Prentiss Willson, Leader in State and Local Tax Arena, Receives BNA Tax & Accounting's 2009 Latcham Award for Distinguished Service

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- BNA Tax & Accounting recently announced that the 2009 Franklin C. Latcham Award for Distinguished Service in State and Local Tax Law would be given to Prentiss Willson, former national director of Ernst & Young's State and Local Tax Practice and Procedure and a widely recognized authority on state tax issues. The Latcham Award is named for Franklin C. Latcham, former Advisory Board chair and founder of BNA Tax & Accounting's State Tax Portfolio Series.

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Advisory Board Chairman Paul Frankel described Willson as "a visionary who realized that the nation was ready for a true multistate SALT law practice. The builder and long-time chair of the Morrison & Foerster SALT practice, he is a great teacher, leader and mentor."

Before joining Ernst & Young in 1998, Mr. Willson served for 28 years at Morrison & Foerster LLP, where he was managing partner of the San Francisco office, co-chair of the firm's Tax Department, and head of the firm's State and Local Practice Group (at the time the largest law firm state tax practice in the country). In 2002 he retired as a partner but continues as a consultant to Ernst & Young and as a solo practitioner. He is also a member of the BNA State Tax Advisory Board and the author of State Taxation of Pass-Through Entities-BNA Portfolio 1500.

While at Morrison & Foerster, Mr. Willson was involved in several landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases, including Container Corp. v. California Franchise Tax Board, which addressed the issue of worldwide combination under California's apportionment scheme, and Allied Signal v. Director, Div. of Taxation, which dealt with the allocation of capital gains income. At the state level, he has tried numerous cases in the California courts and was actively involved in creating the legislation that gave the state Franchise Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization authority to settle cases based on hazards of litigation.

Mr. Willson received his A.B. degree from Occidental College in 1965 and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1968. He appears as a frequent panelist at continuing education programs throughout the country and has taught at Stanford Law School, University of San Francisco Law School, and at the Golden Gate University Graduate School of Taxation. He is also a frequent lecturer at programs sponsored by the COST, California C.P.A. Foundation, Tax Executives Institute, CEB, PLI, etc. While in full-time law practice, he was consistently selected as one of the "top one percent" of all lawyers in the United States, according to Best Lawyers in America.

Earlier recipients of the Latcham Award include Richard Genetelli, of the Genetelli Consulting Group; Walter Hellerstein, professor of law at the University of Georgia Law School; James Buresh, former national partner in charge of sales and use tax practice for Deloitte and Touche; Jack Cronin, former partner in charge of Deloitte Tax's Multistate Tax Practice; Jean Walker, retired senior manager with Ernst & Young; William R. Brown, first executive director of COST; the late Paull Mines, general counsel with the Multistate Tax Commission; Joanne Garvey, member of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe in San Francisco; William Peltz, senior tax counsel for Shell Oil Corp.; Gerald Goldberg, former executive director of the California Franchise Tax Board; California tax attorney John Warren; the late educator and author Jerome Hellerstein; and Eugene Corrigan, first director of the Multistate Tax Commission.

About BNA Tax & Accounting

BNA Tax & Accounting is the foremost source of tax and accounting research, news, practice tools, and guidance for tax attorneys, CPAs, corporate tax managers, estate planners, and financial accountants. For more than 50 years, BNA Tax & Accounting has offered practitioners expert insights and guidance on every significant issue in tax and accounting planning and compliance. Written by practitioners for practitioners, BNA's award-winning Portfolios offer topic-driven, in-depth guidance on transactions designed to help tax professionals achieve new levels of excellence and client service. For more information about our products and services, visit BNA Tax & Accounting online at www.bnatax.com.

SOURCE BNA Tax & Accounting

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