Gary A. Zwick

Professional Experience

Gary has a general tax practice, with emphasis on tax planning for closely-held and family businesses and their owners, and high net worth individuals. This encompasses not only income tax planning, but also estate planning, ERISA, Subchapters C & S, mergers and acquisitions, employee benefits and IRS and tax court practice.

Before joining Walter & Haverfield, Gary, who is also a Certified Public Accountant, spent 21 years in public accounting, including serving for many years as Director of Tax Operations and Head of the Cleveland Office Tax Department for a large regional Bowman 100 CPA firm.

Gary is the principal author of the book "Tax & Financial Planning for the Closely Held Family Business", published by ALI-ABA and a co-author of the book “Transferring Interests in the Closely Held Family Business” also published by ALI-ABA. He has also authored or co-authored over a dozen feature articles for major tax publications including a chapter entitled "Transfers of Property in Exchange for Services - Section 83," for the Lexis Nexis Online Tax Encyclopedia, published in January 2007.  For many years, Gary was the Tax Clinic editor of the August rotation in the Tax Adviser, the AICPA's national tax publication. He is also a contributor to the ALI-ABA Practice Checklist Manual on Advising Business Clients II and the book, "Golden Opportunities" by Amy and Armond Budish. Gary is a frequent speaker, both locally and nationally, on tax subjects, with hundreds of speaking engagements to tax professionals. He is board certified in federal tax (State of Ohio) and Chair of Federal Tax Specialty Board of the Ohio State Bar Association. He was an adjunct professor of gift taxation and estate planning at Case Western Reserve School of Law and is currently an adjunct professor of tax law at Cleveland State University College of Law.

Professional & Community Associations

• Gary participates in numerous professional and community activities. He is a member of the Small Business Council of America, the Family Firm Institute, the ABA Tax Section, the AICPA Tax Division, and the Tax Club of Cleveland. He previously participated in presenting community Estate Planning seminars for the Southwest Community Health Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation.
  
  
• Institute for Creative Living – past President, Board of Trustees
  
  
• Cleveland Bar Association - General Tax Committee and the Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law sections

Awards & Recognition

• AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  
  
• 2004-2008: Law & Politics Magazine Ohio Super Lawyer: Tax; Estate Planning & Probate; Employee Benefits/ERISA
  
  
• 2005-2007: Named to Worth magazine’s list of the nation’s “Top 100 Attorneys” in recognition of his expertise in the area of “tax and wealth management;” he was one of only three attorneys in Ohio to receive this honor in 2007
  
  
• Article of the year award winner in the Tax Adviser, 1993

Recent Presentations

• January 14-15, 2008 – Society of Financial Services Professionals, “Tax Planning for the Entrepreneurial Client,” Phoenix, AZ.
  
  
• January 3, 2008 – The National Constitution Center, “Family Limited Partnerships,” telephone seminar.
  
  
• October 15, 2007 - Cleveland Bar Association Estate Planning Institute, "Family Limited Partmerships and Family Limited Liability Companies", Cleveland, OH
  
  
• September 27, 2007 - Lorman Education Services, "Eight Greatest Estate Planning Techniques", Cleveland, OH
  

• September 26, 2007 - National Business Institute Seminar on "Helping Your Client Select the Best Entity Option" in Cleveland, OH

• June 7, 2007 - National Center for Family Business, “Tax Traps you can Avoid, Cleveland, OH

• June 5, 2007 - Ohio Society of CPAs, “Fundamentals of Family Limited Partnerships, Cleveland, OH

• May 14, 2007 - National Business Institute, “Advanced Tax Issues for LLCs,” Independence, OH

• April 26, 2007 - Great Lakes Federal Tax Institute, “Building Flexibility into the Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust.” Cleveland, OH

• February 22, 2007 - Ohio Society of CPAs, “Soup-to-Nuts Tax Planning for Closely Held Businesses,” Cleveland, OH

• February 1, 2007 - Ohio Society of CPAs, “Succession Planning for the Small Practitioner,” Maumee, Ohio

More Presentations by Gary A. Zwick...