Philip D. W. Hodgen
Principal attorney

Phil earned his undergraduate degree form Claremont McKenna College and his law degree from the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He then went on to earn a Master of Laws degree with a specialty in taxation from the University of San Diego School of Law. Admitted to the California bar in 1982, Phil spent 9 years in law firms and with a large U.S. bank, before starting his own firm in 1991.

It should come as no surprise that Phil would end up in the international tax arena. He spent six years of his youth in Rhodesia, South Africa, and New Zealand. He knows what it is like to arrive in a new land where everyone and everything is unfamiliar. He knows what it is like to find a friendly face in a faraway place.

Now he is that face. Stir in a penchant for dense blocks of tiny-print tax regulations, and you have a recipe for an international tax lawyer. Phil is a past Chair of the International Tax Committee of the State Bar of California’s Tax Section. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California’s Tax Section for 2004-2007. The Tax Section is the only statewide association of tax lawyers in California, with more than 3,000 members.

Phil is a frequent speaker on a variety of international tax, trust, and estate topics to attorneys, accountants, real estate professionals, and other groups.