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Experience

Joel has over 40 years of experience in tax, business, asset protection, and estate and gift tax planning for high net worth individuals and entrepreneurs.  He consults on business entities, including limited liability companies (LLCs), S corporations and limited liability partnerships (LLPs).  He structures and prepares shareholder agreements, operating agreements and other business agreements. He also routinely handles sophisticated estate planning including the preparation of wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, family limited liability companies and family limited partnerships. 

Distinctions & Memberships 

Joel was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1972; was Florida Bar Board Certified in Taxation from 1983 to 2018; a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (a highly selective national organization that brings together the top trust and estate lawyers in the nation); has an AV Rating in Martindale-Hubbell (a rating awarded to only those lawyers with the highest ethical standards and professional ability); is a Past Chair of the Tax Section of the Florida Bar; the recipient of The Gerald T. Hart Outstanding Tax Attorney of the Year Award, awarded 2005-2006 by the Tax Section of the Florida Bar; the Past Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the Florida Bar; and the Past President of the Suncoast Estate Planning Council.

He is listed in Who’s Who in American Law, The Best Lawyers in America© since 1993, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, the Chambers Legal Guide and selected as a “Leading Florida Attorney” by the Guide to Leading Attorneys, a member of the “Florida Legal Elite” by Florida Trend, as the “Best of the Best Tampa Bay Tax Attorneys” by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, a “Florida Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics and is Best Lawyers® 2023 St. Petersburg Tax “Lawyer of the Year.” He has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Tampa Bay Times and The Nashville Scene on tax matters and in Forbes Magazine on asset protection matters. He has lectured extensively for education programs of the Tax Section of the Florida Bar, the Health Law Section of the Florida Bar, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Practising Law Institute and similar organizations on various tax planning, estate tax planning and asset protection planning topics.

Joel spent nine years on the Board of Trustees of Shorecrest Preparatory School including four years as its Treasurer, is a Knight of the Order of Salvador, The Salvador Dali Museum of St. Petersburg, FL and is a Docent at the museum.

Education 

  • University of Florida Law School, LL.M. in Taxation, 1975
  • Florida State University Law School, Juris Doctor, 1972
  • University of South Florida, B.A., Political Science, 1969

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