Wood LLP Origin, Founder, Members, Practice Areas, and Business Biography

Bio/Wiki
Place of Origin	San Francisco, California, United States
Year of Origin	1993
Former Name	Wood & Porter
Business
Type of Organisation	Private law firm and limited liability partnership
Area of work	Tax Law
Founder & Managing Partner	Robert W. Wood, an American tax lawyer, known for his work on tax issues related to legal settlements and judgments
Number of Attorneys	Seven
Members	Robert W. Wood — Founder and Managing Partner • Education: A.B. in English from Humboldt State University in 1976; J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979. • Experience: Tax planning, tax disputes, expert testimony, and tax publications. • Qualifications: Admitted in California, New York, the District of Columbia, Montana, Washington, Arizona, Texas, and Wyoming; also qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales. • Special focus: Taxation of legal settlements, judgments, and other complex tax matters. Donald P. Board — Partner • Education: A.B. from Harvard University in 1978; J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1983, graduating magna cum laude; LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University in 2000. • Worked as a clerk for Judge Henry Friendly, spent 15 years at a global law firm, and previously taught at Boston University School of Law. • Special focus: Mergers and acquisitions, tax law, and litigation funding. • Bar admission: Massachusetts • Senior Counsel Alex Z. Brown — Partner • Education: Studied Political Science at Texas A&M University, graduating summa cum laude in 2006. Earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago in 2009. • Served as a tax lawyer in Houston, focusing on the energy sector and master limited partnerships (MLPs). • Special focus: Tax disputes with the IRS, including cases involving more than $100 million. • Bar admissions listed in one report: Texas in 2009, California in 2015, Maryland in 2020, and the District of Columbia in 2021. Colette J. Karam — Of Counsel • Education: Attended DePaul University in 2003 and earned her J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Illinois Chicago's John Marshall Law School in 2006. • Experience: More than 15 years of work in tax disputes. • Served as a tax controversy specialist at a Big Four accounting firm. • Bar admissions: Illinois in 2006 and California in 2010. Jeffrey T. Wax — Of Counsel • Education: Earned his J.D. from McGeorge School of Law. The document does not establish his undergraduate institution. • Experience: Has worked in tax disputes for about four decades. • Led the Western Region tax controversy practice at a Big Four accounting firm. • Bar information: California Bar number 104119; one report lists a Nebraska licence as inactive. • Serves on the board of the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. Tenzing N. Tunden — Senior Associate • Education: B.S. in 2012, J.D. from the University of California, Davis, in 2018; LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 2019. • Bar admission: California in 2019. • Special focus: Tax opinions involving legal settlements, litigation funding, Qualified Small Business Stock, and cross-border transactions. • Served at Weintraub Tobin. Daniel J. Krumbein — Associate • Education: B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2004 and J.D. from UC Hastings in 2018. • Served as a surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy and later worked in state and local tax matters at a Big Four accounting firm. • Bar admission: California in 2020.
Legal Assistants	Two
Practice Areas	• Tax audits, disputes, and litigation • Federal, state, and international tax advice • Cryptocurrency tax matters • California and state taxation • IRS compliance and tax collection • Business sales, mergers, and acquisitions • Legal representation for company founders • Partnerships, LLCs, LLPs, and S corporations • Tax-exempt and nonprofit organisations • Independent contractor disputes • Federal tax crimes • Litigation funding
Logo
Awards, Honours, & Achievements	• Best Lawyers in America: Listed for tax law in editions (2006 to 2026) • Chambers USA Spotlight — Tax, San Francisco (2026) • Best Law Firms (2026) • Listed in the California Guide for 2025 and 2026 • Listed Super Lawyers from 2005 to 2025 • Frank I. Haswell Award (2023) • Best Lawyers' Lawyer of the Year (2015) • Judson Klein Award • Robert W. Wood has received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell • Named among America’s Best Lawyers by Forbes Magazine • The U.S. Tax Court has described Wood as a nationally renowned expert on the taxation of legal awards. • Wood was named among the top six tax lawyers and received a "Best of Class" distinction • Wood has been included in many listings, such as Who's Who in America, American Law, California, the World, and the West • The U.S. Tax Court described Wood as a nationally renowned expert on the taxation of legal awards • TaxProf Blog called him the "Section 104 guru" • Tax Notes described him as a leading authority for tax practitioners • Former IRS Commissioner Lawrence B. Gibbs praised Wood's work
Social Media	• Official Website • LinkedIn • YouTube
Contact	• Telephone: 415-834-1800 • Fax Number: 415-789-4540 • Robert W. Wood: 415-834-0113 • Donald P. Board: 415-834-0309 • Email(s): [email protected], [email protected]
Address	333, Sacramento Street, San Francisco, California, 94111-3601
Business Hours	Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Some Lesser Known Facts About WoodLLP

Wood LLP is a private law firm based in San Francisco, California, United States.

