Tax Attorney & Contracts Counsel

About the Job

We are partnered with a private, ultra-high-net-worth family office on the search for its next Tax Attorney & Contracts Counsel. This is a high-trust, high-visibility in-house counsel role with direct exposure to family principals and senior advisors, reporting to the General Counsel / Chief Operating Officer and serving as a core member of the legal and advisory team.

The family office is at a pivotal moment — consolidating a sophisticated, diversified portfolio and formalizing how tax strategy, transactional execution, and long-term wealth planning come together across real estate, REITs, private investments, and multi-generational trust structures.

This attorney will be responsible for shaping tax-efficient structures end-to-end while ensuring disciplined contract execution, transactional precision, and the discretion this family's affairs require.

The Mandate

This organization is very clear about what it is — and is not — seeking.

They are not looking for a narrow tax technician who hands every agreement off to outside counsel, nor a generalist contracts attorney without real tax depth.

They are seeking a builder–operator of legal work: an attorney who can structure a tax-efficient transaction and then draft, negotiate, and close the agreements that execute it — end to end, with the judgment and discretion befitting a single-family office.

Key Responsibilities

• Advise on federal, state, and local tax matters affecting the family's holding structures, investment vehicles, and real estate portfolio, including REITs and other tax-advantaged ownership structures.
• Structure, review, and negotiate contracts and transaction documents for real property acquisitions, dispositions, financings, and joint ventures.
• Provide legal and tax guidance on mergers, acquisitions, and direct and fund-level investments, including due diligence and deal structuring.
• Design and execute complex transfers of real and personal property ownership, including entity restructurings, 1031 exchanges, and intra-family transfers.
• Support the creation, administration, and ongoing maintenance of trusts and estate planning structures in coordination with outside estate counsel.
• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of commercial agreements, including purchase and sale agreements, operating agreements, service agreements, and NDAs.
• Monitor changes in tax law and regulations and proactively advise the family office on planning opportunities and compliance risk.
• Coordinate with outside counsel, accountants, and other advisors on complex transactions and specialized tax matters.
• Maintain corporate records, entity filings, and governance documentation for the family's various holding entities.

Ideal Profile

• JD from an accredited law school; active member in good standing of the California State Bar (or ability to obtain California admission promptly).
• LLM in Taxation preferred, but not required with sufficiently strong practice experience.
• 7+ years of relevant legal experience, ideally combining tax law with transactional/contracts work, ideally in a law firm, family office, or private investment setting.
• Substantive experience with REITs, commercial real estate transactions, and complex property ownership structures.
• Demonstrated experience with M&A and private investment transactions.
• Working knowledge of trusts, estates, and wealth transfer planning concepts.
• Excellent contract drafting and negotiation skills.
• Ability to work directly and discreetly with high-net-worth principals and family members, with sound judgment and unquestioned integrity.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to translate complex tax and legal concepts for non-legal stakeholders.
• Highly organized, self-directed, and comfortable operating as a hands-on in-house counsel in a lean team environment.

Location & Work Model

• Beverly Hills, California
• On-site

Compensation

• Base salary: $225,000 – $265,000
• Bonus: Discretionary annual bonus

This search is being conducted with a high degree of discretion.