Sean Van de Grift

Overview

Sean joins Taylor Nelson Amitrano as an associate attorney, where his practice will focus on a broad range of federal and state tax controversy matters. He is a member of the State Bar of California and is admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court.

Sean has experience in both technical tax and dispute resolution. While in law school, he interned in the M&A tax practice at a Big 4 accounting firm. Before joining the firm, he was practicing public entity civil litigation in state and federal courts at a law firm. 

Sean graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from the University of San Diego School of Law. While in law school, Sean served in the Federal Tax Clinic, where he represented low-income taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, as well as in the Entrepreneurship Clinic, where he assisted small businesses with the legal aspects that come with the early stages of growth. He was a member of the San Diego Law Review, where he directed his research into the limitations of the Congressional taxing power regarding income attribution and retroactivity. Sean also served on the executive board of the USD's Tax Law Society and was a member of the USD chapter of the Thomas More Society. He is currently pursuing a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation from one of the premier programs in the country.

Sean holds undergraduate degrees in both Real Estate and Accounting from the University of San Diego, where he graduated summa cum laude, and wrote his Honors thesis as an international comparative analysis of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) regulations from various countries.

Sean believes it is important for lawyers to avoid becoming myopic on the legal issues affecting their clients. He brings to his tax controversy practice this background grounded in accounting, commercial real estate, and finance, giving him a practical understanding of the economics behind the transactions and taxpayer positions that the IRS and state tax authorities scrutinize.