Elliott Kajan Death on 10/17/12 (10/18/12)

Funeral Details for Elliott Kajan, Tuesday, October 23, Noon,  Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, Los Angeles, CA


Location:         Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, Mt-Sinai - Hollywood Hills, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive Los Angeles, CA    (323) 469-6000           Off Forest Lawn Drive

The following is the web site with the notice of the service and links to memories and photos (not populated when I looked, but should be some later).

                 http://www.mountsinaiparks.org/obituary/95611/Elliott-Kajan/#services

Date:               Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Time:               Noon

Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills
5950 Forest Lawn Drive
Los Angeles, California 90068

TaNaCh Chapel

Elliott's bio on his firm website is here.

From Tax Notes Today, In Memoriam (10/22/12, published on line on 10/20/12):

Elliott H. Kajan, 74, died on October 17 in Beverly Hills, Calif. 

Kajan founded his firm, Kajan Mather and Barish, in 1990. He specialized in civil and criminal tax controversies at the administrative and court levels, including federal, state, and local matters. He previously worked in the IRS as a revenue agent and in the Justice Department Tax Division as an attorney. Kajan received a BS from Cleveland State University and a JD from Ohio State University.

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David Hubbert Name DAAG for Civil Matters (10/1/12)

I attach here the Memo from AAG Keneally announcing David Hubbert's appointment as Tax Division Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Matters.  The body of the memo is:

I am pleased to announce the Attorney General has appointed David A. Hubbert to be Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Matters.

Dave graduated with honors from the University of Arizona in 1982 with a degree in accounting. He received a cum laude degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1985, where he was the Keedy Cup (Oral Advocacy) Champion. Dave joined the Division in 1985 through the Honors Program, and was an attorney in both the Civil Trial Section, Western Region and the Appellate Section. In 1991, he was selected as a Reviewer in the Western Region, where he handled that Section's most important civil cases in a superb manner, all while reviewing and assisting trial attorneys. He became an Assistant Section Chief of the Western Region in 1996, and in 1999, became Chief of the Civil Trial Section Eastern Region. During his time in the Division, Dave has handled or supported a wide range ofthe Division's civil litigation, served on the Associate Attorney General's Civil Discovery Task Force as Chair of the Technology Working Group, worked on information technology projects and conunittees, and helped the Division to address management and performance issues. Dave has also played a pivotal role in creating, and continually improving, our case management system, which is one of the best systems in the Department. Civil Trial-Eastern has special responsibility for FOIA and Privacy Act(§ 6103) matters, and Dave's expertise in both has been invaluable to the Division. In recognition of his exemplary service, Dave has received several awards, including the Assistant Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in 1998 and the Presidential Rank A ward for Meritorious Service in 2009. Please join me in congratulating Dave and in thanking him for taking on the additional responsibilities of the position.

Congratulations, David!

Main Justice Article on End of DOJ Tax Attorney Detail to USAOs (10/1012)

Main Justice has this article:  Tax Division Back to Full Force as Detail Program Ends (Main Justice 9/28/12), here.  The article discusses the end of the temporary detail of DOJ Tax lawyers to local AUSA offices.

Jennifer Whang is appointed Administrative Law Judge for FERC (9/26/12)

Chairman Appoints Jennifer Whang as New Administrative Law Judge (FERC News Release 9/24/12), here.  Excerpt from the News Release:

Judge Whang also served in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division, where she was a trial attorney in the Civil Trial Section. 

Tax Notes Article on Tax Division Criminal Enforcement (9/19/12)

I have just published a blog entry on the Tax Division.  See The Role of the DOJ Tax Division in Criminal Tax Enforcement (Federal Tax Crimes Blog 9/18/12), here.  The blog consists of excerpts and links to a Tax Notes article, Shamik Trivedi, For DOJ Tax Division, Consistency and Deterrence Are Key, 136 Tax Notes 1231 (Sept. 10, 2012), here, which is published with the permission of Tax Analystss.  The article principally covers criminal tax enforcement matters.  I thought readers of this blog might also be interested in the article.

