Kirt Switzer is a partner in Latham & Watkins’ Bay Area offices and previously served as the San Francisco Office Managing Partner and the Global Chair of the firm’s Transactional Tax Practice.

Kirt's practice focuses on federal taxation of corporations and partnerships in a variety of US and international contexts and specifically involves advising clients on tax issues related to mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings, restructurings, and post-merger integration matters. He has represented US and non-US corporations, private equity funds, and investment banks in a variety of matters including:

  • US and cross-border taxable and tax-free acquisitions and dispositions, including reorganizations, joint ventures, and spin-offs
  • Bankruptcy and insolvency restructurings
  • Public and private financing transactions

In 2017, Kirt was recognized as a Bankruptcy Tax Specialist by Turnarounds & Workouts. Kirt has been recognized as a leading tax lawyer in The Legal 500 US directory since 2010. 

Kirt is a member of the California State Bar and a Certified Public Accountant (inactive status). He has lectured on tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions at various conferences. He is a co-author of Tax Management Portfolio 771 3rd Corporate Acquisitions - (A), (B), and (C) Reorganizations.

Prior to joining Latham, Kirt practiced within the Transaction Advisory Services group of Ernst & Young LLP.

Bar Qualification

  • California

Education

  • JD, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, 1998
    Order of the Coif
  • BBA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1992

Practices