James M. O’Brien has substantive litigation experience with large-case, international and corporate tax litigation. He is recognized among the leading transfer pricing advisers and tax controversy lawyers in International Tax Review, Chambers USA and Legal 500 surveys. Mr. O’Brien also served as chair of the Firm’s North America Tax Practice and the Tax Controversy Subpractice.

Practice Focus

Mr. O’Brien concentrates on international taxation and transfer pricing. In addition to his practice, he has published over 30 articles in US, Japanese and European tax journals, and is the lead author of an 800-page international tax treatise, "US Corporations Doing Business Abroad."

Representative Legal Matters

• First Data Corp. v. Commissioner, T.C. No. 7042-09 (petition filed Mar. 20, 2009)
• Veritas Software Corp. v. Commissioner, 133 T.C. 297 (2009), nonacq'd, A.O.D. 2010-005.
• Microsoft Corp. v. Commissioner, , 311 F.3d 1178 (9^th Cir. 2002), rev’g and rem’g 115 T.C. 228 (2000)
• Compaq Computer Corp. v. Commissioner, 78 T.C.M. (CCH) 20 (1999)
• The Perkin-Elmer Corp. v. Commissioner, 66 T.C.M. (CCH) 634 (1993)
• Union Carbide Corp. v. Commissioner, 110 T.C. 375 (1998)
• Sundstrand Corp. v. Commissioner, 96 T.C. 226 (1991)

Admission

U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit~United States (2001)
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit~United States (1995)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit~United States (1988)
U.S. Court of Federal Claims~United States (1982)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit~United States (1982)
U.S. Tax Court~United States (1982)
Illinois~United States (1981)

Education

Harvard Law School  (J.D. magna cum laude) (1981)
University of Notre Dame  (B.A. summa cum laude) (1978)