Shareholder David Shechtman and Counsel Matthew Meltzer have joined Flaster Greenberg as tax attorneys in its Business and Corporate Law Practice Group which includes the tax, mergers and acquisition, trust and estates, and healthcare practice areas.
The attorneys will be headquartered in the firm’s Conshohocken, PA, office, primarily focusing their practice on helping clients navigate the tax aspects of business operations and transactions with a particular emphasis on like-kind exchanges of real estate where they are recognized as leading national professionals. The pair also advises clients on qualified opportunity fund investments and handle administrative appeals of federal, state, and local tax disputes.
Shechtman and Meltzer were previously a partner and an associate, respectively, at Faegre Drinker in Philadelphia.
“The Corporate Department at Flaster Greenberg is the largest department at the firm and is at the core of what we do. We are excited for David and Matt to join our deep bench of talented tax and business law attorneys. With their addition, the firm can enhance the growth of our practice in Pennsylvania,” said Shareholder Tami Bogutz Steinberg, chair of the Business & Corporate Department. “Their sophisticated tax practice, together with their extensive client roster, will enhance and complement our department’s skillset. Plus, the additional of a nationally-renown expert like David on like-kind exchanges and structured settlements will enrich the sophistication and breadth of services we can offer our clients.”
Shechtman brings more than 40 years of tax and business experience to the firm. He has extensive experience ensuring LLCs, partnerships, and corporations comply with federal, state, and local tax laws and structure their business operations and transactions in a tax efficient manner. He is also nationally recognized for being knowledgeable about tax consequences of litigation settlements and has obtained two of the most significant recent private letter rulings from the IRS on structured settlements.
As part of his national like-kind exchange practice Shechtman has structured and documented exchanges for major oil and gas, telecommunications, and transportation companies, as well as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other real estate owners and investors. His forms of exchange documents are widely used in the industry, and he has served as an expert witness in several lawsuits involving like-kind exchange issues.
David is a thought leader on these exchanges and other tax topics and has been quoted frequently on tax issues in the Wall Street Journal and other business publications. Since 1995, he has spoken at every national conference on advanced like-kind exchange issues sponsored by the Center for Professional Seminars. In addition, he is a regular speaker at conferences sponsored by the ABA Tax Section, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI), and the NYU and USC Institutes on Federal Taxation. He also has authored dozens of articles for leading tax journals.
Shechtman received his Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College and his Juris Doctor from Cornell School of Law. He also served as an adjunct professor of tax law at Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Shechtman adds, “Matt and I are eager to join Flaster Greenberg’s reputable and growing business and tax practice groups. The mid-sized firm, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, started as a tax boutique. We’re proud to bring our experience to the firm and continue that legacy. We’re also excited to join a top-notch team. The 22 corporate attorneys are successful and well-known in their industry, so we are eager to add our skillset to their services and help the firm continue to meet the ever-changing needs of their clients. We hope to continue and expand our like-kind exchanges practice and look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues on a wide breadth of tax issues arising in their practice.”
Meltzer’s experience includes helping clients successfully navigate the tax challenges that confront their businesses. He regularly advises them in transactional tax matters, including like-kind exchanges of real estate under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, mergers and acquisitions involving public and privately held businesses, business reorganizations (both in anticipation of a strategic transaction and otherwise) and split-ups, and joint ventures. He also represents clients in tax controversy matters before state agencies and courts and assists clients in negotiating voluntary disclosure arrangements with state revenue authorities. In his like-kind exchange practice, Matt’s experience is similarly diverse: he assists family partnerships selling a single property and regularly works with a publicly traded REIT that buys and sells portfolios of properties in the nine figures.
Meltzer received his Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College and his Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University School of Law.
ABOUT FLASTER GREENBERG PC: Flaster Greenberg, a midsize business law firm with offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and in Florida, has been providing legal services to publicly traded corporations, privately held and family owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals for 50 years. With locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Florida, Flaster Greenberg serves a broad range of clients in dozens of industries and practice areas including aviation law, bankruptcy, business & corporate, cannabis, commercial litigation, elder & disability law, environmental, family law, gaming, healthcare, insurance recovery, intellectual property, labor and employment, real estate, taxation and trusts and estates. For more news, follow us on Twitter @Flaster or visit our website at www.flastergreenberg.com.
