Saul Mezei is a partner in the Washington D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and a member of the firm’s Global Tax Controversy and Litigation Practice Group.  His practice spans the federal tax controversy area and focuses on international tax and transfer pricing.  He has substantial experience advising clients at all stages of federal tax controversy, from audit and administrative appeals to trial and judicial appeals.

Mr. Mezei’s clients turn to him for counsel on a wide range of tax controversy matters, including international transfer pricing, foreign tax credits partnership tax, employment taxes, and civil penalties.  He also advises on a variety of other complex domestic and international issues.

For three consecutive years The Legal 500 has named Mr. Mezei to its list of Next Generation Partners in the Tax category.  Mr. Mezei also has been recognized as a Rising Star by Law360.

Representative matters include:*

• Western Digital Corporation & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, T.C. Docket Nos. 18984-18 and 4818-19 (transfer pricing and section 956) (pending)
• The Coca-Cola Company & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, 155 T.C. __ (2020) (transfer pricing and foreign tax credits; 10-week trial)
• Reflectxion Resources, Inc. v. Commissioner, T.C. Docket No. 12017-16, T.C. Memo. 2020-114 (section 3401(d) and section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978)
• Amazon.com, Inc. & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, 148 T.C. 108 (2017) (transfer pricing (cost-sharing) issues) (>5-week trial), aff’d934 F.3d 976 (9th Cir. 2019)
• Thomas & Betts Corporation & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, T.C. Docket No. 4120-17 (transfer pricing) (settled in 2019)
• Cooper v. Commissioner, T.C. Docket No. 18249-15 (income and deductions, employment status, and additions to tax) (settled in 2019)
• kgb and Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, Tax Court Docket No. 4667-13 (transfer pricing) (settled in 2017)
• Appleton v. Commissioner, 140 T.C. 273 (2013) (statute of limitations) (as amicus) (Tax Court adopted position advocated in amicus filing)
• Baldwin v. United States, Docket 3:12-cv-59 (D. Nev.) (section 165 loss) (settled in 2013)
• Stander v. Commissioner, Tax Court Docket No. 27114-11 (6015 relief) (settled in 2012)
• Wrk2trvl, Inc. v. Commissioner, Tax Court Docket Nos. 19229-10 and 19930-10 (S corporation/ESOP; statute of limitations) (settled in 2011)

*Includes matters handled prior to joining Gibson Dunn

Mr. Mezei is an adjunct professor in the Graduate Tax Program of Georgetown University Law Center, where he currently teaches “Survey of Transfer Pricing.”  He also taught a transfer-pricing course in Georgetown University Law Center’s inaugural Saudi Tax Leaders Program, an intensive program designed specifically for leaders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s tax and customs authority.  He previously taught a class on administrative and litigation procedure.  He is a co-author of “Transfer Pricing: Litigation Strategy and Tactics,” Bloomberg Tax, Transfer Pricing Portfolio 6932.

Mr. Mezei received his law degree cum laude from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in 2002, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.  He received an LL.M. in Taxation with distinction from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2009.  He served as attorney-advisor to Judge Robert A. Wherry, Jr. of the U.S. Tax Court and senior law clerk to Judge Lawrence B. Hagel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from University of Baltimore.

Mr. Mezei is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the United States Tax Court.