(Back...)
Ben Berk is a director with the firm and a member of the Tax Strategies & Planning Group. Mr. Berk is engaged in a broadly based tax practice, including partnership and limited liability company taxation, mergers and acquisitions, equity compensation and international taxation.

Areas of expertise include drafting and structuring partnership and limited liability company agreements, with an emphasis on private equity (including real estate) funds and hedge funds; structuring equity compensation arrangements, including profits interests; advising on unrelated business taxable income; inbound foreign tax planning; and blocker structures.

His representative clients include the Regents of the University of California, The Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, MLC Limited (a subsidiary of National Australia Bank) and Manitoba Hydro Utility.

Mr. Berk is co-author of "California Limited Liability Company Forms and Practice Manual," the first book on California limited liability companies. He is also a frequent lecturer on limited liability companies and related tax matters.

Education

  • LL.M., New York University School of Law, 1981
  • J.D., University of California Hastings College of the Law, 1980
  • B.A., University of California, Los Angeles (magna cum laude), 1977

Admitted

  • California

Memberships

  • State Bar of California, International Tax Committee
  • American Bar Association, member of Section on Taxation, Committee on United States Activities of Foreigners and Tax Treaties; former co-chair of Committee on Tax Treaties
  • Golden Gate University LL.M. program, former adjunct professor of international tax

Selected Publications

  • “Update On Congress's Threat To Increase Tax Rate On Carried Interest Earned By General Partners Of Private Equity, Real Estate And Hedge Funds,” Co-Author, Real Estate Finance Journal (Winter 2008)
  • "California Limited Liability Company Forms and Practice Manual," co-author, Data Trace Legal Publishing Inc. (December 1994)

Selected Presentations

  • "How to Optimize Value in Secondary Markets for Angel-Held Equities," Angel Capital Association (ACA) Summit (2010)
  • "Private Equity Secondary Transactions" The Business Law Section of The Bar Association of San Francisco (2010)
  • “Legal Considerations in the Secondary Market,” The Private Equity Secondaries Conference (2009)
  • "LLCs: Advanced Planning And Latest Trends," Lorman Education Services (2009)
  • "Ethics and Investing in a Post Madoff Environment," Jewish Community Federation: Business Leadership Council (2009)
  • "Managing UBTI and ECI in Private Equity Funds," The Institute for International Research, Fifth Annual West Coast Program for Venture Capital & Private Equity Tax Practices, San Francisco, CA (2006)

Awards & Honors

Mr. Berk was recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer from 2004 through 2010.  He is also an AV-rated attorney, a peer-awarded honor given by Martindale-Hubbell.