OZ MAGAZINE 2022 Top 25 Influencers issue 2.2 | Page 29

TOP 25 ATTORNEYS
29

BRADFORD COHEN

JEFFER MANGELS BUTLER & MITCHELL LLP

Brad Cohen is a partner in JMBM ' s Taxation , Trusts & Estates Group , with a practice emphasizing business planning related to complex corporate and partnership transactions . Cohen advises real estate industry clients in sales , acquisitions , deferred exchanges , and financing , including structuring of Qualified Opportunity Zone funds . He is well-known for his business and tax advice related to the music , motion picture , television , emerging media technology , and sports industries . He has incorporated his personal commitment to philanthropy into a key element of his legal practice , providing multi-faceted counsel to clients regarding their involvement in charitable endeavors .

WHAT NEW TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE OPPORTUNITY ZONE INDUSTRY ?
It has become more challenging to find desirable Opportunity Zone tracts around the major metropolitan areas . Many qualifying properties have been taken , or are selling at premiums . Although we continue to represent mostly real estate investors and developers actively seeking QOZ investments , we are seeing more creative entrepreneurs explore the use of tracts to develop businesses . These include entrepreneurs in the e-commerce , cryptocurrency and art industries . The QOZ tax benefits continue to present a great opportunity for real estate entrepreneurs to attract capital by offering investors potentially unparalleled after-tax returns on successful investments held for 10 or more years .

JOSEPH B . DARBY III

JOSEPH DARBY LAW PC

Joseph B . “ Jay ” Darby III is a tax attorney and founder of the Boston-based Joseph Darby Law PC , a firm that concentrates on helping people with tax matters , from the common to the most complex . Darby was one of the early proponents of Opportunity Zones , and has been at the leading edge of the legislation since first enacted . The attorney and tax advisor for more than 100 successful QOFs to date , Darby has been recognized for 13 straight years as one of the best tax lawyers in the U . S . by Best Lawyers ®. He is also Adjunct Professor at Boston University Law School , where he teaches the only full semester law-school course in the U . S . that concentrates solely on Opportunity Zones .

WHAT NEW TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE OPPORTUNITY ZONE INDUSTRY ?
The OZ industry has matured and QOF investment transactions are becoming easier to structure and implement -- although never easy , given the complexity of the law and the sophisticated technical requirements of the regulations . The most striking change is that far more transactions are now moving to the implementation phase -- money is being spent , real estate constructed , businesses launched . I have played a central role since 2018 in designing , structuring and implementing successful OZ transactions and look forward to helping businesses and taxpayers create new OZ projects and enjoy the remarkable OZ tax incentives again in 2022 .
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