
William R. Christian
Bill Christian joined the firm as a principal in 1989. Bill has worked for many years
serving as a legal adviser for small businesses and individuals throughout the State
of California, and has significant experience in personal estate planning, including
business succession planning, entity selection and governance, planning to minimize
taxes and related areas that significantly impact individuals and small
businesses.
He is known in the legal field as a tax attorney with a broad
range of experience in all areas of individual, corporate, partnership, estate tax
planning and tax controversy work. His practice has placed particular emphasis on
effective planning through entity selection, discount and liability planning,
business, estate and corporate tax and business planning and individual tax planning
matters. His client base includes a substantial number of individuals and closely
held businesses. Specific areas of extensive expertise include: estate planning,
wills, trusts and gift tax planning; probate; Subchapter S, partnership and LLC
taxation and structure, corporate and partnership acquisitions, sales, structure and
planning; reorganizations and recapitalizations; real estate (primarily
acquisitions, exchanges, leasing, risk and liability planning). His own description
is more concise: "I'm a small business and individual problem
solver."
Bill is author of Subchapter S Taxation, published by
Warren, Gorham & Lamont. He is a frequent lecturer in tax law, having lectured
at the University of Southern California, the University of California at Los
Angeles, Golden Gate University, California State University at Northridge and
California State University at Fullerton. He is also a frequent speaker at
accounting, legal and professional associations.
Bill has five children
and spends time off from work with his children racing Mazda Miata sports cars with
the Sports Car Club of America.
Areas of Practice
- Business & Commercial Law
- Securities Law
- Taxation Law
- Estate Planning
- Real Estate Law
Certified Legal Specialties
- Certified Public Accountant, 1971
- Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate
Bar Admissions
- California, 1974
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
Education
- University of California, Hastings College of the
Law, San Francisco, California
- J.D. - 1973
- Honors: Order of the Coif
- Law Journal: Hastings Law Journal, Member, 1971 - 1972
- Law Journal: Hastings Law Journal, Associate Editor, 1972 - 1973
-
California State University, Fullerton,
California
- B.A. - 1970
Published Works
- Subchapter S. Taxation , Shepard's McGraw-Hill, 4th Ed., 1998
- Recent Developments in S Corporation Taxation, (Co-Author), 48th USC Ann. Instit. on Fed. Tax, Chapter 5, 1996
Classes/Seminars
- Lecturer, University of California at Los Angeles, 1979
- Lecturer, Golden Gate University Masters in Tax Program, 1985 - 1990
- Lecturer, CEB and AICPA programs
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Los Angeles County Bar Association, Member, Executive Committee, Section of Taxation
- American Bar Association, Member, Subcommittee on S Corporations
- State Bar of California, Member
Past Employment Positions
- Hufstedler, Miller, Kaus & Beardsly, 1983 - 1990
- Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz, 1980 - 1983
- Willis, Butler, Scheifly, Leydorf & Grant