A deep and diverse practice focused on maximizing tax efficiencies and minimizing tax risks for clients nationally and internationally.

We provide legal insight and practical solutions for one of the most complex and highly regulated areas of business.

With a team of lawyers recognized nationally as leading practitioners in the field, we regularly advise public and private companies, their shareholders and their key employees on tax aspects of mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures. Clients rely on our advice to maximize their tax efficiencies and minimize their tax risks. Our clients include businesses from a wide range of sectors: technology, life sciences, publishing, telecommunications, aviation and defense, venture capital and private equity. We develop tax-efficient structures that help clients achieve business objectives and negotiate appropriate contractual protections against the assumption of unwanted tax risks.

Clients’ legislative and regulatory concerns are best served by legal counsel with the deepest possible knowledge of the relevant channels of government. In legislative and regulatory matters, we advise clients and provide updates on IRS regulations and rulings in a variety of areas, including corporate tax, consolidated returns, pass-through entities, tax accounting, employee compensation, international taxation, excise taxes, financial institutions and exempt organizations. We also serve as legislative counsel to clients with respect to proposed federal tax legislation and represent clients in seeking favorable guidance from the IRS by obtaining private letter rulings regarding particular transactions or business structures, assisting clients with voluntary compliance and closing agreements and submitting comments on proposed regulations. Our experience extends to state and local levels as well, permitting a comprehensive approach to these issues. 

WilmerHale lawyers have decades of experience advising public and private companies in all aspects of mergers and acquisitions.

Providing comprehensive solutions for the acquisition, enforcement and protection of IP.

By patenting their innovations, our clients increase the value of their intellectual property and enhance their ability to compete in the marketplace. We work with laboratory and research teams and R&D and product development groups to determine whether, when and where it is in our clients’ business and technical interests to seek patent protection. And we don’t just file patent applications. Drawing on our experience with patent litigation, corporate financings and technology transactions, we implement IP strategies that conserve resources, add measurable value and give our clients a cost-effective and commercially practical competitive edge.

We help clients obtain more than 750 US and foreign patents each year, covering innovations that span the technological spectrum, including aerospace, biochemistry, biotechnology, business methods, chemistry, computer science, fuel cells, genetics, high-speed data communication, integrated circuits, materials science, medical devices, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor devices and processes, and software.

We also prepare and prosecute patent applications internationally under the Patent Cooperative Treaty and by working with a network of seasoned patent lawyers around the world. Our experience extends to appeals, interferences and opposition proceedings within the US Patent and Trademark Office, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the European Patent Office.

Clients turn to us for their highest-stakes trade secret disputes.

Helping clients launch their businesses and transform their innovative ideas into successful companies.

Leveraging our sophisticated technical, market and legal experience to help clients effectively and efficiently manage complex transactions and get the deal done.

WilmerHale is renowned for its sophisticated representation of investors, developers, landlords, tenants, lenders and institutions on complex real estate projects and transactions.

Since the development of the Prudential Center from what had been a blighted railroad yard in Boston’s Back Bay in the early 1960s, WilmerHale has been at the forefront of many of the most significant and complex development projects in the United States. We advise owners, developers, lenders and investors on every step of the development process—from site identification and evaluation through design, permitting, financing, construction, leasing and sale. Our projects range from big-box retail stores and industrial warehouse and distribution centers to manufacturing plants, office towers, hotels, multi-family and condominium projects, seniors housing communities, university and private research facilities, and more.