William D. Alexander is the Associate Chief Counsel (Corporate) at the Internal Revenue Service. He has been with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel (Corporate) since 1990. Prior to joining the IRS, he was associated with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. He has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, a law degree from Columbia Law School, and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law.

John J. Creed is a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he is a member of the firm’s Tax Department. Mr. Creed’s practice includes advising on private equity funds, hedge funds, mergers and acquisitions (including tax-free spin-offs), cross-border tax matters, partnerships, joint ventures, securitizations and financing transactions.

The clients Mr. Creed has advised in private equity and fund transactions have included Blackstone, Cypress, Evercore, Lehman Brothers, The Carlyle Group, Quadrangle, JC Flowers and many others. Mr. Creed has advised private equity funds, investment banks and corporations in the structuring of various acquisitions, financings, financial instruments and restructurings. He has also advised non-U.S. corporations in structuring acquisitions and operations in the United States and non-U.S. issuers in raising capital in the United States. Mr. Creed has worked on numerous domestic and international joint venture transactions including investment in Asia, Latin America, South Africa, Europe and Japan.

Mr. Creed became a partner at Simpson Thacher in 1996. He graduated with High Honors in 1985 from Trinity College Dublin School of Law and received his L.L.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law in 1988.

Mr. Creed is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1986. He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Patrick C. Gallagher is a partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He handles structuring and tax aspects of complex domestic and cross-border transactions for private equity and other clients, including acquisitions and divestitures, fund formation, public offerings and other financings, and restructurings.

Mr. Gallagher has been named as a leading tax attorney in both Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business (annually since 2005), which describes him as "someone who solves problems," has a "wonderful presence," "[pays] scrupulous attention to all the details," and is an "astute attorney;" and Who's Who Legal: Corporate Tax (annually since 2003).

In 1974, Mr. Gallagher graduated from Pomona College with a B.A. He earned his M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1977 and his J.D., cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1985. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and New York.

Deborah L. Paul is a partner in the New York office of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. She focuses focuses on the tax aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, spinoffs and financial instruments. Ms. Paul has been the principal tax lawyer on numerous domestic and cross-border transactions, including strategic acquisitions and private equity buyouts, in a wide array of industries, including telecommunications, oil and gas, food, defense and energy. She was elected partner in 2000.

Ms. Paul is an active member of the Executive Committee of the Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association. Prior to joining the Firm in 1997, Ms. Paul was an assistant professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (1995-1997) and an acting assistant professor at New York University School of Law (1994-1995). She clerked for Chancellor William T. Allen of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (1989-1990).

Ms. Paul received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1986, a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1989 and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law in 1994.