A skilled legal practitioner with over 40 years of experience as a tax attorney and business adviser, Jonathan Brenner counsels businesses and high-net-worth individuals on the most tax-efficient structures for their complex domestic and cross-border transactions. Mr. Brenner brings to his practice a broad and deep understanding of the tax law, as well as the accounting, business, and legal issues that affect his clients' interests.
U.S. and foreign businesses, U.S. citizens, expatriates, and foreign nationals seek his guidance in matters involving structuring operations to minimize effective tax rates, domestic and cross-border fund formation, fund management, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation and real estate, among others. He has extensive experience working with U.K. and Luxembourg tax, corporate and regulatory counsel on issues involving funds and fund management.
Mr. Brenner is listed as a recommended attorney in The Legal 500, a publication that recognizes leading practitioners, assesses the strengths of law firms, and highlights the practice area teams providing the most cutting edge and innovative advice to corporate counsel.
Services
Illustrations of how Mr. Brenner serves his clients include:
- Representing foreign pension funds in their structuring of U.S. real estate investments.
- Restructuring a private equity firm’s investment in foreign mining property to facilitate an IPO.
- Representing U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are considering expatriating.
- Restructuring a troubled worldwide services company and incentivizing management.
- Restructuring foreign and domestic businesses in response to the enactment of the TCJA.
- Structuring the coordinated sale of music publishing rights by a group of foreign and domestic entities.
- Representing principals in establishing, operating, and restructuring hedge fund, LBO, venture capital, and real estate investment partnerships and management companies with respect thereto.
- Serving as outside general counsel and supervising the operations of a family office/captive hedge fund. Overseeing relationships with regulatory counsel, administrators, custodians, auditors, and prime brokers.
- Representing numerous high-level executives, either joining or leaving fund management companies, in substantial executive compensation negotiations.
- Serving as principal advisor to a manufacturing company through three successive LBOs.
- Restructuring U.S. and U.K. management companies for a family of event-driven funds following the retirement of the founding principal.
- Restructuring a manufacturing company to accommodate future acquisitions and incentivize management.
- Recapitalizing the management company for a family of real estate funds to provide for succession planning.
Admissions & Education
Bar & Court Admissions
- New York
- District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. Tax Court
- U.S. Claims Court
Education
LL.M., Taxation, New York University School of Law, 1984
J.D., The University of Michigan Law School, 1980, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
A.B., Hamilton College, 1977
Professional Activities & Affiliations
Professional Activities
Mr. Brenner stays well-versed in the latest developments in his practice area as an active member of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association's Tax Section.
Other Professional Affiliations
Senior Fellow, Melbourne Law School
Member, American Bar Association
Member, New York State Bar Association, Tax Section