It focuses on tax law.

It provides legal services to clients in the United States and other countries too.

The firm was founded by Robert W. Wood, who works as its managing partner.

Robert W. Wood completed his law education from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979.

He then received his California law licence in 1980.

In 1989, Robert W. Wood started working as a member of the Taxation Law Advisory Commission of the California Board of Legal Specialization. He served in the position till 1992. He chaired the commission from 1991 to 1992.
From 1991 to 1992, he served as Co-Chairman of the Corporate Tax Committee of the California State Bar Tax Section.
He then served on the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California’s General and Solo Practice Section from 1994 to 1995.
In 2000, he started working on the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California Taxation Section. He served in the position till 2003.
From 2002 to 2003, he served as Vice Chairman of the Taxation Section of the State Bar of California.
Robert W. Wood then served as a teacher at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, from 1981 to 1982.
In 2004, he was appointed as an adjunct professor in the LL.M. programme at Golden Gate University School of Law.
He served on the planning committees for Tax Planning Conferences for Closely Held Corporations in 1988, 1989, and 1990.
In 1990, he started working on the planning committees for the S Corporations Conference. He served in the position till 1993.
In 1991, he was appointed as Chairman of the S Corporations Conference.
In 1994, he joined the planning committee for the Tax Disputes Conference.
In 2000, Robert W. Wood contributed to Legal Checklists, which were published by West Group and published by Callaghan.
He then contributed to California Torts, published by Matthew Bender, in 1999.
After that, he contributed to the Modern Trust Forms.
In 1997, he was appointed as a consultant for the second edition of Wrongful Employment Termination Practice, which was published by CEB.
After that, Robert W. Wood participated in the Mentor Program of the General and Solo Practice Section of the State Bar of California.
He then participated in delegations to Washington, D.C., organised by the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the California Bar Association Tax Section in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
He is known for being a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, an organisation for leading tax lawyers in the United States.
He is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales, member of the Canadian Bar Association, member of the Law Council of Australia, Certified Tax Specialist in California, and a qualified solicitor in England and Wales.

Some legal and tax publications released under his guidance includes, Journal of Corporate Taxation, published by WG&L, from 1985 to 1989, Corporate Taxation, published by Faulkner & Gray, from 1988 to 1992, Bankruptcy Law Review, published by Faulkner & Gray in 1992, and The Practical Accountant, published by Faulkner & Gray, from 1993 to 2009.

Robert W. Wood has also served as Editor-in-Chief of The M&A Tax Report, published by CCH, from 1992 to 2019.

In 2012, he started working on the Bloomberg BNA Real Estate Advisory Board. He served in the position till 2014.

Wood and his firm has published many books, such as Taxation of Damage Awards and Settlement Payments (1991), Qualified Settlement Funds and Section 468B (2009), Legal Guide to Independent Contractor Status (2010), and Tax Aspects of Settlements and Judgments.
The cover of a book by Robert W. Wood

Robert W. Wood’s tax articles are available on Forbes.com in an archive covering 2009 to 2026.

Wood, along with Donald P. Board and Alex Z. Brown, regularly writes articles for Tax Notes Federal and State. Their 2025 articles covered topics such as extra tax payments on litigation funding and tax issues related to wildfire disaster declarations.

The Daily Journal has published Wood’s tax columns in its San Francisco and Los Angeles editions from 1992 to 2026.

The articles of Wood LLP have also been published in Business Law Today.

Cointelegraph and crypto.news often publish their articles on cryptocurrency-related topics, including tax matters.

Tenzing N. Tunden published a series of articles about federal tax law on JD Supra in 2025.
A snip of an article by Robert W. Wood

Robert W. Wood has been quoted by many news organisations.

He has also appeared on various radio, television, podcasts, and other media programmes to discuss tax matters. These news outlets include The Wall Street Journal, CNN, U.S. News, CBS Money Watch, Barron’s, International Tax Review, NPR Marketplace, and Fox News.

Robert W. Wood (right) on the Fox News

He has appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live (August 2023), KNX News (February 2024), Comedy Central’s The Daily Show (19 April 2024), Wealth Formula podcast (October 2025), and Unpacking the Billionaire Tax series (August 2026), published by the Daily Journal.
Robert W. Wood (left) on The Daily Show

Robert W. Wood has delivered many speeches, such as at ABA Virtual Fall Tax Meeting (October 2025), San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (December 2025), American Academy of Attorney-CPAs and the National Employment Lawyers Association (June 2026).
An old picture of Robert W. Wood while delivering a lecture

Wood LLP began operating in San Francisco in 1993 under the name Wood & Porter.

