William M. Shaheen

William Shaheen concentrates his practice in corporate law, tax, and estate planning. He serves as corporate and tax counsel in the formation and design of new business ventures, joint venture agreements, purchase and sale transactions, mergers and acquisitions, planning concerning ongoing operations, and transactional matters.

William has worked extensively with both for-profit and tax-exempt organizations, focusing on corporate and organizational structures to achieve income tax efficiencies and maximize value. This includes reviewing ownership structures, choice-of-legal-entity issues, sales, and other transactions for income tax purposes, including analysis of income tax effect under alternative legal forms, the deductibility of expenses, and other transactional items. His work in the corporate and tax areas encompasses multiple industries, including manufacturing, distribution, retail, consumer products, professional services, and real estate.

William works extensively with closely-held businesses where there is a premium on addressing both individual-level and entity-level objectives. He has designed and implemented corporate plans and organizational structures that optimize assets' placement among affiliated entities and the after-tax return to the owners.

William also has significant estate planning experience and is advising clients on transfer tax planning, succession planning, charitable contributions, and other aspects of the estate planning process. He works with U.S. and non-U.S. residents in the course of their estate planning. For non-U.S. residents, he, along with our firm's Wealth Preservation and Tax Planning Group, work with the client's team of advisors to coordinate the necessary corporate structuring and estate planning with the timing and nature of the client's immigration application and status.

J.D., University of Illinois College of Law
LL.M. in Taxation, University of Miami
B.S., magna cum laude, Bowling Green State University

Florida
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida

Business, Finance & Tax

Aviation
Business Immigration
Corporate
Corporate Governance
Fund Formation
Latin America & Caribbean Practice
Mergers & Acquisitions
Private Equity & Venture Capital
Securities & Capital Markets
Taxation
Wealth Preservation & Estate Planning
Opportunity Zones

• Represented Seitlin Insurance (Seitlin & Company and Seitlin Benefits Corporation) in its sale to Marsh & McLennan Agency. Seitlin Insurance, prior to its acquisition, was South Florida’s largest privately held insurance brokerage firm and one of the Top 100 insurance brokers in the United States. Marsh & McLennan Agency is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, the world’s largest insurance and consulting company. Advised Seitlin Insurance throughout the entire (marketing, letter of intent, definitive agreement and simultaneous signing and closing) sales process and on various corporate and corporate governance issues, including working closely with the Company’s ESOP independent fiduciary, financial advisors and counsel.
• Represented distributor in debt and equity financing transaction for creation of partnership to integrate and expand separate lines of distribution
• Represented private equity fund in acquisition and restructuring of senior and subordinated debt obligations of major supplier of car wash systems with international operations
• Represented seller in divestiture of pharmacies
• Represented partner in implementation of joint venture for global distribution of mobile phone accessories
• Represented principal officer of allied travel division in one of largest U.S. healthcare staffing acquisitions of 2006
• Represented principal officer in Europe of multinational corporate services firm in structuring and implementing buyout of the E.U. portion of business
• Redesigned capital structure of U.S. exporter classified as IC-DISC for Federal income tax purposes as part of tax and succession planning for business
• Served as tax counsel to taxpayer in determining Federal income tax treatment of environmental remediation expenses
• Served as tax counsel to multinational corporation’s litigation of constitutionality of State corporate income tax provisions on transfer pricing

• Served as Board member of Stonesoup School, Inc. of Central Florida, 2004 – 2007

Atlas Air Worldwide Acquires Southern Air
April 6, 2016

• Arthur Andersen
• Ernst & Young