Deborah A. Butler is the Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure and Administration). In this position, Ms. Butler oversees a staff of approximately 200, including executives, attorneys, managers, paralegals, and other employees within the Office, who provide legal services to the IRS, other components of the Chief Counsel’s office, other government agencies, and the public in the areas of federal tax procedure and administration. The responsibilities of this office include matters relating to the reporting and payment of taxes; assessment and collection of taxes; the abatement, credit or refund of over-assessments or overpayments of taxes; the filing of information returns; bankruptcy; disclosure; FOIA; privacy law; litigation sanctions; judicial doctrines; ethics; and liaison with the courts.
Ms. Butler began her career with Chief Counsel in 1977 as a Trial Attorney in the former Southwest Region practicing mainly tax litigation in the Tax Court. In 1986, she was selected as a Special Trial Attorney in the former Southwest Region (later the Midstates Region) and was responsible for the litigation of the most complex and sensitive cases handled by Chief Counsel in the Tax Court. In 1995, Ms. Butler also assumed responsibilities as the acting Assistant Regional Counsel for Tax Litigation and later as the acting Assistant Regional Counsel for General Litigation (Midstates Region). In 1996, Ms. Butler was appointed to the Senior Executive Service as Assistant Chief Counsel (Field Service). Ms. Butler assumed her current responsibilities in July 2000 upon the reorganization of the Office of Chief Counsel.
Ms. Butler is a frequent speaker on matters involving tax litigation and judicial practice, ethics, and IRS Collection issues. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Tax Section (Court Procedure & Practice and Administrative Practice Committees) and the Inns of Court for the Tax Court.
Michael J. Desmond is the Tax Legislative Counsel in the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy, responsible for providing the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) with legal advice and analysis on a broad range of issues relating to the domestic Federal tax law. As Tax Legislative Counsel, Mr. Desmond develops and reviews policy, legislation, regulations and other published guidance dealing with all non-benefits aspects of the domestic Federal tax law. In addition, Mr. Desmond prepares testimony and appears before Congress to deliver and explain the Administration’s position on domestic Federal tax legislation, and assists Congressional staff in drafting legislation.
Prior to joining the Office of Tax Policy, Mr. Desmond was a partner at McKee Nelson LLP in Washington, D.C., where his practice focused on large case tax litigation and tax controversy matters. Before joining McKee Nelson, Mr. Desmond was a trial lawyer with the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Mr. Desmond is an active member of the ABA’s Tax Section and the former Chair of the Tax Audits and Litigation Committee of the Taxation Section of the D.C. Bar. He is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law School. Mr. Desmond is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the California Bar.
Rochelle Hodes is a Managing Director in the National Tax Quality & Risk Management group at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) located in Washington D.C. Ms. Hodes is responsible for advising and training PwC’s tax professionals on practice before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), AICPA tax practice standards, and federal tax practice and procedure. She specializes in tax ethics and federal tax administrative provisions.
Prior to joining PwC in 2006, Ms. Hodes was a Senior Manager in Ernst & Young’s Tax Quality & Risk Management group for five years. From 1988 to 2000, Ms. Hodes was in the Office of Chief Counsel at the IRS. In her most recent position as a Senior Technician Reviewer, she had primary responsibility for reviewing regulations and other IRS internal and external guidance relating to income tax and tax practice and procedure, including Circular 230, penalties, filing tax returns, payment of tax, and general income tax.
Ms. Hodes is co-chair of the Important Developments Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Section on Taxation Committee on Administrative Practice, and has chaired or participated in a number of Section task forces. She also serves on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Committee on Tax Practice and Procedures, the IRS/AICPA Software Providers E-File Working Group, and the AICPA’s section 6694 task force. In addition, Ms. Hodes has served as a member of the IRS Special Enrollment Examination Advisory Committee.
Fred F. Murray is the Director of Tax Practice Policy and Quality in the Washington, DC office of Grant Thornton LLP. His experience includes public law and accounting practice, government service as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division at the Department of Justice and as Special Counsel at the Internal Revenue Service, as well as service as Vice President for Tax Policy at the National Foreign Trade Council and General Counsel and Director of Tax Affairs at the Tax Executives Institute. He has served as Advisor to the International Tax Working Group of the United States Senate Finance Committee.
Mr. Murray was Chair of the Committee of Formation of Tax Policy for the American Bar Association Tax Section, and is an incoming Vice-Chair of its Administrative Practice Committee, and member of its Government Relations and technical international taxation and Government Submissions committees. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the American Tax Policy Institute, a prior Chair of the Federal Bar Association Tax Section, and a former member of the Commissioner’s Advisory Council, Department of Taxation and Finance, State of New York. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and a member of the Bureau of National Affairs Tax Management Advisory Board.
Mr. Murray serves as an adjunct member of the faculty at Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches courses on international taxation and accounting for income taxes, Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, and other issues for corporate tax advisors. He also lectures at the New York University School of Law. Previously, Fred Murray was also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, and the University of Houston Law Center. In addition, he is an author and speaker on taxation and tax controversies, accounting and financial reporting, business and corporate governance, international and property law matters in more than 175 books, publications and programs published or conducted by various organizations in the United States and other countries.
Phillip A. Pillar is a Shareholder in the Philadelphia, PA office of Greenberg Traurig LLP where his practice concentrates on representing and advising clients in federal, state and international tax issues before tax authorities and courts. Phil has successfully negotiated sophisticated tax problems for clients. Phil’s cases include precedent-setting decisions in the taxation of insurance companies (Atlantic Mutual), financial institutions (Signet Bank), and the transportation and manufacturing industries (Norfolk Southern). He also tried numerous estate tax valuation matters and was involved in other notable reported cases. He possesses extensive experience in federal tax alternative dispute resolution procedures, including mediation and arbitration.
Mr. Pillar has also counseled many companies, from Fortune 1000 to privately held, on managing their tax risk, particularly after the changes wrought by the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. He is experienced in the fields of reportable transactions compliance and tax transparency, and he knows how tax issues in transactions and structures may be scrutinized. Recently, Phil has counseled clients and addressed tax professionals on the effects of greater transparency in tax disclosures under FIN 48 and tax reporting rules changes.
