Kendall Houghton

Kendall Houghton has for over two decades been a nationally recognized expert whose practice focuses on a wide range of legal matters relating to unclaimed property/escheat, state and local tax planning, and tax controversies. She previously served as general counsel to the Council On State Taxation (COST), where she filed numerous U.S. Supreme Court briefs in cases impacting state taxation of multistate commerce. Ms. Houghton advises marquis clients across all industries with respect to unclaimed property/escheat compliance, voluntary disclosure initiatives, planning opportunities, the successful defense of compliance examinations including multistate audits conducted by third-party firms, negotiation of settlements and litigation of state unclaimed property assessments. Ms. Houghton has also developed and advocated state tax and unclaimed property policy and legislative positions that benefited client interests, and she collaborates with clients to design transactional and organizational structures that optimize both unclaimed property compliance burdens as well as direct and indirect tax burdens. Ms. Houghton is a Georgetown University Law Center adjunct professor (LL.M. program) who teaches unclaimed property law and state and local taxation courses, and for several years has served as the Co-Chair of the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization's Government Relations and Advocacy Committee, which promotes holder interests through advocacy in legislative, administrative, and judicial forums. In this capacity, she represents the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization (UPPO) as official spokesperson to the Uniform Law Commission's effort to rewrite the 1995 Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. She is co-author of a 2009 COST study on unclaimed property reform options, and speaks and writes frequently on unclaimed property issues. She has additionally been recognized for several years by her peers and nominated to Best Lawyers in America.