as Section 1031 Exchanges, the Qualified Opportunity Zone Program, Freeze Partnerships, Private Equity Mergers & Acquisitions, and Qualified Small Business Stock. He has served as a trusted advisor for prominent real estate funds, executives of multinational corporations, venture capitalists, successful startup businesses, ultra-high net worth families, and clients seeking creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems requiring tax-focused analysis.