Robert Beard

is a tax associate in King & Spalding’s Atlanta office. Robert’s practice focuses on the tax issues arising in partnerships, investment funds, real estate investments, and cross-border transactions.

Robert advises real estate investment funds and private equity funds on a wide assortment of matters, including fund-level partnership tax issues; structuring acquisitions in a tax-efficient manner; and drafting operating agreements and partnership agreements for funds, portfolio companies, and joint ventures. Recently, Robert helped a client obtain a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service ensuring that the windup of a fund had the desired tax consequences.

Robert has also worked with real estate investment trusts on formation, compliance, and acquisition issues.

Robert also addresses inbound and outbound U.S. international tax issues for domestic and foreign businesses. In particular, he has advised foreign companies on the potential tax consequences of proposed U.S. investments and operations and has analyzed the impact of subpart F and the foreign currency rules on highly structured financial transactions. In 2012, Robert was seconded to GE Capital Corp., where he assisted in an internal review of cross-border intercompany financing transactions.

Before joining King & Spalding, Robert represented clients in securities regulation matters and on both sides of mergers and acquisitions for a large Ohio law firm.

Robert earned his LL.M. in Taxation in 2011 from the Graduate Tax Program at the University of Florida, where he received Book Awards for his outstanding performance in Taxation of Property Transactions, U.S. International Tax I, Corporate Tax II, and Transfer Pricing. He earned his J.D. cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2007, where he served as a Lead Articles Editor and Notes and Comments Editor for The Tax Lawyer. In 2012, Robert authored an annual survey of notable tax decisions in the Eleventh Circuit for the Mercer Law Review.