James W. McBride, shareholder in the Firm's Washington office, has worked in the national office of the Internal Revenue Service and has served as staff attorney for the Joint Congressional Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation. Prior to entering private practice in 1982, Mr. McBride held the position of General Attorney-Taxes for Southern Railway Company and bore primary responsibility for the resolution of a variety of state and local tax problems.
Mr. McBride heads a group of lawyers at Baker Donelson that maintain a nationwide practice in the State and Local tax area. Mr. McBride has served as lead trial counsel in numerous cases involving state and local tax matters in over 30 states. This representation involves railroads, pipe lines, telecommunications companies, airlines, and private carline companies.
Mr. McBride has a national practice, and in the course of that practice he has represented most of the Class I railroads, all of the major airlines, many of the major telecommunications companies, as well as private carline companies. These representations have been in numerous states and before a wide range of tribunals. While his practice largely is litigation oriented, he also handles administrative appeals, and does a significant amount of consulting work.
Mr. McBride has served on the faculty of the Tax Executives Institute's State and Local Tax Course and has appeared on the programs of the National Association of Railroad and Public Utility Tax Representatives, the Southeastern States Association of Tax Administrators, Western States Association of Tax Administrators, the Wichita State University Workshop on Public Utility Valuation, the Property Tax Institute, the Georgetown Tax State and Local Institute, and the New York University Institute on State and Local Taxation to discuss a variety of tax matters.
- Presenter – "Contingent Fee Transfer Pricing Assessments: How to Deal with this New Trend," Tax Executives Institute in Houston, Houston, Texas (May 18); Council on State Taxation Annual Spring Audit Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico (May 23)
- Presenter – "State Transfer Pricing Audits: Playing Darts Blindfolded," COST Spring Audit/Income Conference (May 2010)
- Contributor – State Business Taxes, Law Journal Press (June 2009)
- Co-author – "Current Trends and Hot Issues in Central Assessment: Treatment of Intangibles," Institute of Property Taxation (2007)
- Co-author – "Current Issues for Centrally Assessed Taxpayers," Institute of Property Taxation (2004)
- Co-author – "Telecom Industry – Survivors and Road Kill," Institute of Property Taxation (2002)
- Presenter – "Operating Leases – An Airline View," Wichita State University Workshop of Public Utility Valuation (2000)
- Presenter – "Telecommunications Issues In A Changing World – Will Fairness and Equity Result?," Institute of Property Taxation (1997)
- Co-author – "Choice of Valuation Methodology as Determining Whether the Value of Intangible Property is Included in Ad Valorem Tax Assessments," proceedings of the Georgetown University Law Center's State and Local Tax Institute (1996)
- Co-author – "Reassessing the Standard of Injunctive Relief in 4R Act Discriminatory Taxation," Journal of Multi-State Taxation (March/April 1994)
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2005, Tax Litigation and Controversy
- Texas, 1963
- District of Columbia, 1964
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Tax Court
- United States Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits
- University of Texas at Austin, J.D., 1962
- Georgetown University, LL.M., 1966
- University of Texas at Austin, B.A., 1960