Robert H. Wellen, Attorney

Mr. Wellen is a partner in Ivins, Phillips & Barker's Washington office and currently serves on the firm's Management Committee. His practice centers on tax planning of business transactions and handling controversies with the Internal Revenue Service. In particular, Mr. Wellen has developed a national reputation in handling the tax aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, joint ventures, and financings. He has also served as an arbitrator and as an expert witness in commercial disputes with tax issues. Matters on which Mr. Wellen has worked in recent years include Union Pacific's sale of its Overnite trucking business to a new public company, H.J. Heinz's spin-off and disposition of Star-Kist Foods, VISA International's reorganization of its European operations, and the arbitration of a tax dispute arising out of DuPont's spin-off of Conoco.

Mr. Wellen received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1971 and his Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center, having previously graduated magna cum laude from Yale College in 1968. Following law school, Mr. Wellen served in the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, and in 1975 he joined the Washington, D.C., office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP. He joined Ivins, Phillips & Barker as a partner in 1993.

Mr. Wellen lectures and writes on topics such as corporate acquisitions, restructurings, and spin-offs. His articles on tax subjects have been published in the PLI Volumes on Corporate Transactions, Tax Notes, Journal of Taxation, and other publications. He is active in the Tax Section of the American Bar Association, the Tax Committee of the District of Columbia Bar, and the American College of Tax Counsel.