Michael Powlen
Attorney
Location / Bay Area
Phone / (888) 742-3868
Email /
Admissions /
State Bar of California
Michael Powlen is a Partner of VLP. Prior to joining VLP, Michael was a founder of Global Law, LLP, a boutique law firm specializing in tax, estate planning, business, real estate and international transactions. Global Law, LLP, operated on a virtual business model similar to that of VLP. Prior to Global Law, LLP, Michael was a long-time partner at Morrison and Foerster, LLP, where he served as chairman of the tax department. Michael has handled a wide variety of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, financing, leasing, licensing, structured finance, entity formation and structuring, real estate transactions, executive compensation, and international transactions. He has formed and advised corporations, S corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, trusts, REITs, mutual funds, REMICs, and hybrid entities. He has advised clients such as Morgan Stanley, Lazard Freres, Bank of America, Clorox, Fujitsu, Intel, PMC-Sierra, Plantronics, Oracle, JDS Uniphase, BEA, Prudential, Nestlé, Bechtel, Catellus, Merck, McKesson, Spieker Properties, Glenborough Properties, BRE Properties, Inc., Essex Properties, and companies that have been acquisition targets of Viacom, Microsoft, Sun, Cisco and others.
Michael received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1984, where he was Order of the Coif and Senior Article Editor for the Stanford Law Review. Michael has taught at Stanford Law School, lectured on various topics for the Practicing Law Institute, ALI/ABA, the NYU Tax Institute, the Tax Executives Institute, California CEB, and other professional organizations. Michael has published a number of articles and co-authored the chapter on Series LLCs for the treatise Forming and Operating California Limited Liability Companies published by CEB. Michael is a past co-chair of the Partnership and Pass-through Committee of the California State Bar Section of Taxation. He has served on committees of the Section of Taxation of the American Bar Association.