Go Back

Joel A. Peters-Fransen

Solving Problems and Collaborating with Others are my Favorite Parts of the Job.

Contact: P /612.604.6798E /[email protected]

Education

Harvard Law School, JD, magna cum laude

• Harvard Law Review

University of Toronto, M.Sc., Mathematics

The University of Winnipeg, B.Sc. (Hons), Governor General’s Silver Medal (graduated first in class), Mathematics

Bar Admissions

California
Minnesota
Illinois

My Approach

For me, practicing tax law occupies a sweet spot that combines a high degree of analytical precision and substantial room for creativity and outside-the-box thinking to achieve a client’s business goals. To practice tax law well, a complete understanding of a client’s business objectives and the economic deal at the heart of a transaction are essential, so it also requires a high degree of curiosity and an ability to speak plainly (in a jargon-free manner) with clients. As with most tax lawyers, I feel very lucky to be able to work in an area that is both intellectually satisfying and also produces measurable value for clients.

Tax law also provides me with tremendous opportunities to collaborate. I regularly interact with business stakeholders, executives and leaders, as well as attorneys, accountants, and other advisors, so much so that I often feel like part of my clients’ teams. It’s a role I understand well, having previously worked as a tax counsel at a major U.S. multinational company. I’m able to leverage my past, first-hand experience advising on complex internal restructurings, tax planning projects, and a wide variety of U.S. and non-U.S. tax issues arising from complex international business transactions, to bring value and help drive decision making for my clients.

Outside the office, I am an aspiring multi-instrumentalist (piano, guitar, bass), very amateur marathon and triathlon competitor, and involved parent to four children.

Practice Areas

Practicing Tax

My Experience

Having worked at both the largest private equity legal practice in the world and a major U.S. multinational company, I have substantial experience advising on the tax aspects and structuring of mergers and acquisitions, real estate transactions, bankruptcy and out-of-court restructurings, and other complex business transactions. I have worked extensively with both strategic and financial sponsor clients and have substantial experience with both domestic and international transactions and structuring.

Most recently, my practice has focused on advising private investment fund sponsors and investors on all federal income tax matters critical to their business, including fund formation and structuring, sponsor liquidity transactions, and tax considerations at both the fund and sponsor levels arising from underlying portfolio investments. Additionally, I assist clients with internal economic and tax planning including strategic and tax-optimized structuring and succession planning.

I have experience advising asset managers and investors on the tax considerations relevant to a wide variety of asset strategies, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, secondaries, real estate, energy, credit, distressed and special situations. I have advised asset managers of all sizes (<$100 million AUM to $350+ billion AUM) with operations and investments in more than a dozen countries.

Prior to returning to live and work full-time in Minnesota, I was the lead tax lawyer for the largest private investment funds practice on the west coast.

Representative Matters

• Advised private equity sponsors and other alternative investment asset managers on tax-efficient structuring of investment funds, ranging from $100+ million to $17+ billion in commitments.
• Represented numerous sponsors in GP-led fund restructurings and continuation fund transactions across multiple asset strategies, including as the lead tax partner for Clearlake Capital Partners’ Icon I – Icon V transactions, two of which, Icon I and Icon IV, were recognized by Private Equity International as the Secondaries Deal of the Year for the Americas for 2020 and 2021, respectively.
• Led structuring on multiple “GP stake” sale and similar asset manager-enterprise level transactions (including structured equity and loan products).

Please note that some of the transactions listed above were done at a prior firm.

Also experienced in

General Corporate

Private Investment Funds

Tax Credit Financing & Syndication

Private Equity

Honors & Awards

The Legal 500 United States

International Tax, 2020