Darshan Chulani joined Caplin & Drysdale’s Washington, D.C. office in 2023 as an Associate in the Private Client practice. Prior to joining the firm, he served as Senior Counsel at the Internal Revenue Service in the Office of Chief Counsel.
Services
Mr. Chulani provides comprehensive and personalized tax and estate planning advice to high-net-worth individuals and their families, their closely-held businesses and philanthropic ventures, family offices, and trustees.
Some of Mr. Chulani’s significant previous work has included:
- Drafting multigenerational trusts and family constitutions.
- Crafting structures and entities, including charitable trusts and private foundations, to enact families’ philanthropic goals.
- Establishing and administering private trust companies in the U.S. and offshore.
- Advising trustees of foreign trusts in making tax-efficient distributions to U.S. beneficiaries.
- Structuring U.S. real estate purchases by foreign families through the use of holding companies and qualified domestic trusts (QDOTs).
- Counseling globally mobile families on U.S. pre-immigration planning and expatriation.
- Reorganizing multi-jurisdictional business assets for greater tax efficiency and streamlined succession planning.
Highlights
Mr. Chulani was accepted into Class IV of the Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) in the summer of 2024. The Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute was created by ACTEC Fellows to develop the profession’s future leaders in trust and estate law.
While at the IRS, Mr. Chulani served as Senior Counsel in the Office of Chief Counsel, Passthroughs & Special Industries. He worked closely with the U.S. Treasury Department and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in developing regulations for the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Prior to joining the IRS, he was a private client and tax associate in the London and New York offices of an international law firm. During law school, Mr. Chulani served as Senior Staff on the American University Business Law Review.
Admissions & Education
Bar & Court Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Virginia
Education
LL.M., Taxation, Georgetown University Law Center, 2015
J.D., American University Washington College of Law, 2014, American University Business Law Review
B.A., Old Dominion University, 2011
Languages
- Mr. Chulani is proficient in French and conversant in Hindi and Sindhi.
Government Service
Senior Counsel, IRS, Passthroughs & Special Industries, 2019-2023
Professional Activities & Affiliations
Professional Activities
Participant, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute, 2024-2025
Member, South Asian Bar Association of Washington, D.C.
Member, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
