Alert 08.18.26
Eleventh Circuit Holds S Corporation Election Is Not Property of the Bankruptcy Estate
Owoc clarifies who controls S corporation status in bankruptcy and highlights the need to address material tax issues early in a restructuring.
Nora Burke, Pillsbury’s Global Head of Tax, is experienced in federal income tax planning for business and financial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, lending transactions and securities offerings for both domestic and international clients. She also provides strategic counsel to emerging companies and their founders.
Nora regularly advises on the tax aspects of public and private M&A transactions for clients in a wide variety of industries, including technology, media and biotechnology, assisting with both acquisition structure and post-acquisition integration of the acquired business.
She also has broad experience with U.S. tax issues relating to foreign financial institutions. She has been advising clients on issues posed by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) since it was enacted in 2010. Her FATCA experience includes counseling investment advisors and hedge funds regarding FATCA registration requirements and ongoing compliance.
Representative Experience
- Represented Chelsea Football Club in its £4.25 billion acquisition by a consortium led by Todd Boehly, chairman and CEO of Eldridge, a private investment company, and Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. This deal was honored as Private Equity Deal of the Year by The Deal, M&A Team of the Year by Law.com, and Impact Deal of the Year by International Tax Review.
- Advised Diamond Sports Group, LLC (DSG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. and the largest owner of regional sports networks in the United States, in connection with a series of debt restricting transactions resulting in DSG obtaining a new $635 million first lien term loan credit facility, the exchange of over $6.2 billion of DSG’s existing term loans and secured notes for new second lien term loans and second lien secured notes, respectively, the exchange of DSG’s existing revolving credit facility for a $227.5 million second lien revolving credit facility and the redemption of DSG’s 12.750% secured notes due 2026.
- Advised Perpetual Capital Partners, the holding company for Robert Allbritton’s diversified business portfolio, on the sale of influential media company POLITICO to global publishing group Axel Springer.
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- Represented BioLegend, a leading global provider of life science antibodies and reagents, in its $5.25 billion acquisition by PerkinElmer, Inc.
- Represented several foreign financial institutions in connection with Department of Justice investigations regarding their U.S. tax reporting obligations and in determining whether their accounts were subject to FATCA.
- Advised Spin Master Corp., a leading children’s entertainment company, in reaching an agreement to acquire Melissa & Doug for $950 million in cash, which was recognized as “Canada M&A Deal of the Year” awarded by Americas M&A Atlas Awards (2025).
Professional Highlights
Honors & Awards
- Recognized by Lawdragon as one of 500 Leading Global Tax Lawyers (2025–2026)
- Recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. for U.S. Taxes: Non-Contentious (2019).
- Recognized for “Canada M&A Deal of the Year” awarded by Americas M&A Atlas Awards (2025) for Spin Master Corp’s $950 million acquisition of Melissa & Doug.
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Speaking Engagements
- “Cross-Border Tax Issues in Middle Market M&A Transactions,” USC 2024 Tax Institute, January 22, 2024.
Education
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J.D., The College of William and Mary School of Law, 2008
B.A., University of Virginia, 2003
Admissions
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New York