George O. Walker

Evolving clients need creative advisors. This approach allows George to provide a high level of expertise on a broad range of tax planning, structuring, and transactional matters.

George helps business owners plan ahead for success and growth, foresee disputes where possible, and compare succession and/or exit strategies throughout the business cycle. For businesses in the startup phase, George advises them through the critical steps of establishing the business, including selecting the appropriate entity type, drafting operating and ownership agreements that reduce risk of future disputes, and hiring employees. This is possible only after carefully ascertaining the client’s objectives, prioritizing their business ventures, and weighing the tax and industry ramifications specific to each client. When advising mature businesses ready to buy or sell all or part of an entity, George is adept at negotiating and structuring taxable and tax-free acquisitions (stock and asset), mergers (stock, cash, etc.), and corporate spin-offs.

As a client’s business transitions, George evaluates each transaction with the client’s financial considerations and long-term plans in mind.

To prepare for transitions in ownership, George analyzes the business’s needs and existing ownership structure, as well as the goals of its current and future owners. He establishes succession and exit strategies for executives and owners, including transitions of ownership to partners, family members, key employees or third parties. With the understanding that a closely held business may be the owner’s most valuable asset, George works seamlessly with the Profit Law Firm’s trusts and estates expert, as well as with the client’s own accountant, to minimize the tax incidence of gifts and bequests through trusts that transfer ownership while generating income. Finally, when commercial disputes arise, George represents clients in negotiations, mediations and arbitrations with a view towards avoiding unnecessary proceedings.

George holds both a Juris Doctor and a Master of Laws in taxation with a focus on domestic and international entities and transactions. George also holds a Master of Laws in international business and dispute resolution (awarded jointly by the Universities of Fribourg, Bern, and Neuchatel in Switzerland) and completed his undergraduate studies with a double-major in International Relations and French Studies. George recently served as Tax Law Fellow (2015-16) for a newly appointed judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and was a Higginbotham Fellow (2011) at the American Arbitration Association.