Mittel Law is a boutique practice handling the tax and transactional work that decides whether a deal, a transfer, or an exit goes smoothly — or expensively. One attorney, direct, with no file handed down to a junior.
Entity choice, transaction structuring, and the federal and state tax consequences worked out before they become assessments. We model how an S corporation, a partnership, or a C corporation actually behaves over the life of a business — distributions, basis, payroll, and the eventual sale — so the structure you start with is still the right one when you exit. The goal is fewer surprises and a smaller bill, both from counsel and from the government.
Formation, financing, and the purchase and sale of businesses, along with the operating and shareholder agreements that hold owners together when money is at stake. We draft for the disagreement that has not happened yet — how a partner is bought out, how a deadlock breaks, how value is measured — because that is where ordinary documents quietly fail.
Moving a business and its value to the next generation with the tax exposure planned rather than discovered after the fact. Gifts, trusts, buy-sell arrangements, and a transfer timeline that respects both the tax code and the family. A succession plan should let the founder step back on their own terms, not force a sale to cover a tax bill.
Audits, appeals, penalty abatement, and resolution when a position is challenged — handled by the same person who structured it. We respond to notices on time, frame the facts clearly, and keep the matter at the lowest level that will resolve it. Most controversies are won by preparation and a credible record long before anyone reaches a hearing.
Mittel Law is built around a simple idea: the person you hire is the person who does the work. There is no associate learning on your file, no partner who appears only to bill the introduction, and no handoff between the lawyer who quotes the matter and the lawyer who carries it. From the first call through the final signature, you work with the principal directly.
That arrangement only holds if the practice stays small, so it does. We take a deliberately limited number of matters at any one time, which keeps each one careful and keeps our advice grounded in your actual facts rather than a form. When a matter needs a capability we do not hold in-house — a courtroom litigator, a business appraiser, out-of-state tax counsel — we bring in the right specialist and coordinate the work, rather than stretch beyond what one office should claim to do.
We also try to be plain. Tax and corporate law is full of language built to obscure, and a client who does not understand the structure cannot make a good decision about it. We explain the options in ordinary terms, name the trade-offs, and let you choose with the costs and risks in front of you.
Jonathan founded Mittel Law after fifteen years advising businesses on the tax side of their most consequential transactions, including a long stint as the lone tax attorney inside a transactions-heavy firm. He holds an LL.M. in Taxation and works directly with every client.
Read the full profile (PDF)