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AREAS OF PRACTICE Criminal Lititgation - Commercial Taxation Claude represents corporations and individuals in tax planning and in civil and criminal tax litigation, and administrative practice before the Internal Revenue Service, as well as handling accounting malpractice and representation of CPA’s before the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. He has represented clients all over the United States in connection with tax matters. He has tried a number of cases in New York, Washington, D.C., Colorado, California, and Mississippi, in addition to the cases tried in Texas. REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE He has represented clients in Connecticut, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and California. He practice has taken him to a number of foreign countries, including Canada, Mexico, Cayman Islands, England, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, and China. Claude also handles a great deal of state and local tax matters in Texas, as well as in the states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, New York, and Texas. Earlier in his career, Claude was the chief trial attorney nationally for the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. In this position, he tried the IRS’s largest tax cases wherever they were located in the United States. In addition to large dollar cases, Claude handled cases involving organized crime figures and high profile individuals. He tried the tax case against the Communist Party of the United States in New York City. Claude was successful in getting the CPA from the Communist Party of the USA to defect. When People’s Republic of China was moving toward capitalism, they studied the tax systems of the United States, Switzerland and France. The Chinese government requested the Section of Taxation of the American Bar Association to send representatives to their country, as their guest, to advise them on 12 selected items of specialty. Claude was sent as the ABA Tax Section Specialist on tax controversy work. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES / MEMBERSHIPS / AFFILIATIONS Claude is both a CPA as well as an attorney. He has served as President of the Dallas CPA Society, President of the Texas Society of CPAs and as a member of the Tax Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs. Claude is a board certified tax law specialist of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He served as President of the Section of Taxation of the Dallas Bar Association. He has also served as Chairman of the Appropriations and Taxes Committee of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, as well as having served as Chairman of the Dallas District Directors IRS Advisory Staff. Claude is active in various charitable and civic organizations, having served as a Trustee of St. Michael and All Angels Foundation, Treasurer of the St. Phillips School, as well as a member of its Board of Directors, Chairman of the Dallas Historical Society, a member of the Board of Governors of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, member of the Finance Committee of the City of University Park, a member of the Finance Committee of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society, and as a member of the Board of Trustees for Utley Foundation. Claude is licensed to practice in Texas, as well as before the following courts: U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals (Fifth Circuit and Tenth Circuit); Federal Court of Appeals; U.S. District Court (Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts); U.S. Tax Court; and Court of International Trade. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND 1954 BBA, Southern Methodist University 1956 JD, Southern Methodist University. |
