Francis A. La Poll is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Virginia. He received his law degree from Stanford Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Stanford Journal of International Law, and as head of the Legal Aid Society. Upon graduation from law school, he clerked for the Hon. Procter R. Hug, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. La Poll specializes in Tax Court litigation and tax and estate planning for larger estates, including international and charitable aspects of such planning.

Mr. La Poll's publications include the section on income taxation of nonresident aliens in International Estate Planning (Matthew Bender). He authored the article "Vaporize Estate Taxes and Keep It All in the Family: The Family Limited Partnership," which appeared in the June 1992 issue of the Gilfix Elder Law NewsAlert (Bancroft-Whitney). He also contributes to Tax & Financial Planning for the Elderly: Forms & Practice (Matthew Bender) and is co-author of Medi-Cal and Asset Preservation:1999 Emerging Trends, a book-length set of materials for practicing attorneys.

Mr. La Poll has been the featured speaker for various groups on diverse topics --from Canadian chartered accountants (on international estate, gift, and income tax implications) to California attorneys (on the tax aspects of Medi-Cal planning and Grantor Retained Interest Trusts).

An active twenty-year resident of the Los Altos community and former two-term Los Altos Mayor, Mr. La Poll has served as Chair of the Board of the YMCA of the Midpeninsula, as well as on Boards of the American Heart Association, the Palo Alto Senior Housing Project, Inc., and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. For many years he was also the Peninsula representative to the California League of Cities Committee on Revenue and Taxation. Francis now resides in Los Altos Hills with his wife, Myla, and six children.

Mr. La Poll holds an AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell, as judged by his peers in the legal profession. This rating, the highest given, “reflects an attorney who has reached the heights of professional excellence, . . . [has] practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity.”