William C. Hussey, II Partner

William Hussey focuses his practice on matters of federal, state, local and international taxation. 

As part of a multidisciplinary team, Bill counsels clients in structuring their business and investment affairs in a tax-efficient manner, from the selection, formation and operation of business entities to the disposition of those entities. Bill provides guidance on the ongoing tax obligations and opportunities available to clients in all manner of their domestic and international operations. He is also very familiar with the design and operation of qualified and non-qualified employee benefit and retirement plans that assist businesses in retaining and rewarding their employees and executives. Bill regularly assists members of the Business/Corporate Group in structuring taxable and non-taxable acquisitions, mergers and divestitures to maximize the economic potential to clients in those transactions. He also assists clients in resolving tax controversies that may arise at the federal, state and local levels.

Another focus of Bill's practice is counseling individual clients on all phases of estate and wealth transfer planning. He concentrates his estate planning practice on business succession, wealth transfer and asset protection planning for high net worth individuals, including business owners, executive employees, medical professionals and their families. From basic wills to more complex estate planning devices such as life insurance and other trusts, charitable and lifetime gifting and family partnerships and LLCs, Bill is able to advise a client on selecting the appropriate tools to carry out the desired disposition of his or her estate, while minimizing the burden that death taxes can have on those plans.

Bill also advises non-profit clients on issues regarding the qualification and maintenance of tax-exempt status. In particular, he is actively engaged with members of the firm’s Education Law Group in advising institutions of higher education in designing employee compensation and other programs that comply with state and federal laws. 

He has lectured frequently on estate planning topics and publishes articles regularly in the tax and estate planning areas.

Representative Matters

• Successfully appealed Pennsylvania Capital Stock Tax assessment against a national banking association at both Commonwealth Court and Supreme Court levels
• Provided state and local tax planning services to national wholesale distributor to ensure proper compliance and achieve significant marginal tax savings
• Advised closely-held corporation in structuring new business venture with operations in Asia, Central America, Europe and the United States to minimize aggregate global tax burden for the corporation, its U.S. subsidiaries and shareholders
• Assist numerous high net worth individuals and their families to devise, implement and execute advanced estate planning strategies that significantly reduced their federal and state death tax burdens, often achieving savings in excess of $1 million

Recognition & Involvement

In 2006 and 2007, Bill was named in a survey of his peers as a Pennsylvania "Rising Star" lawyer by Law & Politics magazine.   

Bill has also served as pro bono counsel, event chair, board member and president for a number of charitable organizations outside of his professional endeavors.