Meet The Team
James M. Duggan, MBA, JD
James M. Duggan is a founding principal of DUGGAN BERTSCH, LLC, a Chicago-based business, tax, estate and wealth planning firm comprised of attorneys and accountants. Jim’s practice has concentrated principally on business and corporate law, and estate and wealth planning, primarily as they relate to closely held business interests and high net worth families. Jim’s experience in the structuring and implementation of Family Offices, sophisticated tax planning, and asset protection planning strategies is nationally recognized, as is his role in the firm’s development of a leading multidisciplinary planning protocol. In addition to giving frequent lectures and authoring articles in his areas of concentration, Jim also serves as a director on numerous for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
Jim’s educational background includes attaining a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Magna Cum Laude), a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from the DePaul University Graduate School of Business (Summa Cum Laude), and a Juris Doctor from the DePaul University College of Law, where he was awarded positions on both the DePaul Law Review and DePaul Business Law Journal.
Publications
Congratulations to our 2023 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars!
The Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars is an honor reserved for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice. Only 5% of attorneys in Illinois receive this distinction. Attorneys are selected through a patented selection process involving nominations, research, and peer reviews. In addition to our numerous prior and existing award recipients, DUGGAN BERTSCH, LLC […]
FTC Proposes Rule Prohibiting Non-Compete Clauses for Workers
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed a new rule that would prohibit non-compete provisions for workers and require employers to rescind existing non-competes. The proposed rule would apply to all employees, independent contractors, and consultants. The broad proposed rule would apply even to senior level executives and could potentially implicate agreements […]
Timothy Liam Epstein was referenced in the Pitchfork article entitled, “How the Music Community Is Fighting the Drug Overdose Epidemic” that was published on December 16, 2022
“But there are legal considerations around actually using it that depend on city and state rules. According to the Prescription Drug Abuse Policy System, a database of prescription drug laws operated by Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, in 13 states, including Virginia, Arizona, and Florida, someone who administers the medication to another person does […]
2022 Year End Newsletter
Dear Clients and Colleagues, As the fourth quarter of 2022 is drawing to a close, we recommend that you review your comprehensive wealth planning and business structures to ensure that it is consistent with your long-term objectives. While the recent mid-term election results are still not final, with a Senate run-off left in Georgia, it […]
Estate & Gift Tax Planning 2022 Review
As indicated above, the recent changes to congressional control following the mid-term elections will likely mean a stalemate in Congress for the next 2 years with respect to any meaningful tax legislation. This means that from an estate planning perspective, the increased lifetime exemptions enacted as part of TCJA will continue to be available for […]
Pass-Through Business Tax Planning 2022 Review
The relationship between individual taxpayers and their businesses continue to offer opportunity for effective tax savings, including the use in certain circumstances of C corporation structures to arbitrage tax rates, allow for greater deductions and potentially offer savings on an exit. However, much tax planning continues to focus on accessing these benefits before they sunset […]
Salt & Local Tax Planning 2022 Review
The TCJA imposed a $10,000 limitation on individual’s deduction for payment of state and local taxes in itemizing their deductions. For many high taxed states, this resulted in significant limitations on state income and property tax deductibility and resulted in an effort to find a workaround from the legislation to allow for deductibility. Most states […]
Timothy Liam Epstein and industry experts joined forces at this year’s IEBA Annual Conference
The conference took place in Nashville from October 11-13, 2022. Tim spoke on the Terms & Conditions Power Panel. CLICK HERE for a recap on part 1 of the Terms & Condition Power Panel: https://www.ieba.org/2022panelrecaps/terms-amp-conditions-power-panel-part-1-insurance-and-employment-practices CLICK HERE for a recap on part 2 of the Terms & Condition Power Panel: https://www.ieba.org/2022panelrecaps/terms-amp-conditions-power-panel-part-2-contracts-and-yet-another-discussion-of-cois CLICK HERE for a […]
The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin Published Timothy Liam EPSTEIN’s Article Entitled, “The plot thickens in players’ defamation suit over PEDs report.”
When a professional baseball player is accused of using performance-enhancing drugs (“PEDs,” inclusive of hormones for purposes of this article), the implications can be catastrophic.