Lapsley Hamblen Death (9/12/12)

Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr., former DAAG Tax and Tax Court Judge, died on September 10,2012.  The Tax Court press release is here.  Here is a cut and paste of that  press release:

In Memory of Judge Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr. 

September 11, 2012 

Retired Judge Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr., who served on the United States Tax Court from September 14, 1982, until his retirement on June 30, 2000, died on September 10, 2012.
Judge Hamblen was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on December 25, 1926. He attended preparatory school at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He graduated from the University of Virginia, where he received a B.A. in Economics, and he graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he received an LL.B., was Class President, and was a member of the Raven Society and the Order of the Coif. 

Judge Hamblen served as attorney-adviser to Judge Craig Atkins of the Tax Court and as a trial attorney with the Office of the Regional Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Atlanta, Georgia. 

During his prestigious career, Judge Hamblen was a partner in the law firm of Caskie, Frost, Hobbs & Hamblen, in Lynchburg, Virginia, for more than 25 years. He was a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel and the American College of Probate Counsel. He was a member of the American Bar Association and its Section of Taxation. He also was a member of the Federal Bar Association and was admitted to practice law in Virginia, Ohio, and West Virginia. He formerly was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Federal Tax Institute, Inc., and was Codirector of the Annual Virginia Conference on Federal Taxation at the University of Virginia. Judge Hamblen contributed to several tax periodicals and lectured at various tax conferences. 

Judge Hamblen served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, Department of Justice, at the time of his appointment to the Tax Court. 

Judge Hamblen was appointed by President Reagan as a Judge of the United States Tax Court on September 14, 1982, for a 15-year term ending September 13, 1997. He served as Chief Judge from June 1, 1992, to May 31, 1996. Judge Hamblen retired on June 1, 1996, and was recalled as Senior Judge to perform judicial duties until June 30, 2000. Judge Hamblen authored 349 opinions, including three opinions in Sundstrand Corp. and Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, and opinions in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Commissioner, Procter and Gamble Co. v. Commissioner, Estate of Halas v. Commissioner, and Piggly Wiggly Southern, Inc. v. Commissioner. 

Judge Hamblen is survived by his wife, the former Claudia Terrell. He was predeceased on February 2, 2011, by his son Lapsley W. Hamblen III, and is survived by his sons Allen Hamblen of Lynchburg, Virginia, and William Hamblen of Richmond, Virginia, and the families of his three sons. 

A memorial will be held by the Tax Court on a date to be determined.

The following is the death notice from the Washington Post, here, published 9/16/12.

LAPSLEY W. HAMBLEN Jr.
Death Notice 

HAMBLEN Judge LAPSLEY WALKER HAMBLEN, JR. The Honorable Lapsley Walker Hamblen, Jr., 85, retired judge of the United States Tax Court, died September 10, 2012 at his home in Falls Church, Virginia from cardiac disease. He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on December 25, 1926. His parents were Lapsley Walker Hamblen, Sr. and Libbey Shipley Hamblen. He was a graduate of the McCallie School in Chattanooga and the University of Virginia, receiving a B.A. in Economics in 1949 and an LLB from its Law School in 1953. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. During his college years he was a member of the football and boxing teams, Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which he served as President in 1948, Eli Banana and IMP Society. He served as President of his Law Class and was elected to the Order of the Coif, Omicron Delta Kappa and the Raven Society. He was admitted to the Bar of Virginia, Ohio and West Virginia and was a partner in the Lynchburg, Virginia Law Firm of Caskie, Frost, Hobbs and Hamblen and predecessor firms which he joined in 1957. He was listed in the first edition of the Best Lawyers in America (Tax) and also Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Law. Prior to 1957, he served as a lawyer in the Regional Counsel Office of the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta, Georgia, as a Law Clerk to Judge Craig Atkins, of the United States Tax Court, and law firms in Charleston, WV and Dayton, Ohio. In 1982, he was appointed a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice, in Washington, DC, and later that year he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to be a Judge of the United States Tax Court in Washington, DC. In 1992, he was elected by his colleagues on the Court to be Chief Judge until he attained Senior Status in 1996. Judge Hamblen retired from the Court in 1999. During his practice of Law, Judge Hamblen was a member of the Virginia State Bar and the American Bar Association and its Tax Section. He was a former Chairman of the Virginia State Bar Committee on Taxation and the Committee on Co-operation with the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. He was a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Judge Hamblen was a former Co-Director of the Annual Virginia Conference on Taxation at the University of Virginia and was an Emeritus Trustee of the Southern Federal Tax Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to his return to government service, Judge Hamblen was Vice President and assistant Treasurer, and a member of the Board of Directors of Carter Glass and Sons Publishers, Inc., Lynchburg, Virginia and served one year as President of the Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce. He was a founding member of Jefferson National Bank in Lynchburg, VA, which was merged into Virginia National Bank, which now is part of Bank of America. Judge Hamblen was a member of the Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington, DC. He was a member of the National Presbyterian Church and served as a Stephen minister. Judge Hamblen is survived by his wife of 41 years, Claudia Terrell Hamblen of Falls Church, Virginia; and two sons from a previous marriage, James Allen Murdock Hamblen of Lynchburg, Virginia and William Shipley Hamblen of Richmond, Virginia. He was predeceased by his son, Lapsley Walker Hamblen, III in 2011. He is survived by three granddaughters, two grandsons and four great-granddaughters. Interment will take place on September 20, 2012 at 11 a.m. at Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg, VA. A memorial service will be held on October 11, 2012 at 11 a.m. at the National Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the McCallie School, memo line: The Hamblen Fund, 500 Dodds Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37404 or to The University of Virginia Law School Foundation, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903.In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the McCallie School, memo line: The Hamblen Fund, 500 Dodds Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37404 or to The University of Virginia Law School Foundation, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903.

Ihlo and Daly Named DOJ Tax Senior Litigation Counsel (9/3/12)

U.S. Department of Justice
Tax Division
Assistant Attorney General Washington, D. C. 20530

August 15, 2012

MEMORANDUM

To:   Tax Division
From: Kathryn Keneally
         Assistant Attorney General
Subject: Selection of Senior Litigation Counsel

I am pleased to announce that I have selected Jennifer E. Ihlo and Mark F. Daly as Senior Litigation Counsel. Senior Litigation Counsel handle the Tax Division's most challenging and important cases. Please join me in congratulating Jen and Mark, and in thanking them for taking on the additional responsibilities of the position.

Jennifer Ihlo- CATEPS

Jen is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and the South Texas College of Law. She joined the Tax Division as a trial attorney in 1989. Prior to joining the Division, Jen served as an Assistant District Attorney in Beaumont, Texas, and as Assistant Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Since joining the Tax Division, Jen has served as lead counsel in numerous investigations and jury trials, many involving tax defier schemes. Among those cases was United States v. Flowers, et al. (D. Ore.), a multi-defendant case involving the trial of promoters of a fraudulent warehouse banking scheme, for which Jen and her co-counsel received the Department of Justice's John Marshall award. Over the years, Jen has developed tremendous expertise concerning tax defier and domestic terrorism issues and is highly regarded within the Division, Department, and the broader law enforcement community for her leading roles as both a litigator and an educator on those matters. In 1996, her expertise and the importance of those law enforcement issues led to her appointment as Special Counsel for Tax Protest Matters (Criminal) and, in 2008, as National Director of the Tax Defier Initiative.

