Dennis Donohue Retires from DOJ Tax (9/1/21)

Someone threw over my internet transom an email from the AAG announcing the retirement of Dennis Donohue.  Given the subject matter, I did not think anyone would object to my copying and pasting the contents here:

Dennis Donohue is retiring from his role as Chief Senior Litigation Counsel today.

After graduating with a Masters of Tax Law from George Washington University’s National Law Center, Dennis began his career with the Tax Division in 1971. His original intention was to complete his four-year commitment and then leave for private practice. But he quickly developed a passion for representing the United States in complex tax litigation. Beginning with the first wave of abusive shelters in the 1980s, through the corporate abusive shelters of the 1990s, and continuing to the present day, Dennis successfully litigated numerous cases against some of the most formidable tax litigators in the country. Abusive tax shelter schemes such as Corporate Owned Life Insurance (COLI) and Structured Trust Advantaged Repackaged Securities (STARS) were rejected by the courts as a result of Dennis’s dogged advocacy. Dennis’s efforts over the years brought billions of dollars into the Treasury and contributed to the tax law’s development.

As Chief Senior Litigation Counsel, Dennis was called on to develop and supervise teams of trial attorneys and administrative professionals from across the Division. He worked extensively with the Internal Revenue Service, IRS Chief Counsel's Office and, at times, with other Government agencies. Over his career, Dennis worked with top economists, academics, and other expert witnesses from around the world, resulting in courtroom presentations that distilled complex transactions into understandable concepts. While each team differed based on the nature of the case, they had one thing in common— forming to immediately face top tax practitioners in our nation’s most challenging and sophisticated tax cases.

Dennis has been on the forefront of developing new strategies to present complicated, technical cases to judges and juries throughout his career. His innovative techniques and trial tactics have been adopted by other attorneys to enhance their overall presentation of evidence in court. In the mid-1990s, a new breed of dauntingly intricate shelters surfaced, designed by sophisticated tax professionals for corporations and high-net-worth individuals. These cases often generated millions of pages of documents and thousands of exhibits. Dennis responded by becoming one of the pioneers in presenting evidence electronically and leading the Division to the new frontier of electronic court presentation.

Dennis has received many awards, honors, and recognition over his career, among them two Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Awards and the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation, which is one of the highest accolades available to a Justice Department lawyer. He also received various Attorney General Special Commendation Awards and several Tax Division Outstanding Attorney Awards.

Throughout his career Dennis has inspired, motivated, and mentored attorneys on his trial teams and encouraged them to cultivate and enhance their litigation skills. He taught his teams trial advocacy strategies and techniques and provided opportunities for growth and development at every stage of his cases. His personal commitment to life-long learning is something to which we should all aspire and will be a legacy in the Division.

The American public was well served by Dennis’s tenacious advocacy, tireless commitment to mentoring, and notable and extraordinary achievements. Dennis’s unending drive to learn and improve are a model for us all. On behalf of the Tax Division I thank Dennis for his service and congratulate him on a remarkable 50-year career.

I hope you will take a moment to pass along your thanks and best wishes to Dennis. He did not want to have a public celebration, but if you send an email to Dennis’s Tax Division email address before the end of the week we will print and deliver them to him. 

Congratulations to Dennis!