Speaker details

Biography

Stuart E. Leblang is the co-head of Akin Gump’s tax practice. Mr. Leblang also serves on the firm’s management committee. Mr. Leblang’s practice includes planning and negotiation of domestic and international business transactions, corporate and financial tax counseling, and representation of clients on tax legislative and policy issues before the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Treasury and other federal agencies. He also focuses on various investment fund related matters. Prior to joining Akin Gump, Mr. Leblang was the associate international tax counsel at the U.S. Department of Treasury. During his tenure there, he was involved in legislative and regulatory developments in the international arena. He initiated and developed a number of international provisions contained in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, including those relating to foreign tax credits, passive foreign investment companies and the taxation of foreign investors. He also played a central role in the creation and development of the international tax provisions contained in President Clinton’s 1998 Budget Proposal and in a number of international regulatory projects. Mr. Leblang has spoken extensively on issues relating to international tax policy. In addition to his legislative activities at the Treasury, Mr. Leblang was responsible for initiating and implementing a number of tax regulatory projects, including those relating to foreign tax credits, hybrid entities, passive foreign investment companies and cross-border derivative transactions. He also was integrally involved in other completed and ongoing regulatory projects, including projects relating to the subpart F consequences of hybrid entity structures, the sourcing of losses on sales of personal property, the treatment of step-down preferred stock transactions, the taxation of FASITs, corporate tax shelter registration requirements and interest expense allocations. Mr. Leblang also participated in a number of negotiations with current and prospective U.S. tax treaty partners. Prior to working at the Treasury, Mr. Leblang was an associate in Akin Gump’s New York office and at another international law firm, in its New York and London offices. Mr. Leblang earned his B.A. from Cornell University in 1987 and his J.D. in 1990 from Columbia Law School where he was a James Kent Scholar and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, as well as a coordinator of the Columbia Moot Court Program.