Mark Daly - Criminal 

Mark is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Duke University School of Law. He joined the Department of Justice in 2002 and the Tax Division in 2006. Prior to joining the Division, he handled complex civil litigation in the Department's Civil Rights Division and in private practice with the well-regarded law firms Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP and Goodwin Proctor LLP. Since joining Tax Division, Mark has successfully handled the investigation and prosecution of numerous complex criminal tax cases. During the past 3 years, he has also taken a leading role in three separate grand jury investigations of major financial institutions involved in schemes to defraud the United States by aiding and assisting U.S. taxpayers to evade their taxes through undeclared offshore bank accounts. In that role, he has been actively engaged in developing overall strategy and managing teams of Tax Division prosecutors and IRS Special Agents, while assisting other prosecutors and investigating agents throughout the country. In 20 I 0, Mark conducted the grand jury investigation and served as lead trial counsel for the first trial arising from the offshore initiative, United States v. Cohen, et al. (S.D. Fla.), which involved a decades-long, $30 million scheme by father and son international hotel developers who evaded taxes through the use of nominees, sham corporations, and offshore bank accounts. After a monthlong trial, both defendants were convicted and later sentenced to ten years imprisonment and millions of dollars in fines and restitution.

I would also like to thank the other applicants. All of the applications reflected strong litigating experience, a dedication to public service, and a superior work ethic. The Tax Division is fortunate to have so many formidable litigators in its ranks.

George Rita Death 7/18/12

George Rita died on 7/18/12.  The obituary is here.

Per the obituary:



After passing the DC Bar Exam in 1950, he practiced criminal, civil and tax law as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and in private practice until he retired in 1989.

* * * *


In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to:
The Trust for Public Land
101 Montgomery Street Suite 900
San Francisco, CA 94104
They may also call: 800-714-5263
Or make a gift on-line at www.tpl.org
Please ask them to make their gift to "The Trust for Public Land" and note that it is in honor of George T. Rita.

David B. Blair and David J. Fischer Join Crowell & Moring (8/18/12)

David B. Blair and David J. Fischer have joined Crowell & Moring.  See Crowell & Moring Press Release:  Crowell & Moring Expands Tax Group With Addition Of Two Tax Controversy And Litigation Partners (7/17/12), here.

Walter Thurmond death

Walter Thurmond died Thursday, May 3, 2012.  I have limited information now, but am informed that

• Visitation will be Monday, May 7, at 6-8pm at Forest Park Westheimer located at 12800 Westheimer right past Dairy Ashford.
• The Memorial service will be Tuesday, May 8, at 11am at the chapel of Houston First Baptist Church located on the south side of the interchange between  I-10 and the Loop 610 West.  Street address is 7401 Katy Freeway.

The Houston Chronicle obituary is here.  I cut and paste the obituary here:

Walter Belden Thurmond Long-time Houston resident Walter Belden Thurmond, a great dad, beloved husband, accomplished tax attorney and lover of life, died May 3 of a sudden heart attack. He was 57.
Walter was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but he spent much of his youth in Weslaco, Texas, and on the beaches of South Padre Island. He was affectionately known as "Wat" to family and many friends.

At Baylor University, he started his list of academic credentials with a B.B.A. in accounting. He also met Kathryn Narum, who became his wife and co-Baylor Bear fan for the next 35 years. Without fail they attended games every year in support of their alma mater. The two brightest lights of his life were his children, Elissa Thurmond Arnold and Timothy Gould Thurmond.

When Elissa began violin lessons, it didn't suffice to simply drop her off with the instructor. He bought a violin of his own and took lessons along-side her in support of their shared passion for music. He immersed himself in classical music and would become the Houston Youth Symphony President, a job that included chaperoning the orchestra to New York City's Carnegie Hall.

When his children took up sports, he simultaneously coached both teams. He was described as the "most fun coach" for his novel and involved efforts in the dugout and on the field. His vocal, inspiring and persistent style led both his children's teams to numerous championships.