Tax Attorney Credentials
Before you hire anybody, check the license
When you're looking for a tax attorney, you're trying to answer one question: is this person actually qualified to stand between me and the IRS?
That's a fair question. It's also a question most law firm websites dodge with adjectives. "Experienced." "Trusted." "Aggressive." None of that is verifiable.
So here's the verifiable version.
Bar admissions
I'm Darrin T. Mish. I've been licensed to practice law for 32 years.
State bars
| Jurisdiction | Status |
|---|---|
| The Florida Bar | Admitted, in good standing. Bar No. 986641 |
| State Bar of Colorado | Admitted |
| State Bar of Texas | Admitted |
Federal courts
| Court | Status |
|---|---|
| Supreme Court of the United States | Admitted |
| United States Tax Court | Admitted |
| United States Court of Federal Claims | Admitted |
| U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit | Admitted |
| U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit | Admitted |
| U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit | Admitted |
| U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida | Admitted |
| U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida | Admitted |
| U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida | Admitted |
| U.S. District Court, District of Colorado | Admitted |
The Tax Court line matters more than people realize. Most attorneys, including most attorneys who advertise tax help, are not admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court. It requires a separate admission. Without it, a lawyer can't file your petition when the IRS sends a Notice of Deficiency, and can't try your case if it gets that far.
If your situation ever becomes a Tax Court case, you want somebody who can walk it through the door instead of handing it off to a stranger.
The rest of that list covers the fights that don't happen in Tax Court. If you've already paid the tax and you want it back, that's a refund suit, and it belongs in United States District Court or the Court of Federal Claims. Wrongful levy actions, quiet title claims against a federal tax lien, and challenges to IRS collection conduct land in district court. Appeals from any of it go to a circuit court.
I'm admitted in all three federal districts in Florida, which covers every federal courthouse in this state. Wherever in Florida you are, your case doesn't have to change hands to get filed.
Tax Court is one door. A lawyer who can only walk through that one is limited to the cases that fit behind it.
Peer review ratings
Bar admission tells you somebody is allowed to practice. It doesn't tell you what the lawyers who've worked across the table from them think.
That's what peer review ratings are for.
AV Rated, Martindale-Hubbell. AV is the highest rating Martindale-Hubbell issues. It comes out of confidential peer review surveys of other attorneys and of judges. The "A" measures legal ability at the highest level. The "V" stands for Very High Ethical Standards, and it's conferred by the lawyers on the other side of my cases and the judges in front of whom I've appeared. You don't apply for it and you can't buy it.
Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. The Bar Register is the invitation-only listing Martindale-Hubbell maintains for AV Rated attorneys. Fewer than five percent of attorneys in the United States are listed in it.
9.9 out of 10 on Avvo. Avvo scores attorneys on an algorithm weighing years in practice, disciplinary record, professional achievements, publications, speaking engagements, and peer endorsements. 9.9 falls in Avvo's "Superb" band, its top tier.
A rating isn't a guarantee of any outcome in your case, and no lawyer can promise you one. What these ratings tell you is that people who do this work for a living, and the judges who watch us do it, have an opinion about the quality of the work. Weigh that for what it's worth alongside everything else on this page.
How to verify any of this yourself
Don't take my word for it. Take the Bar's.
The Florida Bar.
Go to floridabar.org and use the "Find a Lawyer" member search. Enter my name or Bar number 986641. You'll see admission date, current status, disciplinary history, and the firm address on file. Every licensed Florida attorney appears here. If a lawyer's name doesn't come up, that's your answer.
Colorado and Texas.
Both state bars run the same kind of public directory. Colorado's is at coloradosupremecourt.com. Texas runs texasbar.com.
U.S. Tax Court.
The court maintains a practitioner list. You can confirm admission directly through ustaxcourt.gov.
The ratings.
Martindale-Hubbell publishes every rating it issues at martindale.com. Search my name and the AV Rating and Bar Register listing both appear on the profile. Avvo does the same at avvo.com, including the full breakdown of what's feeding the score. Neither profile requires an account to view.
Run this search on every professional you're considering, not just me. It takes two minutes and it's the single most useful thing you can do before you hand somebody a retainer.
What 32 years of this actually looks like
I've spent my entire career on one thing: representing taxpayers who have a problem with the Internal Revenue Service.
Not estate planning. Not business formation with a side of tax. IRS collection, examination, and controversy work, full stop.
Over that time I've resolved more than $100 million in tax debt for clients. Offers in Compromise, installment agreements, Currently Not Collectible status, penalty abatement, innocent spouse relief, lien withdrawals and subordinations, audit defense, payroll tax and Trust Fund Recovery Penalty cases, and Tax Court litigation when the case calls for it.
Before tax, I worked as a public defender. That's where you learn to try cases and where you learn what it feels like to be the only person in the room standing next to somebody who's scared. Both skills transfer.
What I'm not
I'm not a CPA. I'm an attorney. If you need a return prepared, you need a preparer, and I'll tell you that plainly rather than take the work.
Here's the practical difference, because it comes up constantly:
Attorney-client privilege.
Conversations with your attorney are privileged. Conversations with your accountant are not, at least not in any way you can rely on if the case turns criminal. The IRS can subpoena your CPA and compel testimony about what you told them. That's not a hypothetical. It's how a lot of civil cases become worse cases.
Court.
An attorney can represent you in United States Tax Court and in federal district court. A CPA or enrolled agent generally cannot, absent separate Tax Court admission by examination.
Scope.
A CPA is trained in accounting. I'm trained in the law that governs what the IRS can and can't do to you. Different tools for different problems. Plenty of my cases involve both, and I work alongside your accountant when that's what the case needs.
None of this makes attorneys better than CPAs. It makes them different. If your problem is a complicated return, hire the CPA. If your problem is the IRS coming after your bank account, your paycheck, or your house, hire the lawyer.
The practice
The Law Offices of Darrin T. Mish, P.A. is a boutique firm in Tampa. Boutique means you talk to me. You're not routed to a case manager you've never met while the attorney whose face is on the website handles somebody else.
We take a limited number of cases at a time because IRS work rewards attention and punishes volume.
Straight answers to the questions people ask
How long have you practiced?
32 years.
Are you licensed in Florida?
Yes. The Florida Bar, No. 986641, in good standing. Also Colorado and Texas.
Can you represent me in Tax Court?
Yes. I'm admitted to the United States Tax Court.
What federal courts are you admitted to?
The Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Tax Court, the United States Court of Federal Claims, the Eleventh Circuit, the Federal Circuit, the D.C. Circuit, all three federal district courts in Florida (Middle, Northern, and Southern), and the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
What's your Martindale-Hubbell rating?
AV Rated, the highest rating Martindale-Hubbell issues, based on confidential peer review by other attorneys and judges. I'm also listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.
What's your Avvo rating?
9.9 out of 10, which is Avvo's "Superb" tier.
Are you a CPA?
No. I'm an attorney. If your problem is a return, you want a preparer. If your problem is the IRS, you want a lawyer.
Do you handle cases outside Florida?
Yes. IRS representation is federal. I represent clients nationwide.
How do I confirm you're really licensed?
floridabar.org, member search, Bar No. 986641. Takes about a minute.
Let's talk
If the IRS has your attention, you've probably already spent a few nights running worst-case scenarios. In my experience the reality is usually more manageable than the version in your head, but only if you deal with it.
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