Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP announced that, effective January 1, 2015, Dahlia B. Doumar and Aron Fischer have become partners of the firm and Megan E. Bell, Jennifer Weitz Brown and Jonah M. Knobler have become counsel.
Dahlia B. Doumar practices in the firm’s Tax department. Her practice is broad and sophisticated, including both domestic and foreign for-profit companies, exempt organizations, high net worth individuals and family offices. Ms. Doumar works extensively in the exempt organizations area counseling clients on unrelated business income tax issues, investment structuring, rules governing the maintenance of donor advised funds, reporting regarding foreign investments and grants, self-dealing, intermediate sanctions and excise tax issues generally. In the corporate area, Ms. Doumar advises clients on numerous matters, including corporate reorganizations and recapitalizations, restructuring of distressed companies, business acquisitions and dispositions, partnership and limited liability company investments, compensation planning and charitable tax planning. Further, Ms. Doumar represents clients, both for-profit and not-for-profit, before the Internal Revenue Service, New York State and New York City involving audits and private letter ruling requests. She received her LL.M. from New York University School of Law. She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law, magna cum laude, and her B.A. from Boston University, magna cum laude.
Aron Fischer is a litigator whose practice focuses on intellectual property and complex commercial disputes and who also has significant experience in employment and defamation matters. Mr. Fischer appears regularly in patent and trademark trials, appeals, and arbitrations, and works frequently with expert witnesses. Mr. Fischer also maintains an active pro bono practice on behalf of low-income clients. Mr. Fischer served as a Law Clerk to the Hon. Robert Sack of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Attorney General's Honors Program under Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo. He obtained his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as Comments Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He received his A.B. from Harvard University, magna cum laude, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Megan E. Bell practices in the firm's Tax-Exempt Organizations department. Ms. Bell advises public charities (including donor-advised fund sponsors and supporting organizations), private foundations, social welfare organizations, and other tax-exempt entities on tax compliance and general corporate matters. She also assists organizations with formation and restructuring, corporate governance and policies, charitable giving and solicitation, unrelated business activities, international grantmaking, joint ventures, lobbying, and political campaign activities. In addition, Ms. Bell has represented a variety of tax-exempt organizations in connection with Attorney General inquiries and Internal Revenue Service audits. Ms. Bell clerked for Judge Richard C. Tallman of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She received her LL.M. from New York University School of Law and her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, cum laude, where she was elected Order of the Coif and was Senior Articles Editor of the Northwestern University Law Review. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, magna cum laude, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Jennifer Weitz Brown practices in the firm's Trusts and Estates Group. Ms. Brown specializes in estate and tax planning for high-net worth individuals and families, with a focus on inter-generational planning. Her practice involves the administration of trusts and estates, all aspects of Surrogate’s Court practice, including probate and guardianship proceedings, and planning for charitable giving and philanthropy. Ms. Brown received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review. She received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, summa cum laude, where she became a member of the Psi Chi Honor Society, the John Marshall Honor Society, and the Golden Key Honor Society.
Jonah M. Knobler practices in the firm’s Litigation department. His practice focuses on copyright and trademark litigation, class-action defense, and litigation involving FDA-regulated products. Mr. Knobler’s publications on digital copyright have been cited in law review articles, in U.S. Supreme Court briefing, in the leading treatise Nimmer on Copyright, and in the Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies. From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Knobler served as a Law Clerk to the Hon. Danny J. Boggs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Knobler served as a Law Clerk to the Hon. Frederic Block of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude, where he was awarded the Nathan Burkan Prize for Copyright Law by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He received his B.A. from Harvard University, cum laude, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP is a New York City based law firm with more than 200 lawyers. The firm is ranked seventh on The American Lawyer's 2014 "A-List" of the 20 leading law firms in the United States. Patterson Belknap delivers a full range of services across approximately 20 practice groups in both litigation and commercial law. For more information, please visit www.pbwt.com.
