This was Alberta’s best corporate tax lawyers based on the results of our latest extensive yearly peer survey in 2021. For a current list of the most recommended lawyers and law firms in the field, read our list of the best corporate tax lawyers in Alberta here.
Corporate tax law is the branch of legal profession governing systems of taxation used for taxing incorporated entities, including businesses, financial institutions and not-for-profit organizations.
Most frequently recommended corporate tax lawyers
D. Brett Anderson
Law firm: Felesky Flynn LLP
Year called to the bar: 2004
City: Calgary
D. Brett Anderson is a co-managing partner at Felesky Flynn LLP. He maintains a diverse income tax practice, with an emphasis on corporate tax planning. Anderson boasts extensive experience in advising publicly traded and private corporations and individuals on complex reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, resource tax issues and international tax matters. He also assists clients in resolving tax dispute matters throughout the audit and appeal stages. Anderson shares his tax law knowledge and expertise both as a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law and as a frequent speaker at tax conferences, seminars and industry association meetings. He is a councillor of the Canadian Branch of the International Fiscal Association and a member of the Canadian Bar Association (Taxation Law Section).
Donald N. Cherniawsky
Law firm: Felesky Flynn LLP
Year called to the bar: 1988
City: Edmonton
Donald N. Cherniawsky is a partner at Felesky Flynn LLP. He devotes his practice to income tax planning for private corporate groups, estate matters for owner-managed businesses and tax dispute matters at the audit, objection and court levels. Cherniawsky has extensive experience in tax planning for family farms and succession planning for family farms and private corporate groups. He is a member of CPA Alberta and CPA Canada, CBA and Canadian Tax Foundation, where served as governor. He is also a former vice-chair of the CBA Taxation Section for Northern Alberta and a past member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta - Revenue Canada liaison committee and the CBA - Tax Court of Canada committee. Cherniawsky is a frequent contributor to publications and courses issued by the Canadian Tax Foundation and Chartered Professional Accountants Alberta. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1981 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2008.
Gregory M. Johnson
Law firm: Bennett Jones LLP
Year called to the bar: 1999
City: Calgary
Gregory M. Johnson is partner at Bennett Jones LLP. He acts for clients primarily in the energy industry, focusing on corporate tax, corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions and private equity. Johnson is also a chartered professional accountant who practised with an international accounting firm before joining Bennett Jones. He is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) Alberta, the CPA Canada and the Canadian Tax Foundation. Johnson is also a past director of the Canadian Petroleum Tax Society and an editor of the Federated Press Canadian Resource Taxation Journal.
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Robert Kopstein
Law firm: McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Year called to the bar: 1984 (ON); 1995 (BC); 2006 (AB)
City: Calgary
Robert Kopstein is a partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP. He practises in the areas of Canadian, US and international taxation, with emphasis on Canada-US cross-border transactions. Kopstein has extensive experience in corporate finance, resource taxation, structured finance, corporate reorganizations, tax disputes and mergers and acquisitions involving public and private companies and governmental agencies. Recently, he was counsel to Spruce Credit Union on its successful GAAR appeal in the Tax Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. Kopstein has also authored and presented numerous papers on a variety of topics at various professional organizations, including the Canadian Tax Foundation, Tax Executives Institute, Canadian Petroleum Tax Society, Canada Revenue Agency, CBA and ABA. He also assisted in the preparation of the report to the United Nations Ad Hoc Group of Experts of International Cooperation on tax Matters and is the principal Canadian contributor to the Bloomberg BNA Global Tax Guide and Tax Planning for International Mergers, Acquisitions, Joint Ventures and Restructurings, published by Wolters Kluwer.
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Al Meghji
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the bar: 1990 (ON); 1995 (AB)
City: Calgary
Al Meghji is a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. He heads the firm’s national tax litigation practice and splits time between the Calgary and Toronto offices. Meghji appears regularly in the Tax Court and the Federal Court for leading Canadian and multinational corporations in significant and complex corporate tax litigation matters. He has argued several landmark tax cases in the Supreme Court of Canada, including successfully arguing the first general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) case and the first and only transfer pricing case heard by the court. Meghji has also successfully represented the Canadian Bankers Association and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers as intervenor in the SCC in landmark cases effecting the banking and oil and gas sectors. He is a chartered public accountant.
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Darcy D. Moch
Law firm: Bennett Jones LLP
Year called to the bar: 1988
City: Calgary
Darcy D. Moch is a partner at Bennett Jones LLP. He also co-chairs the firm’s tax department. Moch’s practice is focused on income tax aspects of corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, debt financing transactions, transactions involving partnerships and other flow-through vehicles, asset-based financings and cross-border financing and leasing transactions. His practice also includes personal tax planning and residency matters, foreign tax planning for Canadian residents and structuring investments for non-residents into Canada. Moch has presented several papers on a variety of tax-related topics at national, international and local tax conferences.
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Consistently recommended corporate tax lawyers
H. Michael Dolson
Law firm: Felesky Flynn LLP
Year called to the bar: 2010
City: Edmonton
H. Michael Dolson is partner at Felesky Flynn LLP. He devotes his practice to inbound and outbound cross-border tax planning for individuals and private corporations and tax planning for private corporations and GST matters. Dolson is a regular contributor to various tax and non-tax publications and has presented for the Canadian Tax Foundation, International Fiscal Association and Canadian Bar Association. He is also a sessional lecturer at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law, where he has taught corporate tax since 2015. Dolson is a member of the International Fiscal Association, the CTF and the CBA. He has also served as the chair of the CBA Tax Law Section in Northern Alberta) and the CTF Young Practitioners’ Group in Edmonton.
