Jeremy Babener

Jeremy is a nationally recognized tax expert. He advises plaintiffs and plaintiff firms on settlement strategies, maximizing recovery value. He also vets and designs settlement transactions for trust companies, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

He has advised on cases and recoveries of all types and sizes, including single event, mass tort, and class action. In doing so Jeremy typically advises on settlement language, recommends tax and financial strategies, and negotiates their use with defense counsel.

He has vetted and created financial instruments, trust solutions, and deferral programs. One such arrangement is the Plaintiff Fund Charity, which provides a free service to plaintiffs protecting them from losing Medicaid eligibility when raising medical funds.

Jeremy serves on the ABA TIPS Plaintiffs' Practice Committee and chairs the Society of Settlement Planners' Legal Committee. He previously served as a Fellow in the U.S. Treasury's Office of Tax Policy.

He lectures on settlement taxation and ethics at law schools, including University of Chicago and NYU School of Law. He writes on these subjects for Forbes, Bloomberg, and the ABA, and discusses them on CNN, Fox News, and CNBC.

Jeremy co-authored Winning Settlements, a Trial Guides Book, with co-authors James Abernathy, Charla Aldous, Aaron Broussard, Aaron DeShaw, Joe Fried, Mark Kosieradski, Michael Leizerman, Patrick Malone, Randi McGinn, Jack Meligan, Michael Neff, Courtney Rowley, Nicholas Rowley, Sean Simpson, James Stout, and Brent Walker.

After earning his J.D. and Tax LL.M. at NYU School of Law he served in the U.S. Treasury's Office of Tax Policy. He later became an associate, and then Special Tax Counsel, at law firm Lane Powell. There he served in the Tax Practice Group, providing tax advice to firm attorneys and clients across all practice areas, including mergers and acquisitions, retirement planning, employment, and litigation. While doing so, half or more of his time practice was focused on advising plaintiffs and plaintiff lawyers.

Though he is a tax lawyer now, Jeremy originally planned to be a trial lawyer. As an aspiring trial lawyer at NYU Jeremy clerked in the U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Tort Claims Act Section. When NYU cancelled his 2L Evidence Course he switched to a Tax Policy Course. In it he wrote his Law Review Article on a critical plaintiff tax issue raised during his clerkship: the strategic use of Qualified Settlement Funds. To do so he interviewed plaintiff lawyers and advisors across the country, many of whom later became his clients.

Jeremy lives in Portland, Oregon, advising plaintiffs and plaintiff lawyers across the country.