usclaw - USC Gould School of Law - University of Southern California

NE W S FROM THE LAW SCHOOL
Continuing Legal Educa t i o n
Tax Institute Ta ckles Volatile World of E-Business
Top, Jack Kessler of Clarity Partners, Pr o fessor Ed McCaffe r y,
Philip Irwin of O’Melveny and Myers, and Dean Matt Spitzer
gather at the Institute on Federal Taxation. Mr. Kessler and Mr.
Irwin served on the institute’s planning committee. Below,
Diana Wollman of Sullivan & Cromwell spoke at the tax institute;
attorney David Lane spoke at the Probate and Tr u s t
C o n fe r e n c e .
Y2K started out free of the technical glitches that we re predicted to wreak worldwide havoc, but
2000 was indeed a bad year for techies. Mo re than 200 dot-com companies shut down, a n d
12,000 dot-com workers lost jobs. Bad year for techies, not so bad for bankruptcy lawye r s .
In special sessions of the 53rd annual Institute on Federal Taxation, sponsored in Ja n u a ry by
the USC Law School continuing legal education program, speakers tackled taxation in a dotcom
world, discussing issues such as how tax laws might affect a start-up e-business, how
e-businesses can retain talent in a competitive job market, how mergers and acquisitions play
out in the e-commerce industry, and what a dot-com looks like in bankru p t c y. Elliot G. Fre i e r
of Irell & Manella spoke on bankruptcy issues. “The only more timely topic,” he quipped, “m i g h t
h a ve been ‘w o rthless stock ru l e s .’” He noted that dot-com bankruptcies are unusual because e-
companies rely heavily on equity investments and rarely hold long-term debt.
The special sessions on dot.com taxation we re just a portion of the tax institute’s pro g r a m ,
which enjoyed re c o rd attendance in its new location at the Wi l s h i re Grand Hotel in dow n-
t own Los Angeles. Mo re than a dozen speakers at the three-day conference presented sessions on
corporate and business tax planning, real estate and partnership tax planning, individual tax planning
and estate planning. Keynote speakers we re Kenneth J. Kies, co-managing partner of
Washington National Tax Se rvices of Pr i c ewaterhouseCoopers; Larry R. Langdon, commissioner
of the Internal Re venue Se rv i c e’s large and mid-sized business division; and Michael J. Gr a e t z ,
the Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Ed w a rd J. Mc C a f f e ry, the Ma u r i c e
Jones, Jr. Professor of Law at USC, was exe c u t i ve director and chair of this ye a r’s confere n c e .
Probate and Trust C o n ference Examines New Laws, Scams
Senior citizens are increasingly the targets of scams that promise too-good-to-be-true estate
planning schemes. To combat the problem, the California State Bar Estate Planning, Trust and
Probate Law Section has developed a video and speakers bureau that aims to educate seniors
and help them arm themselves against fraud.
Paul J. Ba rulich, managing partner of the Law Of fices of Paul J. Ba rulich and a member
of the state bar estate-planning section’s exe c u t i ve committee, presented the video, “Ta k i n g
Charge: Risks and Rew a rds of Estate Planning,” at the 26th annual Probate and Tru s t
C o n f e rence, sponsored in November by USC’s continuing legal education program.
Speakers at the day-long conference included Encino attorney David Lane; Russell G. Allen
of O’Me l veny & Myers; Te r rence M. Franklin of Ross, Sacks & Glazier; John A. Sturgeon of
White & Case; Ly n a rd C. Hinojosa of Hinojosa, Khougaz & Wallet; conference chairman
Kenneth S. Wo l f, of Hoffman Sabban & Watenmaker; Shirley L. Kovar of Branton & Wi l s o n ;
Los Angeles attorney Ro b e rt A. Briskin; L. Andrew Gi f f o rd, senior vice president of the U.S.
Trust Co.; and Ma t t h ew S. Rae of Darling, Hall & Rae. Subjects included new laws affecting
c o n fidentiality for trustees and their lawyers and how to determine what triggers the no-contest
clause in California.
“This program really focuses, and always has, on the practical rather than the theore t i c a l , ”
said Mr. Wo l f, a founding member of USC’s Probate and Trust Conference. “We’ve always tried
to present the how-to of the day-to-day practice of law, rather than the esoteric side. I think
i t’s ve ry effective . ”
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Upcoming CLE conference:
22nd Annual Computer and Internet Law Institute, May 10-11, 2001
To register, call (213) 740-2582 or visit the CLE Web site at
[ www.usc.edu/law/cle ]
USCLAW s p r i n g 2001
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