BoutinJones
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
James L. Leet
Senior Counsel
James Leet specializes in corporate, partnership and personal income tax planning and business advice to individuals and small and mid-sized businesses. He advises clients on issues relating to conservation easements, structure, formation and operation of partnerships, limited liability companies, and planning and implementation of corporate reorganizations, business sales and acquisitions. He also has extensive experience in advising on tax issues involving real estate transactions, like kind exchanges and conveying conservation easements. Jim is a frequent speaker on corporate, partnership and tax issues for firm-sponsored seminars, state and local bar associations and private seminar companies.
The economy has had a huge effect on tax planning, and it continues to impact what I do. I see companies positioning to grow, but there continues to be ramifications for our region of working out of the recession.
“I perform business and taxation work independently and alongside our group of corporate and securities advisors. I help clients to structure, change and dispose of their organization’s activities in a way that is sensitive to what the tax implications are going to be.”
I'm still developing new interests. In the last few years, I've been very focused on hiking, gratefully experiencing the varied beauty of our world. I hiked the entire state of California - about 400 miles - from east to west. I went with a group of people over a long series of weekends and we hiked between 12 - 15 miles a day. I've also hiked the Milford, Routeburn and Kepler Tracks in New Zealand and Haute Route in Switzerland. In 2016, I finished the Laugavegur Trail in Iceland. Great hikes, but now I would like to hike the many trails in the USA.
Involvement
Articles
2016
Value Added Tax: Has the Time Come? Tax Notes, Vol. 153, No. 2 pp. 277-282, Author
2014
Current Trends in LLC and Partnership Taxation, Regulatory and Proposed Legislation Pertaining to Partnership/LLC Structuring: Tips for Attorneys, Aspatore Books, Author
2012-2014
Lobbying, PACs and Campaign Finance – 50 State Handbook, 2012-2014 Education, State Capital Group (California Chapter), published by West, Thompson Reuters, Co-Author
2010-2011
Conservation Easements: Benefits in Preserving Land, Author
Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, Co-Author
2008
Sale or Exchange of Conservation Easements, California Rangeland Trust News, Spring 2008, Author
2007
In the Tax Interests of the Client, Inside the Minds – Tax Law Client Strategies: Leading Lawyers on Understanding and Allocating Risks, Assessing Settlements and Negotiations, and Developing Deal Strategies, Aspatore Books, Author
2003-2007
The Limited Liability Company, Co-Author
Presentations
2018
Internal Revenue Code Section 199A, Sacramento County Bar Tax Section 5th Annual Tax Symposium, Presenter
2017
Partnership Allocations of Liabilities, California CPA Federal, State and International Conference, Presenter
2016
Recent Tax Decisions: Legislative and IRS Updates, California Council of Land Trusts Conservation Law Forum, Presenter
2015
Tax Consequences of Conservation Easements, American Agricultural Law Association Regional Conference, Presenter
Qualified Real Property Interests, California Council of Land Trusts, Presenter
2014
Short Sales and Foreclosures, Annual Income Tax Seminar, State Bar of California Tax Section, Presenter
Hot Topics in Real Estate Taxation, California CPA Real Estate Forum, Co-Presenter
Tax Trends in Pass-Through Entities, Sacramento County Bar Tax Section, Presenter
Issues Involving Mineral Rights in Gifting Conservation Easements, California Council of Land Trusts Annual Meeting 2014, Presenter
2013
“Exit Strategies,” Sacramento Business Owner’s Conference, Presenter
Honors
Sacramento Magazine Top Lawyer, 2015 – 2021
The Best Lawyers in America in Tax Law, 2006 – 2022
State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization Honor for 20 Years as a Certified Taxation Law Specialist, 2007
Northern California Super Lawyer, 2006 – 2022
The Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year in Tax Law, 2019
Sacramento Business Journal Best of the Bar, 2013 – 2017, 2019 – 2020
Associate Editor, Santa Clara Law Review
Professional Associations and Memberships
Board Member, Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization, 2008–2014
Member, Sacramento County Bar Association – Tax Section
Board Member, Resource Area for Teaching, 2007 – 2010
Board Member, Sacramento Rotary, 2010 – 2012
Trustee, Sacramento Rotary Foundation, 2014 – 2018
Member, Sacramento Rotary, 2005 – Present
President, Arden Carmichael, Inc., 2001 – 2011
President, Sacramento Transportation Management Association, 1999 – 2003
Board Member, Juvenile Diabetes Association, 2002 – 2004
First Chair of the Sacramento County Bar Association –Tax Section, 1985
Community
Adjunct Professor of Law, McGeorge School Law, University of the Pacific, Partnership Taxation, 2011 – 2018
President, Sacramento Rotary Foundation, 2016 – 2017
Adjunct Professor of Law, Martin Luther King Law School, University of California, Davis, Corporate Taxation, 2016 – 2017
Trustee, Sacramento Rotary Foundation, 2014
Board Member, Sacramento Rotary, 2010—2012
Member, Sacramento Rotary, 2005–Present
President, Arden Carmichael, Inc., 2001–2011