Jessica Millett

Partner

Jessica Millett is chair of Duval & Stachenfeld’s Tax Practice Group.  She has particular expertise in U.S. tax issues that arise in complex real estate transactions, notably cross-border investments and Qualified Opportunity Fund structures. She regularly advises clients on tax structuring and documentation for real estate acquisitions, joint ventures, restructurings and refinancing arrangements, including inbound and outbound investments, and structures involving REITs.

Ms. Millett’s practice also includes advising on tax-efficient structures for cross-border finance transactions, including U.S. and international securities offerings (debt and equity), private placements and private equity transactions.  She regularly represents sponsors and managers of, and institutional investors in, private investment funds including real estate, distressed debt, and hedge funds.  Ms. Millett also has extensive experience advising financial institutions on a variety of tax and compliance issues including U.S. withholding and information reporting rules, and tax treaty planning.

Ms. Millett’s recent, notable transactions include advising:

• a private equity fund on a complex multi-component investment in a Midwest multifamily properties owner, operator and developer specializing in both the affordable and market rate sectors;

• a sovereign wealth fund on a $212 million Section 892 compliant investment for a mixed use redevelopment project including luxury apartments, retail space, a parking garage and office space; 

• a real estate fund with non-US investors on establishing a mortgage loan origination platform;

• Represented Halpern Real Estate Ventures in a first closing of its Opportunity Zone real estate vehicle.  The vehicle is unique in being the first sponsor capital fund solely targeting Opportunity Zone investments.

• Advised Savanna on the eligibility of a downtown Brooklyn development for an Opportunity Zone investment and represented Savanna in structuring multiple Qualified Opportunity Funds to provide $92M in equity to the project.

• Advised a large private equity firm, a leading global investor in real estate, in connection with its acquisition of a 500,000 sqft property in Maryland.

Ms. Millett is Chair of the Subcommittee for Foreign Investors of the ABA Tax Section Real Estate Committee.

She also serves as Chair of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee having initiated pro bono relationships with several organizations to assist clients in U-Visa applications and asylum applications.

Prior to joining the Firm in 2012, Ms. Millett was an associate at Linklaters LLP where she practiced since 2006.  Ms. Millett received her B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 2000, and her J.D. and LL.M. (International and Comparative Law) from Duke University School of Law in 2006, where she was a member of the Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law. Ms. Millett is admitted to practice in New York.

Recognitions:

• Real Estate Weekly's Leading Lady List. 2019

• Listed, Real Estate Weekly Rising Star 2019

• Listed, Top 25 Opportunity Zone Influencers, Opportunity Zone Magazine (2019)

• Listed, Top 50 People Shaping the Future of Opportunity Zones

• Listed, CRAIN's 100 Leading Women Lawyers in New York City, 2018

• Super Lawyers: New York Metro Rising Star: 2017

Publications:

•      OZ Roadmap – Navigating the New Lines of the 2020 Census Tracts (Opportunity Zone Magazine)

• Opportunity Zone Pandemic Relief Is Welcome, But Limited, Law360 (February 2021)

• Shaking up the Magic 8-Ball What Does the Opportunity Zone Program Look Like under a Biden Presidency (August 2020)

• COVID-19 Timing Relief for QOFs, QOZBs and Opportunity Zone Investors 

• How does COVID-19 impact Opportunity Zones? 

• The Final Opportunity Zone Regulations (December 2019) 

• How To OZ: A Guide to Opportunity Zones for Investors, Developers and Industry Professionals (October 2019 - Contributing Writer)

• Operating Businesses and Opportunity Zones (May 2019)

• A Clearer Path to Opportunity Zones (April 2019)

• The Government Shutdown & Opportunity Zones (January 2019)

• The Road Map to OZ: Just Follow the Yellow Brick Road (October 2018)

• Your Opportunity Zone Road Map: How to set up a Qualified Opportunity Fund (while waiting for IRS guidance) (August 2018)

• Opportunity Zones – At Last, a Major Tax Advantage for Real Estate (May 2018)

Media Coverage

• 3 Biggest Changes in the IRS Correcting Amendments to OZ Regs, The Opportunity Zone Database Podcast (5/20)

• Opportunity Zones Podcast: Jessica Millett - QOF Formation Legal Considerations (6/19)

• Listed, Top 25 Opportunity Zone Influencers, Opportunity Zone Magazine (5/19)

• Just How Taxpayer-Friendly Are the New O-Zone Rules?, TaxNotes (5/19)

• Practitioner Insights - Attorneys for Qualified Opportunity Funds Discuss the 2019 OZ Proposed Regulations, Bloomberg Tax (5/2/19)  

• Trump's Opportunity Zone Rules Deliver on Investors' Wish List, Bloomberg (4/17/19) - includes quotes from tax co-chair, Jessica Millett

• INSIGHT: What to Expect Next in Opportunity Zone Guidance, Bloomberg Tax (1/17/19) - includes quotes from tax co-chair, Jessica Millett

• Here's what Amazon stands to gain in NYC incentives, New York Business Journal (11/13/18) - includes quotes from tax co-chair, Jessica Millett

• Amazon's Potential NYC Home Bolstered by Trump's Tax Breaks, Bloomberg (11/6/18) - includes quotes from tax co-chair, Jessica Millett

• Big Stock Windfall? New Rule Defers Taxes With Real Estate Investment, The Wall Street Journal (10/2/18) - includes quotes from Bruce Stachenfeld and tax co-chair, Jessica Millett

• Investors, developers at the ready as Opportunity Zone guidance nears, Real Estate Weekly (9/26/18) - includes quotes from tax co-chair, Jessica Millett

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