We are pleased to announce that Sandra R. Brown, Melissa Briggs, Sebastian Voth and Philipp Behrendt will be speaking at the ABA Tax Section Virtual 2026 Fall Tax Meeting being held on October 5-9, 2026 on the following topics:
Sandra R. Brown
The Business of Being a Tax Lawyer From Building Business to Building a Career
Melissa Briggs
Tax Collection, Bankruptcy & Workouts
You’ve Been Served Parts I and II: Current Developments in Civil Tax Collection Suits
Sebastian Voth
When Substance Matters – Economic Substance and Penalty Risk in Tax Controversy Practice
Philipp Behrendt
Hot Topics for Closely Held Businesses
This conference connects leading tax attorneys, practitioners, and government officials to review updates in federal, state, and local tax policies, employee benefits, tax controversy, and artificial intelligence in legal practice.
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Sandra R. Brown is a Principal of Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez P.C., where her practice focuses on criminal tax investigations, grand jury matters, litigation, and sentencing matters as well as representing and advising taxpayers involved in complex and sophisticated civil tax controversies, including sensitive-issue audits and administrative appeals and litigation. Ms. Brown’s extensive experience and successes have included many notable cases including two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, numerous 9th Circuit rulings and numerous favorable administrative resolutions for taxpayers involved in IRS investigations and audits. Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Ms. Brown served as the Acting United States Attorney, First Assistant United States Attorney, and Chief of the Tax Division in the Office of the U.S. Attorney, Central District of California; where, with 27 years as a trial lawyer, she personally litigated over 2,000 tax cases.
For more information, please contact Sandra R. Brown at brown@taxlitigator.com.
Melissa Briggs is a Principal of Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez P.C. where she represents clients in civil and criminal tax controversies. Ms. Briggs has over twenty-four years of litigation experience in private, nonprofit, and government practice. Ms. Briggs spent over nine years as an appellate attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, Appellate Section. She served almost seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California’s Tax Division. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. Phyllis A. Kravitch on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Ms. Briggs is a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel; American Bar Association, Tax Section Loretta Collins Argrett Fellowship Mentor; vice-chair of the California Lawyer’s Association Tax Section, Tax Practice and Procedure Committee, and active member of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.
For more information, please contact Melissa Briggs at briggs@taxlitigator.com.
Sebastian Voth is a Principal at Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez P.C., specializing in tax investigations, litigation and appeals, and complex tax matters. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Voth served for 15 years at the Internal Revenue Service including most recently as a Special Trial Attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel’s Strategic Litigation Division leading trial teams in all phases of litigation before the Tax Court. During his tenure with the IRS, Mr. Voth served on the leadership team of the nationwide IRS Counsel mentoring program and mentored numerous IRS attorneys. He is the recipient of two Lucite Awards for significant Tax Court opinions and received a 2024 Special Act Award (Strategic Litigation), the 2023 Nationwide Innovator of the Year (LB&I), the 2022 Nationwide Special Trial Attorney of the Year (SB/SE), the 2017 U.S. Department of the Treasury Outstanding Litigator and the 2017 Nationwide Attorney of the Year (SB/SE). Serving as a Special Trial Attorney, Mr. Voth handled some of the IRS’s most significant and complex litigation matters.
For more information, please contact Sebastian Voth at voth@taxlitigator.com.
Philipp Behrendt is a Principal at Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez P.C., licensed in California as well as in Germany and assists in advising clients in civil and criminal tax controversies as well as international money laundering investigations stemming from tax avoidance structures. He also focuses on the technical aspects involved in advising voluntary disclosures in connection with DeFis, NFTs, and other crypto assets. Philipp is a Liaison to the Young Lawyer Committee for the ABA Tax Section’s Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties Committee and served on the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Barristers Board of Governors from 2022 to 2023. Philipp is the Chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Tax Section, a Liaison.
For more information, please contact Philipp Behrendt at behrendt@taxlitigator.com.
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