(L to R) Vivian Hoard, Gerika Kelly, Ashley Swan and Brian Gardner of Fox Rothschild in Atlanta. Courtesy photo

Fox Rothschild has recruited a four-lawyer tax controversy team in Atlanta led by partner Vivian Hoard from Taylor English Duma.

Three associates joined with Hoard: Brian Gardner, Gerika Kelly and Ashley Swan.

Hoard said in an interview that she moved to Fox Rothschild after 11 years at Taylor English because increased IRS enforcement activity, particularly over tax deductions for conservation easements, has made her practice busier, and so she needed more support. Hoard represents taxpayers in both civil and criminal tax controversy matters, which she said are mostly before the U.S. Tax Court or federal district courts.

"The IRS is in a very aggressive phase," Hoard said, adding that the agency's enforcement activity tends to be cyclical.

Hoard chose Fox because the Philadelphia-based firm has an established national tax controversy practice in offices including California, where she has cases, and serves a predominantly middle-market clientele, which aligns with her client base.

"Since they target the middle market, my rates are still lower than my competitors," she said, adding that her clients include high-net-worth individuals, families, business partnerships and corporations.

"I came to Fox so I can staff the cases, but not overstaff them, so I can service clients thoroughly but cost-effectively," Hoard said, explaining that joining Fox Rothschild meant she could get the additional lawyers she needs now for her practice without risking bringing on too many associates. "Now I have lawyers in other markets with tax backgrounds who can help."

The addition of Hoard and her team, who joined earlier this month, fits Fox Rothschild's lateral recruitment strategy. The Am Law 200 firm gained an Atlanta office in November 2018 from a merger with Smith Moore Leatherwood that expanded its footprint to the Southeast.

Fox Rothschild is seeking lawyers, particularly from smaller firms, whose client base has expanded beyond their local market and can benefit from a national firm, its firmwide managing partner, Mark Morris, told the Daily Report in January. At that time the firm added four Atlanta lawyers by acquiring a local business law boutique, Kaufman & Forman.

Morris said in January that the Atlanta office is one of Fox Rothschild's top growth targets among the offices it gained from Smith Moore Leatherwood, with an initial goal of expanding the office to between 25 and 30 lawyers.

With Hoard and her team, Fox Rothschild has 25 lawyers in Atlanta. Overall the firm has about 900 lawyers in 27 offices.

"The addition of Vivian and her talented team will complement and enhance the services we provide clients in this important region," Morris said in a statement. "Her group has a wealth of experience in high-profile, complex civil and criminal tax controversy matters, strengthening the firm's taxation and wealth planning department and continuing our strategic growth in the Atlanta market."

Hoard handles a wide range of tax controversy work. It was enough to keep three associates busy, she said, but then she started getting more cases involving IRS actions over tax deductions for conservation easements and small captive insurance companies—two areas where the IRS has been particularly active.

Hoard said the IRS is challenging all tax deductions from conservation easements, noting she has a lot of cases for clients that own land on the Georgia coast, which has become very valuable.

The landowner can gain a tax deduction in exchange for agreeing not to further develop the land by assigning a conservation easement to the government or a land trust. To assess the deduction, the land is valued according to its highest and best use.

That's where the IRS disputes are occurring, Hoard said, explaining that the agency is challenging properties' appraised value on the theory that they are overvalued and thus that the ensuing tax deduction is too large.

"There is nothing wrong with a legitimately structured conservation easement that's valued appropriately," Hoard said. "But the tax court has not found any like that. The IRS is challenging all of them."

She added that the IRS is challenging syndicated easements in particular, where a partnership—which could be made up of family members—owns the land, and the partnership receives the easement.