Trump nominates tax lawyer James Gadwood to lead IRS legal office

James R. Gadwood, a Washington tax lawyer whose firm has represented Donald Trump in tax matters, was nominated by the White House on June 23 to serve as chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service. The post is the agency’s top legal office, and the Senate will have to decide whether a lawyer tied to Trump’s private tax representation can credibly serve as the IRS’s chief legal adviser.

The chief counsel advises the IRS commissioner on the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the Internal Revenue Code. The office is now vacant, with Audrey M. Morris serving as deputy chief counsel for operations, making the nomination more than a personnel move: it places a lawyer with direct ties to Trump’s tax world into a position that can shape audits, litigation strategy and agency guidance.

Gadwood is listed by Miller & Chevalier as a member vice chair in its tax department. The firm says he advises large corporations, large partnerships and high-wealth individuals, with expertise in federal tax accounting, tax controversy and transfer pricing advocacy. It also says he has represented taxpayers before the IRS Independent Office of Appeals and in IRS examinations, experience that would be central in a role overseeing the agency’s legal posture.

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden said the nominee would face “tough questions,” and tied the pick to what he called Trump’s “corruption of the IRS” and an “industrial-scale violation of taxpayer privacy laws.” The criticism puts recusals and conflict screening at the center of the confirmation fight, especially if Gadwood were pressed to handle matters touching Trump, his family or related tax disputes.

Gadwood’s résumé is substantial. He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel in May 2024, a distinction reserved for lawyers with at least 15 years in practice and a career principally devoted to tax law and tax-related matters. Miller & Chevalier, founded in 1920, says its lawyers also help clients comment on Treasury and IRS guidance, including newly enacted legislation and proposed regulations, and that Gadwood has recently spent significant time advising on Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and the prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules tied to them.

The nomination follows a turbulent stretch for the IRS legal office after Trump previously nominated Donald Korb for the same post and later withdrew that choice after backlash. Gadwood now enters a confirmation process that will test whether the country’s top tax lawyer can serve with the independence the office demands while carrying the baggage of a firm that has already represented the president.