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Blake D. Rubin is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the Washington, D.C. office. As a member of the Tax Department, he practices in the area of federal taxation, with particular emphasis on matters relating to partnership and real estate taxation. His practice includes planning, policy and controversy matters. He has extensive experience structuring large partnership and real estate transactions, and regularly represents several of the 20 largest U.S. real estate developers and owners in transactional matters. He serves as principal outside tax counsel or does substantial work for three members of the Forbes 400, five publicly traded REITs and a variety of smaller organizations.
Blake is one of only a small number of lawyers in the United States listed in The Best Lawyers in America and in Super Lawyers in both the tax and real estate categories. He is also listed in America's Leading Business Lawyers, which describes him as "one of the best at tax structuring." Washingtonian Magazine named him as one of the top lawyers in Washington, D.C. He is the author of more than 110 professional articles and has lectured on tax topics at hundreds of conferences across the country.
Blake has been active in both the District of Columbia Bar and the American Bar Association. He served as chair of the 1,600 member District of Columbia Bar Section of Taxation, and twice served as chair of its Passthroughs and Real Estate Committee. He served as Chair of the Real Estate Taxation Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. He is Co-Chair of the annual conference on Creative Tax Planning for Real Estate Transactions sponsored by the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association, and of the annual Real Estate Tax Forum sponsored by Practicing Law Institute. He also serves as Partnership and Real Estate Taxation Chair for New York University's Annual Institute on Federal Taxation. He serves as General Counsel to the Real Estate Tax Institute, and is a past Chair of the Advisory Council of New York University's Institute on Federal Taxation and of the National Institute on Real Estate Taxation. He serves as Vice Chair of the Tax Policy Advisory Committee of the Real Estate Roundtable, and is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Real Estate Taxation, the Journal of Passthrough Entities, the Tax Management Real Estate Journal, the Washington Tax Review, and the Journal of Taxation of Investments.
Prior to joining McDermott in 2007, Blake was the Chair of the Tax Practice at Arnold & Porter. From 1984 through 1987, Blake served with the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel, U.S. Department of Treasury. He was deeply involved in the development of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 provisions and administrative guidance affecting real estate and partnerships. Before joining the Treasury Department, Blake practiced in Philadelphia and was an Adjunct Professor in Villanova University's Master of Laws in Taxation program, where he taught courses on tax planning for real estate transactions.
Blake is a member of the Order of the Coif, Beta Alpha Psi and Beta Gamma Sigma honor fraternities, and is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. He is also the founder and president of the Washington, D.C., Center for Public Interest Tax Law, a not-for-profit corporation that provides pro bono representation to low income taxpayers before the U.S. Tax Court.
Blake is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania.
Education
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D. (cum laude and Order of the Coif), 1980
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, M.B.A. (with distinction, Beta Alpha Psi, Beta Gamma Sigma), 1980
Haverford College, B.A., 1976 | 