People

Philip D. W. Hodgen

Degrees? Sure. Degree in Economics (cum laude) from Claremont McKenna College. Law degree from the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. Master of Laws (Taxation) from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Experience? Yep. Admitted to the California bar in 1982. Small boutique international tax law firm, large-ish entertainment law firm (I did tax and corporate transactions. IANAEL.) Trust department of massive U.S. bank (Security Pacific National Bank), jettisoned along with 12,000 close personal friends when Bank of America bought SPNB. Rejected job offers from juggernaut tax factories and started own firm in 1991 on minuscule severance package. Never looked back.

World? Of course. Spent a chunk of my youth in the bush outside Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) an hour from the Botswana border. Oh, boy. I still remember what a big deal it was to go “into town.”

Another chunk of time in Somerset West (outside Cape Town) in South Africa. Unbelievable beach at The Strand. Loved to go to Gordon’s Bay and poke around the docks and see the fishing boats. I have a snoek horn around here somewhere.

Another chunk of time in New Zealand. Auckland first, then Queenstown. Worked a summer then through the winter at Coronet Peak. There’s nothing like digging in frozen ground through the snow, with a pick, to persuade you that education is a Good Thing.

(You came to the United States from another country? I know what that’s like.)

Professional chops? That too. Past Chair of the International Tax Committee of the State Bar of California’s Tax Section. Member of the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California’s Tax Section for 2004-2007. (The Tax Section is the only statewide association of tax lawyers in California, with more than 3,000 members). On the organizing committee of the California Society of CPA’s premiere annual conference–the two day Tax Update and Planning Conference. Also on the organizing committee for the California Society of CPA’s annual International Tax Conference. Frequent speaker at both Conferences and many other events.