Kostelanetz LLP

Number of partners: 12

Number of lawyers: 37

Languages: English, Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Urdu

Offices: New York City; Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Ga.

Firm Overview

For more than 75 years, Kostelanetz LLP has built a global reputation as a law firm of choice for clients facing high-stakes controversies and negotiations with government agencies. Our attorneys have unparalleled experience in tax controversy, tax fraud, government investigations, and white-collar criminal defense and are regularly called upon to handle the most challenging and sensitive cases and internal investigations. Important parts of the firm’s practice include tax and estate planning, commercial litigation, and government procurement and contracting. More information about the firm and our attorneys is available at www.kostelanetz.com.

Main Areas of Practice

• Civil Tax Controversies & Litigation
• Criminal Tax Fraud
• White Collar Criminal Defense and Government Investigations
• Estate & Tax Planning, Wealth Management
• Transactional Tax Planning
• Government Procurement and Contracting

Civil Tax Controversies & Litigation:

Kostelanetz LLP regularly represents clients who wish to limit their civil liability for past failures to file accurate tax returns, or who failed to file tax returns. The firm has negotiated hundreds of voluntary disclosures with the IRS, thereby both avoiding criminal prosecution and limiting civil penalties on behalf of clients with foreign bank accounts worth hundreds of millions of dollars (some of which were held by foreign trusts, foundations, corporations, and nominees), and on behalf of clients who failed to report millions of dollars of income earned from United States businesses and investments. The firm also has represented scores of taxpayers with alleged abusive tax shelter investments and has resolved favorably hundreds of millions of dollars in potential liability arising from these investments.

Criminal Tax Fraud:

Kostelanetz LLP has long maintained a national and international reputation as one of the country’s preeminent law firms engaged in defending against criminal tax investigations and prosecutions. Our firm has more experience in criminal tax cases than most large firm white-collar and tax controversy departments. There are very few issues or fact patterns that our attorneys have not already encountered in previous cases involvingalleged tax evasion,tax fraud, and other tax-related criminal allegations. Indeed, Kostelanetz attorneys have represented thousands of corporations and individuals in cases, including allegations of failure to report income, overstated deductions, failure to collect and pay employment taxes, preparation of false returns, failure to file returns, presentation of false documents to the IRS, conspiracy to impede or obstruct the IRS, as well as other tax-related crimes, such as structuring and currency transaction reporting violations.

White Collar Criminal Defense and Government Investigations:

Kostelanetz attorneys are regularly retained to represent individuals and entities in white-collar criminal, corporate, and regulatory investigations involving allegations of federal and state tax fraud, violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, antitrust violations, honest services fraud, customs fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, securities fraud, embezzlement, and art fraud. We also conduct internal investigations for corporate and institutional clients facing potential criminal charges or regulatory violations, or whose officers or employees may have engaged in misconduct.

Estate & Tax Planning, Wealth Management:

Kostelanetz attorneys work closely with clients’ financial planners, wealth managers, and accountants to ensure a coordinated approach to clients’ goals. Our attorneys design estate plans that minimize income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes; draft highly individualized wills and trusts; assist U.S. clients in establishing structures for investment abroad; assist non-U.S. clients in establishing structures for investment in the U.S.; provide a full range of services to fiduciaries and beneficiaries in connection with the administration estates and trusts; provide advice on postmortem estate tax planning, income tax minimization, and the valuation of closely held business interests and other assets whose value is not easily established; provide advice on the proper administration of estates involving substantial overseas or hidden assets that surface after death; and advise corporate and individual trustees on a range of issues that arise upon the establishment of trusts, during their administration, and at their termination.

Transactional Tax Planning:

The transactional tax lawyers at Kostelanetz LLP combine knowledge of the law with the experience necessary to apply that knowledge to sophisticated commercial transactions, both domestic and cross-border. We have a very broad range of clients: the firm assists multinational companies, mid-size entities, small businesses, and individual clients in structuring highly complex, tax-efficient transactions and strategies.

Government Procurement and Contracting:

The firm's Government Procurement and Contracting practice focuses on New York City and State agencies and is guided by NYC’s former contracting chief, with 22 years of state and local procurement experience. Kostelanetz LLP represents contractors, subcontractors, investors, executives, and government officials, and corporate clients ranging from Fortune 20 to privately held, often in high-profile cases. We advise clients at all procurement stages from presolicitation planning through litigation; advise clients responding to solicitations regarding exceptions to terms and conditions, disclosure obligations, lobby law compliance, and ethical rules; appear before agencies and courts on disputes such as bid protests, non-responsiveness appeals, and responsibility investigations, hearings, and challenges; negotiate government contract terms and conditions: represent targets, subjects, and witnesses in investigations and defend contractors and subcontractors in default and debarment proceedings; prosecute lawsuits to collect damages for contract terminations (for convenience or cause); and handle False Claims Act, M/WBE, and prevailing and living wage investigations and lawsuits.