Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Gary P. Kaplan and William J. Needle are joining the firm’s Tax practice in the San Francisco office. Mr. Kaplan is joining as a partner and Mr. Needle is joining as counsel.

“Both Gary and Will are highly respected tax lawyers in the Bay Area,” said Sharon R. Flanagan, Managing Partner of Sidley’s San Francisco office. “Gary’s experience in addressing international tax issues will be of tremendous value to our U.S. and international clients.”

Mr. Kaplan focuses his practice on international tax and business transactions. He represents U.S. and international clients in connection with cross-border mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic relationships. He regularly provides advice regarding structures for conducting global business and investment activities, establishing foreign holding companies, representative offices, branches and subsidiaries, forming offshore funds, international transfers of assets including intellectual property, and specifically on issues such as Subpart F and passive foreign investment companies, tax treaties, FIRPTA, foreign tax credits, buy-ins and cost-sharing arrangements and transfer pricing.

“I am very excited to be joining Sidley,” said Mr. Kaplan. “I was drawn to Sidley’s outstanding global platform which is an ideal fit for my international tax practice. I was impressed that Sidley has been in Asia for 30 years, demonstrating their leadership in that important region of the world. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to further expand our tax practice locally and internationally.”

Mr. Kaplan was ranked in the 2011 edition of Chambers USA as a leading practitioner of tax law. He is currently listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of tax law. Mr. Kaplan taught for many years as an adjunct professor in the graduate tax program at New York University School of Law and has served as a guest lecturer in tax at Stanford Law School. He received his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law, his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A. from the University of Florida.

Mr. Needle is engaged in a broad-based tax practice involving all aspects of federal taxation. He advises corporate and individual clients on a wide variety of issues arising in the course of international tax planning, corporate transactions, compensation arrangements, wealth transfer planning, and tax audit and controversy work. His practice also includes state income and sales tax. He received his J.D., from Stanford Law School and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world’s premier full-service law firms, with approximately 1700 lawyers practicing in 18 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. This year, Sidley celebrates 30 years in Asia. Repeating its performance in the inaugural 2010 survey, Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings of any U.S. law firm in the 2011/12 U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” survey. Sidley was also named the U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Law Firm of the Year” in both Corporate Law and Securities Regulation in the 2011/12 survey (the first year of such designations). BTI, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, has named Sidley as one of only three firms to have been in the top ten of the BTI Client Service rankings every year since the inception of those rankings in 2001, and as number one in three of those years.

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