William Alexander resigns from IRS after 25 years to join Skadden Arps

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP has announced that William D. Alexander, associate chief counsel (corporate) of the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Chief Counsel, is joining the firm. Mr. Alexander, who will join Skadden’s global Tax Group as of counsel in April 2015, will focus on tax aspects of complex transactions, including U.S. and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, corporate restructurings and other business transactions.

Mr. Alexander has been with the Office of Chief Counsel since 1990, serving as associate chief counsel (corporate) since February 2003. In this role, he was the chief adviser to the IRS on interpretations of the corporate tax laws, such as provisions dealing with corporate mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, corporate-shareholder relationships, the use of corporate losses and consolidated returns of corporate groups. Mr. Alexander played a major role in the government’s development of published and private guidance, and in the development and implementation of the IRS’s enforcement positions, in these areas. Mr. Alexander is well known for having run a successful private letter ruling program in the corporate tax area.

“Bill’s 25 years of service and leadership with the IRS will further strengthen our transactional tax practice and enhance our ability to help resolve clients’ tax issues creatively and efficiently,” said Matthew A. Rosen, co-head of Skadden’s Tax Group.

“I am excited to be joining Skadden, which is renowned worldwide for its preeminent tax practice in a broad range of areas and contexts,” Mr. Alexander said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to offer clients strategic solutions to their most complex business and tax needs.”
“Bill’s technical knowledge and experience also make him an ideal complement to our litigation and tax controversy practice, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the firm,” said Fred T. Goldberg, Jr., also co-head of Skadden’s Tax Group.

Mr. Alexander is a frequent speaker on corporate tax issues at bar association programs and other tax conferences.
A graduate of Cornell University, Mr. Alexander received his law degree from Columbia Law School, and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law.

Mr. Alexander, while based in Skadden’s Washington, D.C. office, will closely collaborate with other attorneys handling matters in the firm’s global Tax Group, including those located in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, London, Frankfurt and Paris.