Robert S. Horwitz graduated from the University of Illinois, with honors, majoring in English Literature, and received a masters degree in English Literature from the University of Nebraska. After working on the editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal and Commerce Clearing House, Mr. Horwitz attended Northwestern University School of Law, where he graduated cum laude, Order of the Coif.
Upon graduating from Northwestern, Mr. Horwitz was hired by the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division under the Honors Program. In his six years with the Department, he represented the United States in several hundred tax cases, involving areas as diverse as manufacturers’ excise taxes, accumulated earnings tax, oil and gas windfall profits tax, employment taxes, tax shelters, criminal investigations, and tax collection. Among others, Mr. Horwitz successfully represented the government in the first district court cases involving captive insurance companies, the taxability of various perks paid to college professors, and the deductibility of payments to support missionaries. At the Department, Mr. Horwitz received numerous awards, including two outstanding trial attorneys awards and a Special Commendation from the Tax Division.
Mr. Horwitz then worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles in the Tax Division, where he represented the United States in both civil and criminal tax matters, including real estate and computer tax shelters, exempt organizations and disclosures of tax return information. He successfully prosecuted the leading real estate tax shelter promoter in the western United States. Mr. Horwitz left the government and worked at a mid-sized firm in Los Angeles, where he represented clients in areas including civil and criminal bank fraud, wind and thermal energy tax shelters, tax fraud and tax collection matters, trademark, trade secrets, securities, and insurance coverage cases. Mr. Horwitz represents clients in civil and criminal tax matters, including audits, appeals and trial. He has been a speaker on tax matters at the UCLA Tax Controversies Institute, the Annual Meeting of the Taxation Section of the California Bar and the California State Bar Annual Meeting.
Mr. Horwitz is currently a vice-chair of the Procedure and Litigation Committee of the California State Bar Tax Section and an adjunct professor of tax law at Chapman University School of Law.
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