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Practice Areas

Education

  • J.D., New York University Law School, 1970, cum laude; Order of the Coif; Editor-in-Chief, N.Y.U. Law Review
  • B.A., Amherst College, 1967, cum laude

Bar and Court Admissions

  • New York
  • District of Columbia
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Tax Court
  • Supreme Court of New York
  • District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Other Professional Affiliations

American Bar Association, Tax Section

D.C. Bar Tax Committee

Government Experience

Acting Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel, 2001-2002

Deputy Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel, 1999-2002

Law Clerk to the Honorable Warren E. Burger, U.S. Supreme Court, 1971-1972

Law Clerk to the Honorable John J. Gibbons, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1970-1971

Richard W. Skillman

Member, Washington D.C.
(202) 862-5034
rskillman@capdale.com | v-card | PDF
Richard W. Skillman is a member in Caplin & Drysdale's Washington, D.C. office focusing in federal taxation. Mr. Skillman's practice covers a broad cross-section of domestic and international tax matters and includes the representation of taxpayers in tax controversies as well as tax planning. His practice focus includes insurance companies and products, executive compensation and other employee benefits, corporate tax, tax accounting, and international tax.

Between 1999 and 2002, Mr. Skillman served as Deputy Chief Counsel and Acting Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service. As Acting Chief Counsel, Mr. Skillman was the chief legal official of the IRS. He held final authority for all legal and litigating positions of the IRS and management responsibility for approximately 2500 Chief Counsel employees in more than 50 offices nationwide.

Mr. Skillman is a member of the Tax Sections of the ABA and of the D.C. Bar. He formerly taught Corporate Tax as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and has lectured and written articles on a broad range of tax subjects.

Mr. Skillman holds a B.A. from Amherst College and a J.D. from New York University Law School, where he graduated first in his class and served as Editor-in-Chief of the N.Y.U. Law Review. After law school, he served as law clerk to Judge Gibbons of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and to Chief Justice Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Mr. Skillman is recognized as a leading lawyer in Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation (2011 and 2012 editions) and Tax Controversy (2010 and 2011 editions) in The Legal 500. He is ranked as a Top Lawyer in the 2010-2012 editions of Chambers USA: Band 3 in Tax – District of Columbia. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of Employee Benefits Law and Tax Law from 2006-2012. He is also listed in Washingtonian magazine's Top Lawyers in the 2009 and 2011-2012 editions as well as Super Lawyers from 2007-2012.

Awards & Honors

  • AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Ranked as leading lawyer in Chambers USA from 2010-2013
  • Ranked in  Legal 500 from 2010-2013
  • Ranked in the Super Lawyers from 2007-2013
  • Ranked in Best Lawyers in the field of Tax Law  from 2006-2012 and 2013 with recognition for his work in Employee Benefits Law