Bio

Michael J. Grace is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Corporate Practice. Both a lawyer and a certified public accountant (CPA), Michael focuses on tax law. For decades he has helped clients pay the legally required minimum amount of federal, state, and local taxes in a broad range of transactions, tax controversies, tax planning, structuring, and restructuring matters. By representing clients and serving in government, Michael has attained a reputation for leading expertise on the taxation of passthrough entities (including limited liability companies, partnerships, and S corporations) and their owners. At the IRS Office of Chief Counsel (National Office) in Washington, DC, Michael played a significant role legislatively developing and administratively interpreting the Passive Activity Limitations and associated rules in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 attacking abusive tax shelters. Besides offering expertise in partnership taxation, Michael is equally facile with taxation of corporations. He routinely structures transactions using combinations of corporations, passthrough entities, and tax-disregarded entities. Michael's expertise does not stop at the water’s edge of the United States. He has represented both US persons seeking to expand or invest overseas ("outbound" transactions) and non-US persons seeking to expand or invest in the United States ("inbound" transactions). Michael also has advised clients on structuring various forms of non-cash equity compensation including incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, and capital and profits interests in partnerships and limited liability companies. Active throughout his legal career in the American Bar Association Section of Taxation, Michael once chaired its Real Estate Committee. He has presented at significant tax conferences and published in preeminent tax publications including the Journal of Taxation, Bloomberg BNA, Tax Analysts, and Wolters Kluwer (CCH). Education: University of Michigan Law School Juris Doctor, 1981, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - College of Business Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, 1976.