ROBERT CHICOINE LAW - Key Persons

Connie Tang

Job Titles:
  • Paralegal / Administrator

Peer Recognition

Mr. Chicoine has been recognized by his peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America in three areas: Tax, Civil Tax Litigation, and White Collar Criminal Defense (Tax) and has been repeatedly recognized as a Washington State Super Lawyer, and one of Washington State's Top Lawyers. He is also listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, Who's Who of Outstanding Professionals, and Who's Who in Criminal Defense Law. He has been given a 10/10 Superb Rating by AVVO and a Preeminent Peer Review AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell National Law Directory for legal ability and ethics. He was also selected for inclusion in the National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers and a Top Lawyer in Seattle's Metropolitan Magazine. Most recently, he has received the honor of being selected to America's Top 100 Bet-The-Company Litigators® for 2019.

Richard T. Ainsworth

Job Titles:
  • Attorney
  • Attorney Complete
  • Paralegal / Administrator
Richard Thompson Ainsworth is an attorney with over 30 years academic, government, and private sector tax experience. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Boston University Law Graduate Tax Program, and the New York University Law Graduate Tax Program. He was formerly the Director of the Boston University Graduate Tax Program, Deputy Director of the International Tax Program at Harvard Law School, Senior Litigation attorney with IRS Chief Counsel, and Legal Issues Officer with the New Hampshire Department of Revenue. He has held tax-technology positions of Director of International Tax (Government Affairs) with Taxware and ADP. He teaches courses in VAT, Comparative Income Tax, US Transfer Pricing, and Comparative International Transfer Pricing. He developed an expertise in transaction taxes (VAT and Retail Sales Taxes) at Harvard Law School under Professor Oliver Oldman, where he was also an Adjunct Professor of Public Policy (Harvard Law and Kennedy School of Government). He has developed an expertise in tax and technology at Taxware and ADP. He has written extensively on tax and technology with well over 100 articles in various national and international journals.

Robert J. Chicoine

Job Titles:
  • Attorney
  • Attorney Complete
  • President of the Tax Section for the Washington State Bar Association
Robert Chicoine advises clients in matters of state and federal taxation, be it planning to minimize tax disputes, effectively resolving administrative scrutiny by taxing authorities, or defending clients in litigation when tax controversies cannot be settled. He has been called upon to assist accountants and lawyers as an expert on issues of federal taxation and has been engaged by tax agencies in U.S. territories as a lead lawyer in complex litigation. His clients typically include corporations, partnerships, estates, and individuals. Mr. Chicoine is a seasoned lawyer who has tried cases throughout the United States in the U.S. Tax Court and U.S. district courts. He has appeared before several appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Over his distinguished legal career, Mr. Chicoine has represented clients in administrative, civil and criminal tax proceedings involving diverse issues in all phases of tax controversy. He has handled hundreds of cases before the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice, and revenue departments of state governments. Many of his most successful results are those that have never been published because they were resolved by negotiation. His priority is to cost effectively settle tax disputes without litigation, but if that is not possible, he will passionately defend his clients in court. Mr. Chicoine offers his clients the benefit of having worked for the Chief Counsel's Office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where he gained valuable experience as a Senior Trial and Tax Attorney for the IRS, and then as the founder of a law firm with a national reputation. He knows how the process works from the perspective of both sides. He also offers his clients the practical experience of having "worked in the trenches" as a courtroom lawyer who is responsible for the outcome of his client's case. Mr. Chicoine has served as President of the Tax Section for the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) and Editor-in-Chief of its Newsletter. He is also a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Administrative Tax Procedures Committee and the American Bar Association Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties Committee. Prior to forming Robert Chicoine Law, Mr. Chicoine was a founder of Chicoine and Hallett PS, where he practiced for over 40 years and was instrumental in its achievement as a tax specialty firm of national repute. As an offshoot of his tax practice, it is not unusual for Mr. Chicoine to be asked by clients to assist them with his negotiating skills in business transactions such as the valuation and sale of operating corporations and the resolution of commercial disputes. Mr. Chicoine is admitted to practice in the States of Washington, California, and Arizona. Mr. Chicoine was co-lead counsel in an eight day trial in the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado which sought a $29,000,000 tax refund arising out of an alleged Son of Boss transaction. The case was one of the few to result in a judgment for the taxpayer. There too, the Department of Justice called a financial expert witness to testify against the taxpayer. The IRS had paid the witness approximately $1,000,000 per year to testify in similar cases. The testimony of the IRS expert, who was crossed examined by Mr. Chicoine at trial, was rejected by the court.