Siobhan A.M. Goguen
Law firm: Felesky Flynn LLP
Year called to the bar: 1998
City: Calgary
Siobhan A.M. Goguen has been a partner with Felesky Flynn LLP since 2004 and was co-managing partner from 2016 to 2018. She practises in all areas of Canadian tax law, with an emphasis on cross-border transactions. Goguen is skilled at international tax planning, understanding the intricacies between the laws of each country. Prior to studying law, she obtained a certified management accountant designation and worked in several industries as an accountant. Goguen clerked with the Alberta Court of Appeal and Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta. She has written and presented on numerous tax topics for the Canadian Bar Association, Canadian Tax Foundation and International Fiscal Association. She is also a sessional instructor of the introductory Canadian income tax law course at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law. Goguen was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2020.
Darren D. Hueppelsheuser
Law firm: Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Year called to the bar: 1997
City: Calgary
Darren D. Hueppelsheuser is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP’s Calgary office. He devotes his practice to Canadian income tax law, with an emphasis on the tax aspects of financing and transaction planning for corporations and partnerships in both private and public transactions. Hueppelsheuser advises extensively on the acquisition structuring and tax consequences of Canadian inbound and outbound investments. He has written and lectured in Canada and the US on numerous tax topics for several legal professional organizations, including the International Fiscal Association, Canadian Tax Foundation, Canadian Petroleum Tax Society, Canadian Bar Association and Tax Executives Institute.
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Dion J. Legge
Law firm: Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Year called to the bar: 2001
City: Calgary
Dion J. Legge is partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. He specializes in taxation law. Legge devotes his practice to the income tax aspects of corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, debt and equity financings and the taxation of flow-through vehicles. He advises on tax-planning issues related to international structures for Canadian-based multinational corporations on investments by non-residents in Canada. Legge also boasts extensive experience in structuring cross-border M&A, divestitures, financings, estate planning for individuals and advising family offices.
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Carman R. McNary
Law firm: Dentons Canada LLP
Year called to the bar: 1982
City: Edmonton
Carman R. McNary serves as counsel at Dentons Canada LLP’s Edmonton office, where he is a former managing partner. He also served as chair of the firm’s national tax group for 10 years. McNary specializes in taxation and corporate law. He boasts extensive experience in tax compliance and dispute resolution with government agencies and corporate tax strategies, structures and governance of tax risk. McNary also provides strategic counsel to a wide range of local, provincial and national boards and organizations. He advises Canadian and international companies on tax-efficient structures and effective tax management. This includes matters such as First Nation enterprises, cross-border investment into and from Canada, private and public transactions, structures and taxation issues, acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, transfer pricing and withholding taxes.
F. Brent Perry
Law firm: Felesky Flynn LLP
Year called to the bar: 1982
City: Calgary
F. Brent Perry is partner at Felesky Flynn LLP, where he served as joint managing partner from 2001 to 2009. He focuses on domestic and international taxation matters, with expertise in mergers and acquisitions, disposition, financing and restructuring strategies. Perry represents clients in resolving issues and disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency. He served as governor of the Canadian Tax Foundation from 2005 to 2008 and 2014 to 2018 and executive committee chair, board chair and editor at the Canadian Tax Journal. Perry is also a member of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Tax Committee, where is a past chair, and the CBA, LSA and Canadian Petroleum Tax Society. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2000.
Edward C. Rowe
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the bar: 1996 (AB); 2001 (ON)
City: Calgary
Edward C. Rowe is a partner at the national tax group at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s Calgary office. His practice focuses on corporate and international tax planning, regularly advising Canadian and multinational groups on a variety of matters. These include inbound and outbound investment and financing, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and natural resource taxation. Rowe’s tax practice also involves the settlement of tax disputes, including general anti-avoidance rule assessments with the Canada Revenue Agency. He has acted as counsel in leading tax cases before all levels of courts.
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Kenneth S. Skingle
Law firm: Felesky Flynn LLP
Year called to the bar: 1988
City: Calgary
Kenneth S. Skingle is a partner at Felesky Flynn LLP. He specializes in taxation matters, with an emphasis on tax dispute resolution and tax litigation and corporate and high-net-worth individuals tax planning. Skingle has appeared as counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada, Tax Court of Canada, Federal Court of Appeal, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and Alberta Court of Appeal representing taxpayers in appeals of tax reassessments. He is a former member of the Tax Court of Canada bench and bar committee and the judicial advisory committee for appointments to the Tax Court of Canada. He also previously served as director of the CPTS, president of the Calgary Bar Association and chairman of the Taxation Specialists (southern) for the Alberta branch of the CBA. In addition to his professional affiliations, Skingle has served as a director or in other volunteer positions on several charitable organizations, including the United Way of Calgary, Calgary Health Trust and Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter. He is also an author, speaker and instructor who has lectured on tax-related topics for various legal professional organizations and universities. Skingle was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2007.