Education

Brigham Young University

B.A., Economics, 2014

University of Oregon School of Law

J.D., 2019

University of Florida Levin College of Law

LL.M., Taxation, 2020

Admissions

Texas, 2025

Memberships & Activities

Member, Houston Bar Association

Member, Houston Young Lawyers Association

Ethan focuses his practice on helping businesses solve legal issues through corporate transactions, including reorganizations, sell-side acquisitions, and managing the federal income tax consequences of such transactions. He represents clients ranging from large corporations to closely held family businesses and individuals across the construction, bottling and distribution, consumer services, and professional services industries. Ethan advises clients on complex structural matters, prepares tailored transactional documents to achieve commercial goals while minimizing federal income tax exposure,  and advises on choice of entity and corporate governance matters.

Ethan began his career as an M&A Tax Associate at KPMG, conducting federal tax due diligence and reviewing transactional documents for private equity clients. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law, where he was a staff editor for the Oregon Law Review. After reviewing his Juris Doctor, he received his Master of Laws in Taxation (LL.M.) from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, one of the top tax programs in the nation, and he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Brigham Young University.

Representative Matters

• • • Drafted documents for business succession plans of closely held family businesses including purchase, distribution, contribution, indemnification, and pledge agreements, promissory notes, entity formation and corporate governance documents, and associated consent actions.
    • Advised clients on the tax benefits and drawbacks of potential business succession plans and restructurings.
    • Prepared entity formation documents (including company agreements, limited partnership agreements, bylaws, and buy-sell agreements) for corporations, limited partnerships, and limited liability companies.
    • Maintained corporate records and updated corporate minute books for multiple clients.
    • Drafted disclosure schedules to purchase agreements for sell-side acquisitions and created key dates checklists to assist clients in fulfilling post-closing obligations.
    • Conducted research on various federal tax issues including the tax treatment of payments received for the sale of a partnership interest eligible for installment sale treatment, purchase price adjustments in asset sales, the procedure for retroactively correcting non-identical governing provisions in the governing documents of small business corporations, the requirements for ISOs to preserve favorable tax treatment versus being treated as NSOs, the tax liability and tax reporting obligations when an optionee exercises ISOs or NSOs, and the tax consequences for founders and corporations selling stock to employees or outside investors.
    • Created public charities and private foundations and prepared their applications for tax-exempt status.