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Julian A. Fortuna is Partner in The Saylor Law Firm LLP where he practices business and tax law with a focus on tax planning and representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") and various other tax authorities. He also handles estate and trust tax matters.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Fortuna was Vice President and General Tax Counsel for InterContinental Hotels Group ("IHG"). During his eleven year tenure at IHG, Mr. Fortuna managed a team of tax professionals responsible for structuring the domestic and international tax impacts of numerous mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and other corporate transactions, as well as construction projects, leases, exchanges and other real and personal property transactions. Mr. Fortuna was also responsible for state and local tax matters (including property, sales/use and occupancy taxes). He also directed tax research and planning for cross-border financing, captive insurance, and the worldwide use of trade names and other intangible assets. He represented IHG before the IRS and various other tax authorities on audits, appeals, and ruling requests, and pursued tax regulatory and legislative changes for the benefit of IHG with U.S. Treasury and Congressional personnel in Washington D.C.

Mr. Fortuna's professional experience also includes eleven years in the tax department at Deloitte and Touche where he served as the lead tax service provider to a variety of corporate and individual clients. Prior to that time, he served four years in the U.S. Treasury Department at Office of the Chief Counsel for the IRS where he was responsible for litigation in the United States Tax Court. He distinguished himself at the Office of Chief Counsel by winning seven of the eight cases he tried (he won a third of the other case), including two fraud cases and an accumulated earnings tax case.

Mr. Fortuna earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Political Science from the City University of New York, a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Law, and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Emory University School of Law. He is a member in good standing of the State Bar of Georgia (Tax and Fiduciary Law Sections), American Bar Association (Tax Section), Atlanta Bar Association (Tax, Corporate Counsel, Immigration and International, Estate Planning and Probate Sections), International Fiscal Association, American Association of Attorney-CPAs, Atlanta Tax Forum, and The Lawyers Club of Atlanta.

In recognition of his extensive knowledge and experience in tax law, Mr. Fortuna was recently selected for inclusion in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in America (Copyright 2010 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken S.C.).