William B. Sherman
Partner
Overview
William B. Sherman advises clients on domestic and international tax planning for mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, joint ventures and investments, helping clients structure transactions that account for tax consequences across jurisdictions. Based in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, he counsels financial and strategic investors across a broad range of industries, including private equity, healthcare, hospitality, petrochemicals, aluminum, real estate, transportation, telecommunications, retailing, investment management and pharmaceuticals.
Cross-border investment is a core part of Bill's practice. He advises on transactions involving U.S. investment overseas and foreign investment in the U.S., addressing the international, federal, state and local tax issues that can determine how a transaction is structured and how it performs.
Beyond cross-border transactions, he counsels clients on the tax aspects of structuring investment management funds, corporate reorganizations, partnerships, equipment leasing, Subchapter S corporations, executive compensation and stock options, as well as trusts and estates. This breadth allows William to align tax planning with a client's broader business and investment objectives.
A well-known lecturer, Bill chairs New York University's Summer Institute in Taxation's Introductory and Advanced International Tax Seminars and its Institute on Federal Taxation International Tax Program. For 12 years, he was an adjunct professor of tax law in the University of Miami Graduate Tax Program, where he taught courses in Taxation of Merger and Acquisitions and Outbound Foreign Tax.
Bill is a past chair of Holland & Knight's Tax Team. He also is past chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Tax Section Committee on U.S. Activities of Foreigners and Tax Treaties and has served on numerous panels for The Florida Bar, ABA, Southern Federal Tax Institute and others. Bill is admitted to practice in New York and Florida. His teaching and bar leadership reflect his extensive knowledge of tax issues involving mergers and acquisitions and international tax matters, which he applies to clients' transactional and planning needs.
Representative Experience
- Tax Structuring: advised one of the nation's leading physician-led nephrology organizations in connection with a strategic investment from a major private equity firm; the engagement consists of 1) assisting with the structuring of ongoing acquisitions, and 2) negotiating the transaction documents
- Tax Structuring: advised an investor that is in the business of developing, owning, operating and investing in renewable energy projects in North America; firm handled all of the structuring of the investment, including tax structuring
- Tax Structuring: advised a private equity company that manages more than $2 billion in private equity capital on behalf of leading institutional family offices, foundations, endowments and pensions in connection with a sale of a majority of the equity interests of a company
- Tax Structuring: advised on the tax structuring of the domestication of a foreign company engaged in U.S. government contracting work and its transition to domestic ownership; this tax structure enabled the company to retain its status in its home country
- Tax Structuring: advised on the tax structuring of a $200 million-plus investment in four venture real estate developments projects on an island in the Caribbean, resulting in a minimization of local and U.S. tax liability
- State Taxation: advised a foreign-based company on U.S. state tax issues, from tax rulings and tax registrations to minimization of overall tax consequences involving multiple states, in the context of the company’s restructuring and expansion of business in U.S. markets
Credentials
- Brooklyn Law School, J.D., with honors
- Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, B.A., cum laude
- New York University School of Law, LL.M., Taxation
- Florida
- New York
- New York University School of Professional Studies (NYU SPS) 84th Institute on Federal Taxation, Co-Chair, 2025
- American College of Tax Counsel, Fellow
- New York University's Institute on Federal Taxation, Advisory Board
- American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, U.S. Activities of Foreigners and Tax Treaties Committee, Past Chair
- New York State Bar Association, Tax Law Section
- International Fiscal Association
- The Florida Bar, Tax Law Section
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Litigation and Controversy – Tax, 2005-2027; Tax Law, 2013-2027; Closely Held Companies and Family Business Law, 2014-2027
- Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers guide, Tax, 2009-2026
- The Legal 500 USA, Tax – International Tax, Tax – U.S. Taxes: Non-Contentious, 2023-2026
- Leading Global Tax Lawyers, Lawdragon 500, 2025, 2026
- Who's Who Legal: Corporate Tax, 2018; Corporate Tax – Advisory, 2019, 2022
- Top Lawyer: Tax Law, Fort Lauderdale Illustrated, 2020
- Who's Who Legal Florida: Corporate Tax, 2020
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Fort Lauderdale Litigation and Controversy – Tax Lawyer of the Year, 2020, 2022
- Florida Super Lawyers magazine, 2015-2019
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated
