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Linda Swartz, the longtime chair of Cadwalader's Tax Group and a member of the firm's Management Committee, focuses her practice on structuring complex global mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, joint ventures, and restructurings, and on foreign tax planning strategies. She also regularly advises clients on fund structures, financings and derivative transactions.
Linda is consistently recognized as one of the premier tax lawyers in the country, including recently receiving the Marquis Who’s Who “Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award” for her “achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field,” and her “reputation for excellence” in her practice. Linda has also been named one of 14 “Influential Women In Tax Law” by Law360, noted for her role as “a key architect on billion-dollar transactions involving major multinational companies” with clients describing her tax structuring expertise as “so strong that we don’t even go to the IRS to get a blessing from them. We go to Linda to get a blessing from her.” Dow Jones, reporting on Procter & Gamble’s Reverse Morris Trust transaction with Coty, noted that “it isn’t often you see a tax adviser credited on a deal, but that’s exactly what happened for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in P&G’s complicated $12.5 billion unloading of its beauty business to Coty.” Linda was also recognized as “2017 Foreign Tax Planning Lawyer of the Year” by Finance Monthly.
Repeatedly recognized as a leading tax lawyer by industry publications, Linda has been named to the Legal 500 Hall of Fame, with clients describing her as “the gold standard for structured M&A transactions. Once a transaction is completed, Tax VPs and CFOs rest easy knowing that Linda’s meticulous planning details have minimized their risks,” with others quoted as saying “her knowledge of the law and how to apply the law to each client’s specific business is unequaled,” and that “[Linda] is the most trusted tax adviser that we have. . . it is not only her deep understanding of the tax law, rather it is also her deep understanding of our business model.” Chambers USA has described Linda as having a “vast reservoir of practical knowledge” and “a wealth of experience in tax matters, including those relating to bankruptcies and high-value corporate transactions,” with clients also highlighting her "unmatched ability to guide you through the tax law” and lauding her as both “practical and extremely knowledgeable” and “an expert on the law of today but cognizant of where the law might go in the future, allowing clients to make decisions which last for the next ten years.” Clients quoted by The Best Lawyers in America have described Linda as “the foremost U.S. tax advisor on structured acquisition and divestiture deals” and “a professional force of nature” with “extraordinary technical ability, coupled with fiercest and most trenchant deal negotiation skills of any transactional tax lawyer.”
Beyond her important body of legal work, Swartz’s long-time leadership and advocacy on diversity and inclusion initiatives supports the advancement of women and other diverse attorneys. She is the founder of the Cadwalader Taskforce for the Advancement of Women, a member of the firm’s Global Diversity Oversight Committee, a partner sponsor for the Cadwalader LGBT affinity network, and is an active member of the firm’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. Linda is also lead organizer for the firm’s four year-old Civil Rights Series, a program of year-round events that highlight civil rights issues featuring notable individuals and organizations at the forefront of today’s civil rights movement. As a testament to her leadership and demonstrated commitment to advancing the empowerment of women in law, Linda was honored with an ALM Corporate Counsel “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 2020 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards. In further recognition of these efforts, Linda was named to the 2022 and 2021 Crain’s New York Business “Notable LGBTQ Leaders” lists, in which she is acknowledged as a leader within the legal industry for both her “high-powered work” and professional achievements in corporate tax law and her significant impact in promoting greater diversity, equity and inclusion within the profession.
Linda received her J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School, and her B.A. from Bucknell University, where she graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Awards and Honors
Linda is consistently recognized as one of the leading tax lawyers in the country by numerous publications and associations, including:
- Law360 Tax Authority – Named as one of the 14 Influential Women in Tax Law
- Marquis Who's Who – Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award
- Lawdragon – Selected as one of the Top 500 Dealmakers in America
- Euromoney’s Best of the Best USA 2021 and 2019 – Named as one of the Top 30 Tax Practitioners
- Tax Directors Handbook – Named as one of the 16 Top U.S. Tax Advisors
- Chambers USA – Selected as a Leading New York Tax Lawyer
- The Legal 500 – Named to Hall of Fame
- International Tax Review – Selected as a Leader in U.S. and International Tax
- World Tax – Selected as a Leading New York Tax Lawyer
- International Who's Who – Selected as a Leading Corporate Tax Lawyer
- Euromoney Publications – Selected as a Leading U.S. Tax Lawyer
- Expert Guides – Selected as a Leading U.S. Tax Lawyer (Best of the Best) and Woman in Business Law
- Finance Monthly – 2018 Foreign Tax Planning Law Firm of the Year (USA)
- Guide to the World's Leading Women in Business Law: Tax
- ICFM – Selected as one of the Top 500 Global Lawyers
- Lawyers Worldwide Awards Magazine – Innovative Lawyers 2017
- Super Lawyers – Selected as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in New York City
- American Registry – Selected as one of the Top Women Attorneys in the New York Metro Area
- Avenue Legal Elite – Selected as one of New York City's Top Women Attorneys
- U.S. News Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” – Selected as a Leading Lawyer
- Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders 2019 – Corporate Tax Advisory
- Who’s Who Legal: Corporate Tax
- Who's Who in the World
- Who's Who of American Women
- Who's Who in American Law
- Martindale Hubbell (AV-rated)
Articles, Publications and Speaking Engagements
Linda is widely regarded as a thought leader in the industry and is frequently asked to speak and write on a wide range of transactional tax issues. In 2018, Linda launched a new digital Cadwalader monthly newsletter, called BrassTax, to which she regularly contributes articles that provide clear and concise insights on important tax developments. In 2023, she was recognized with a Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing for the article “Digital Taxation Is Necessary, But Tough To Manage,” originally published by Law360. In addition, recent articles that Linda has authored also include:
- Global Tax-Free Deals: Mergers, Acquisitions and Spins at Home and Abroad
- Multiple Step Acquisitions: Dancing the Tax-Free Tango
- Big A, Little C: Baby Steps Toward Modernizing Reorganizations
- ABCs of Cross-Border Derivatives
- A Layman's Guide to LLC Incentive Compensation
- To Disclose or Not to Disclose: Tax Shelters, Penalties, and Circular 230 in 2015
- New Consolidated Attribute Reduction Regulations
- Partnership Bankruptcy Tax Issues
- Debt Exchanges
- 2010 Bankruptcy Tax Issues
- Section 83(b), Section 409A and Subchapter K
- Taxation Without Authorization: The Proposed “Dividend Equivalent” Withholding Regulations Under Section 871(m)
- Bankruptcy Tax 101
- Real Estate Investment Trusts 101
- Tax-Free Acquisitions: Rules of the Road
- Virtual Taxation
She also authors the chapters on Debt Exchanges in Collier on Bankruptcy Taxation (Matthew Bender) and Securities Lending Transactions in Taxation of Financial Institutions (Clark Boardman Callaghan). In addition to writing, she speaks on a broad range of topics, including each year at the PLI conferences on corporate, partnership, and real estate tax issues.
Professional Affiliations
- Executive Committee Member, New York State Bar Association Tax Section
- Former Chair, Tax-Free Reorganizations, Corporations, Bankruptcy, Consolidated Returns, Real Property, and Tax Accounting and Basis Committees, New York State Bar Association Tax Section
