ICON Honors 2024: Jay Nathanson

Partner, UB Greensfelder, St. Louis

Jay Nathanson isn’t intimidated by the complexities of tax law.

“Like a golf swing, the rules of logic don’t necessarily make sense,” he noted. “There is just a particular way to do it. You have to be very careful to avoid minefields for your clients.”

Nathanson’s ability to protect those he represents from those minefields is exactly why he’s built a stellar reputation in such a challenging area of the legal world. Whether representing a client in an audit or appeal of an audit dispute or assisting with the taxation aspects of mergers and acquisition matters, his depth of knowledge has been honed by solid experience, including time spent working for the Internal Revenue Service and as a trial attorney for the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice, where he earned an award for being an outstanding tax attorney.

The 70-year-old Detroit native and University of Miami graduate was originally attracted to law school by the intricate nature of the field.

“It was very analytical,” noted Nathanson who came to St. Louis in 1984 after time spent at a Baltimore firm. “It was a way to make a living using your brain power.”

A member of Missouri Lawyers Media’s Tax Law Power List in 2021-2022, he’s been at UB Greensfelder since 2007 where he served for a time as chair of its tax subdepartment. He was also on the firm’s management committee. Nathanson is a frequent writer and lecturer on corporate and taxation topics for the Missouri Bar Association, the National Business Institute and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. He is also a faculty member in the taxation program at Washington University School of Law dating back more than a quarter century.

In the larger community, Nathanson has served on the Business Outreach Committee of the St. Louis County Economic Council and as chairman of the Mid-America Tax Conference.

He gives simple advice to young attorneys.

“Find an area that is of interest to you, that you like and are excited about,” he said, “and get as good of training as you can early in the game.”