Mark Williamson is a partner and chair of Alston & Bird's Wealth Planning and Exempt Organizations Group. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and practices in the areas of estate planning and federal taxation.
Mr. Williamson practiced with the Milwaukee law firm of Foley & Lardner before joining Alston & Bird and has been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and Georgia State University in Atlanta. He was on the faculties of the 1997, 1999, 2007, and 2011 Estate Planning Institutes in Athens, Georgia, and the 1997, 2000, 2007, and 2008 Fiduciary Law Institutes in St. Simons, Georgia.
In 1997, Mr. Williamson received the Estates and Trusts Magazine "Best Young Author Award" for a series of articles he co-authored with Professor Jeffrey Pennell of Emory University, and is the author of a BNA Tax Management Portfolio on tax treaties for individuals. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and is a Georgia "Super Lawyer."
Mr. Williamson also studied at the doctorate level at Louisiana State University and the Catholic University of America, and continues to perform professionally including a three-week tour of China in 2011-12.
- Works on a wide variety of tax and non-tax controversies, including fiduciary litigation, tax audits and litigation, divorce tax and estate planning issues, and offshore voluntary disclosure matters.
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One hundred and forty-seven Alston & Bird attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. The publication is universally regarded as among the few definitive guides to legal excellence, and its rankings are based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas.
September 18, 2012
In the Press
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September 12, 2011
In the Press
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August 30, 2010
In the Press
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“BNA Tax Management Portfolio 943,” U.S. Tax Treaties – Special Rules for Individuals, No. 937 (2010).
2010
Publications
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“Split-Dollar Notice May Be Good News for Non-Abusive Arrangements,” 14 J. Tax'n Fin. Inst. 27 (May/June 2001).
May/June 2001
Publications
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“The Economics of Prepaying Wealth Transfer Taxes,” J. Financial Services Professionals (Nov. 1998) at 62, (Jan. 1999) at 40.
1998 & 1999
Publications
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“The Economics of Prepaying Wealth Transfer Taxes,” 136 Trusts & Estates (June 1997) at 49, (July 1997) at 40, (Aug. 1997) at 52.
1997
Publications
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“Regulatory Theory and Deposit Insurance Reform,” 42 Clev. St. L. Rev. 105 (1994).
1994
Publications
- Board chair, Georgia Lawyers for the Arts and Jazz Orchestra Atlanta
- Trustee, The Charles Loridans Foundation
- Founder and music director of the brass chamber music group Il Brasso Magnifico
- Member, Order of the Coif
- Member, Board of Visitors, Florida State University Law School
- Former member, United States Air Force Band, 1984 – 1988
- Former chair, Fiduciary Law Section, State Bar of Georgia
- Former chair, Estate Planning and Probate Section, Atlanta Bar Association
- Former chair, Atlanta Estate Planning Council
- Former chair, Georgia Federal Tax Conference
- Former executive editor, Florida State University, Law Review
- Faculty, Fiduciary Law Institute, St. Simons, Georgia – 1997, 2000, 2007, 2008 (chair)
- Faculty, Estate Planning Institute, Athens, Georgia – 1997, 1999, 2007 (chair), 2011
- Faculty, State Bar of Georgia Basic Fiduciary Seminar – all years since 2000
- Faculty, New York State Bar Association International Law Section – 2002 (Rome), 2003 (Amsterdam); 2004 (London)
- Various seminars for lawyer and professional colleagues and private clients, 1999 to present: Bonn, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Duesseldorf