It treats tax on money received through legal settlements and court judgments.

It also helps individuals, businesses, investors, company founders, and public and private companies in tax planning, business transactions, tax disputes, and legal cases.

The firm has seven attorneys, which includes three partners, two lawyers serving as of counsel, and two associates. It also has two legal assistants named Mina Schultz and Carson G. Trai.

Apart from English, Wood LLP also deals in French, German, Korean, and Spanish.

The firm works with a popular publisher named Tax Institute that publishes tax books written by Robert W. Wood.

The firm aims to provide the knowledge and experience of a large law firm’s tax department and maintains a smaller, more personal working style.

From 2006 to January 2011, the articles published by the lawyers of the firm used the company name Wood & Porter and the website woodporter.com.

In July 2011, the firm’s articles began using the name Wood LLP and the website WoodLLP.com.

Dashiell Shapiro is listed as a former tax partner of Wood LLP. He left the firm in January 2019 to join Shartsis Friese LLP. He is a former trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division. The other former partners include Jonathan Van Loo and Henry K. Chen.

In 2025 and 2026, the firm was listed in the Chambers Spotlight California.

On 21 April 2026, a small law firm in West Hollywood sued Robert W. Wood and Wood LLP in a California state court. According to the report, the plaintiff firm was formed to represent victims of sexual abuse on the UCLA campus.

The case reportedly accused Wood and his firm of professional negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The claim alleged that faulty advice caused a loss of $2 million in interest.

Wood LLP deals in two main areas.

Transactional and Tax Opinion Group

Wood LLP prepares written tax advice and letters which explains tax returns and other tax-related questions.

It writes many tax opinions every year on U.S. federal, state, and international tax matters.

It explains how to tax the money received from a legal settlement. It also advices its clients whether this tax would be treated as regular income or profit from selling an asset.

Wood LLP helps its clients in understanding how much tax should be deducted from payments. It also advices its clients whether they need to report these taxes on Form 1099.

It handles tax questions based on litigation funding, Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), tax residency, and domicile.

It also works with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to request formal tax rulings.

Tax Controversy Group

This group helps clients in responding to tax audits and resolve disputes with the IRS and California tax authorities.

Its cases range from simple audits to complex audits sometimes called “eggshell audits,” where the facts may create a risk of criminal investigation.

It helps taxpayers challenge audit findings through appeals.

Wood LLP represents clients before the California Office of Tax Appeals, the U.S. Tax Court, federal District Courts, and appellate courts.

It handles federal and state disputes based on income tax, gift tax, excise tax, sales tax, property tax, and other tax matters.

It includes cases involving criminal tax investigations and other serious tax problems.

The Firm’s 17 Practice Areas

Tax on legal settlements and judgments: It advises plaintiffs, defendants, and lawyers before and after a legal settlement to explain its tax effects.

Tax audits, disputes, and litigation: It represents clients in federal and state tax disputes throughout the United States.

It prepares formal tax advice and requests official tax rulings from the IRS.

It provides advice on federal, state, and international taxes, which includes income, estate, gift, excise, and exit taxes.

It also advises on state income, franchise, sales, and property taxes. It helps foreign individuals and businesses in understanding U.S. tax laws.

It helps individuals and companies in managing their taxes on investment funds and cryptocurrency exchanges . It also helps them in fixing their past tax-reporting issues.

It helps its clients in understanding their California and other state tax matters, such as if they want to move out of California, residency audits, dividing income between states, and taxes on business deals.

Robert W. Wood can provide an expert advice or testify in court in civil cases, class-action lawsuits, and professional negligence cases.

He can also provide guidance for disputes over whether workers are employees or independent contractors.

It helps buyers and sellers in planning their taxes while buying, selling, or merging businesses. It also advises them on tax terms in business agreements.

It helps the founders of new comapnies in choosing the right business structure, plan employee share benefits, how to raise funds, and how to prepare while selling their company or make it public through an initial public offering (IPO).

It helps set up and manage settlement funds under Section 468B of U.S. tax law.

Wood LLP provides tax advice to real estate businesses and professional firms on investment funds.

It advises on tax-exempt status, private benefits to insiders, limits on lobbying, and income earned from business activities unrelated to an organisation’s main purpose.

It advises on worker classification, tax audits, and expert testimony in disputes about whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

It handles legal matters based on criminal tax investigations and grand jury proceedings.

It helps clients in protecting their wealth and plan how it will be managed or passed on, particularly owners of closely held businesses.

Wood LLP advises funding companies, plaintiffs, and law firms in the U.S. and other countries on money used to support legal cases.