Felix Laughlin is a Senior Counsel in Caplin & Drysdale's Washington, D.C., office. He joined the firm in 2012.
Services
Mr. Laughlin advises corporations and international organizations on tax matters, and handles large-case controversies before the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Federal Courts.
Mr. Laughlin has worked extensively as an advocate on behalf of corporate clients in large-case tax disputes with the IRS. He has been the lead tax controversy advisor for a number of major U.S. corporations and has handled some of the most significant tax cases litigated in recent times.
In one such case, Mr. Laughlin's legal team won a victory for the Federal National Mortgage Association in a U.S. Supreme Court case allowing tax-deductible losses on exchanges of mortgage pools having "substantially identical" characteristics, establishing the "hair-trigger" nature of the realization rule in Treasury Regulation section 1.1001-1(a). Cottage Savings & Loan Assoc. v. Commissioner, 111 S. Ct. 1503 (1991).
Mr. Laughlin is recognized as a leader in the field of Tax Law in Best Lawyers in America.
Government Experience
From 1967 to 1971, Mr. Laughlin served in several senior positions in the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service where he had policy and technical responsibility for corporate transactions and tax accounting issues. During this period, he had responsibility for the Corporate Reorganization Branch of the Interpretive Division of the Chief Counsel's Office.
Recent News
- Super Lawyers® Recognizes 22 Caplin & Drysdale Attorneys in D.C., Super Lawyers, April 22, 2019
- 18 Caplin & Drysdale Attorneys Recognized by Super Lawyers in D.C., April 23, 2018
- Caplin & Drysdale Lawyers Listed Among D.C.'s Most Prominent Practitioners, Super Lawyers, April 27, 2017
- Felix Laughlin Speaks to Tax Notes on the Debt-Equity Regs in 1980 and Today, Tax Notes, July 25, 2016
- Super Lawyers Recognizes Caplin & Drysdale Lawyers from Several Practice Areas, Super Lawyers, April 26, 2016
- The Washington Post Quotes Felix Laughlin on Donated 390-Year-Old Bonsai Tree That Survived Atomic Bomb, The Washington Post, August 2, 2015
- Super Lawyers Lists Caplin & Drysdale Lawyers, Caplin & Drysdale, April 23, 2015
- The Washington Post Lists Caplin & Drysdale Attorneys Among the Top Attorneys in D.C., The Washington Post, April 30, 2014
- Tax Directors Handbook Recommends Caplin & Drysdale As A Leading Tax Law Firm, Tax Directors Handbook, December 19, 2013
- The Legal 500 Recommends Caplin & Drysdale As a Leading Firm For 2013, The Legal 500, June 3, 2013
- Super Lawyers Lists Nineteen Caplin & Drysdale Attorneys, Super Lawyers, April 29, 2013
- Caplin & Drysdale Announces Expansion of Tax Practice and Relocation of New York Office, September 20, 2012
Click here for a full list of media coverage.
Recent Publications
- "Paradise Papers: U.S. Citizens and Residents Required to Report on Offshore Assets,"
with Mark D. Allison, J. Clark Armitage, Peter A. Barnes, and Arielle M. Borsos, Caplin & Drysdale Client Alert, November 6, 2017
- "Accounting Methods - Which Retroactive 'Corrections' Require IRS Consent?,"
Tax Lawyer, Vol. 56, No. 101, September 1, 2002
- "The IRS Reorganization: Programs and Initiatives of the New Large Case Division,"
with Mark D. Allison, Administrative Law Review, Vol. 53, No. 2, May 1, 2001
Click here for a full list of publications.