Law360 Names 2024’s Top Attorneys Under 40:
After carefully reviewing nearly 1,200 submissions, our team of editors arrived at a list of Rising Stars who hail from more than 70 law firms and span 34 practice areas. Winners were selected based on their career accomplishments in their respective disciplines.
Tax
Emily Au (age 28; L.P.C. 2018, BPP Law School), Quinn Emanuel (London)
Emily Au of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP has been the lead attorney on several high-profile cases, including a key case across the U.K. construction industry in terms of HMRC’s Value-Added Tax policy, earning her a spot among the tax law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
The most interesting case she’s working on:
Au is the lead attorney representing a provider of student accommodations, in what Quinn Emanuel has called the top case across the U.K. construction industry in terms of HMRC’s Value-Added Tax policy.
The taxpayer is arguing with HMRC over the VAT applicable to the kinds of building safety remediation required in the wake of the fire at the Grenfell Tower in London in 2017.
“It’s the most interesting case for me,” Au said. “The rules in dispute carry huge social implications and political implications for the construction industry this decade. It’s a critical issue for our client and for the construction industry this decade.”
Her proudest moment as an attorney:
Au said her proudest moment came early in her career, when she and the team at Quinn Emanuel took on a case for a high-net-worth individual against HMRC.
Au was a more junior attorney at the time, but she “tried to get to grips with every document,” she said. She ended up representing the client in court, despite being only a couple of years out of law school, she said.
“What made me proud was that I had taken the time to make sure that we were putting our best foot forward for the client, and I was given the opportunity to present their best case myself,” Au said.
Dominic Foulkes (age 39; M.Sc. University of Oxford), Davis Polk (London)
Dominic Foulkes of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP has advised companies on several multibillion-dollar transactions, including a technology-maker’s $4.9 billion initial public offering, the largest in the United States in the last three years, earning him a spot among the tax law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
The biggest deals of his career:
Foulkes said one of the biggest deals of his career came in September when he co-led the team at Davis Polk in Arm Holdings’ $4.9 billion initial public offering. The deal came only a few months after Foulkes was made partner and during a particularly weak time for the equity markets.
The context of the deal was part of what made it so challenging, Foulkes told Law360. Because it was the largest IPO since 2021, he said, the deal was receiving a higher level of scrutiny from both the press and the government.
“That meant in turn that it was a very high-priority transaction for the investment banks, which we represented,” Foulkes said.
He added that there were a lot of policy and tax law changes happening at the time, “which made it a challenging deal, and we had to be actively engaged with those developments and sort of pivot and advise our clients in real time.”
Foulkes said there was another deal he’d consider the biggest of his career, and that came in August, when he represented Natura as lead tax counsel on the $2.5 billion sale of Aesop to L’Oreal.
The transaction was particularly challenging, Foulkes said, because of the “intense” environment in which it took place.
Melinda Gammello (age 37; LL.B. 2011, Melbourne; LL.M. 2013, Virginia), Skadden (Washington, D.C.)
Melinda Gammello of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has advised numerous clients before the U.S. Tax Court and elsewhere on complex tax matters, including transfer pricing issues and the treatment of financial transactions within a company, earning her a spot among the tax law practitioners under 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
Why she’s a tax attorney:
That goes back to Gammello’s law school days in Melbourne, Australia, when she did a summer internship in a Big Four accounting firm’s tax group and “really fell in love with tax.” After that, Gammello focused on tax classes and summer programs. While attending the masters program at the University of Virginia, she confirmed it was what she wanted to do.
“Tax law, as you know, is complex and constantly changing, evolving,” she said. “And I love figuring out how it works and applies from various angles technically and from a policy perspective to transactions and situations that our clients are facing.”
Another aspect of the practice Gammello said she especially loves is not only figuring out the answer to a problem, but also advocating for that right for clients.
“I find that to be really fun and super rewarding,” she said.
The biggest deals of her career:
Gammello has worked on several significant and fascinating cases, she said, but one she would highlight is her ongoing representation of multinational power management company Eaton Corp. in multiple issues before the U.S. Tax Court. Of particular interest, she said, is a transfer pricing dispute that has not been answered in court, on how to properly price financial transactions such as loans and guarantees between related parts of a company.
Eric Kamerman (age 36; J.D. 2013, NYU), Latham (New York)
Eric Kamerman of Latham & Watkins LLP in recent years handled the tax aspects of several multibillion-dollar acquisitions of powerhouses in British soccer and American fashion, earning him recognition as one of the tax attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
Why he’s a tax attorney:
Tax law hinges on the interpretation of “everyday words” in the Internal Revenue Code and tends to play a large role in mergers and acquisitions, Kamerman told Law360 in a recent interview.
“I get really excited on those days when you get some unusual business deal that comes onto your desk and you’re asked, ‘What are the tax consequences?’” Kamerman said. “You have to really dig in, peel back the layers to kind of understand the economic deal with the parties, then struggle to figure out, ‘What do we call this for tax purposes?’”
International tax attorneys are typically responsible for how transactions are categorized under the tax codes of multiple jurisdictions, because “the name you give it doesn’t define the tax treatment,” which instead “turns on the economic substance,” Kamerman said.
What motivates him:
His motivation comes from working in teams of up to 40 attorneys at Latham on large-scale mergers and acquisitions, which require a top-tier level of coordination between specialists in areas like labor, environmental and antitrust law, he said.
In one eye-catching instance announced in February, the young attorney served on a large team advising Manchester United, the English Premier League football club, on British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s procurement of more than a quarter of its equity. Kamerman explained that aside from winning a record number of Premier League titles, Manchester United PLC is also interesting because of its tax structure.
“It’s an interesting company because it’s a non-U.S. company, but it’s an inverted company, so it’s treated as a U.S. corporation for tax purposes,” Kamerman said.
Kiran Sheffrin (age 36; J.D. 2013, Brooklyn), Cravath (New York):
Kiran Sheffrin of Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP has advised companies from Anheuser-Busch InBev to Valvoline on multibillion-dollar deals, including a $50 billion combination resulting in the formation of pharmaceutical giant Viatris, earning her a spot among the tax law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars. …
The start of her journey:
Sheffrin knew early on she wanted to break into the world of tax law, saying she was interested in it because of its dynamism and “critical role” in the business world.
It wasn’t until she went to law school that she got a taste of what it would be like. Her professor, Rebecca Kysar, a former tax attorney at Cravath, introduced her to the firm’s team.
“With tax law, you get to experience the interesting technical issues and also work on problem-solving with other technical advisers,” Sheffrin said.
What motivates her:
Every deal, according to Sheffrin, brings an opportunity to learn something new, a trait that she said moves her forward.
“Although I work on a lot of deals, my attitude is that I want to learn something new from every deal and become a better adviser to my clients,” she said.
When she advised IBM in one of the company’s transactions, she said she walked away from working with indirect tax experts having learned more about the matter.
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