SENIOR PARTNER
George Isaacson represents multi–channel marketers and electronic merchants throughout the United States in connection with state sales, use, and income tax matters, as well as regulatory issues.
He is tax counsel to industry trade associations and represented the Direct Marketing Association before the United States Supreme Court in DMA v. Brohl (2015). He regularly appears in federal and state courts throughout the country on behalf of catalog and e-commerce companies and was lead counsel for Wayfair, Overstock, and Newegg before the U.S. Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018). George has testified before Senate and House committees regarding tax reform legislation and has provided similar testimony before state legislative committees.
He also represented the Direct Marketing Association in negotiations with state governors to simplify and standardize state sales/use tax systems and was DMA’s representative on the Steering Committee for the National Tax Association’s Project on Taxation of Electronic Commerce. He has authored numerous articles on direct marketing law issues and was named by State Tax Notes as one of the “top 10 individuals who influenced tax policy and practices.” George is co–author of a regularly published column in Tax Notes entitled “Eyes on eCom Law,” as well as a member of the Tax Notes Advisory Board. State Tax Notes named him its Person of the Year for 2016 (see attached article).
George speaks frequently before business groups and trade associations regarding taxation of interstate transactions and electronic commerce. Such speaking engagements have included the National Press Club, National Institute for State and Local Taxation, Institute on Federal Taxation, Paul J. Hartman State & Local Tax Forum, New York State Society of CPAs, The Conference Board (Conference on Advanced E–Commerce Tax Policy), Committee on State Taxation (COST), Institute of Finance & Management, Boston Bar Association, Multistate Tax Commission, the American Bar Association- Section on Taxation, the Congressional Internet Caucus Academy, and the Harvard Law School symposium presented by the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology.
Outside of his law practice, George is a faculty member at Bowdoin College where he has taught courses on Constitutional Law for over 30 years. He has also been actively involved in Maine’s civic community, with service as Chairman of the Board of the state’s largest healthcare system (MaineHealth) and Vice Chair of the state’s public television and radio broadcasting system (Maine Public). His leisure activities include fly fishing, kayaking, and reading stories to grandchildren.
Bowdoin College (B.A., 1970)
University of Pennsylvania (J.D., 1973)
Law Clerk, Justice Thomas E. Delahanty, Maine Supreme Judicial Court (1973 – 1974)
Maine
Massachusetts
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, First, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits
U.S. Tax Court
U.S. District Court, District of Maine
Maine State and American Bar Associations (Legal Education and Taxation Sections)
Fellow, Maine Bar Foundation
State Tax Notes named George Isaacson “Person of the Year” in its January 2, 2017 edition
State Tax Notes has twice named George (2011 and 2013) one of the “Top Ten Individuals Who Influenced Tax Policy and Practice”
AV ranking by Martindale–Hubbell
The Best Lawyers in America®, Commercial Litigation; Litigation & Controversy – Tax (2005 – 2019)
Super Lawyers (2009, 2011 – 2022)
Benchmark Litigation, Litigation Star, Tax Litigation
Faculty Member, Bowdoin College, teaching courses on Constitutional Law
Lecturer, University of Maine School of Law
Advisory Board, CCH Sales and Use Tax Alert
Steering Committee of National Tax Association Project on Taxation of Electronic Commerce, Chair, Maine Advisory Committee on Rules of Evidence
First Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Committee
State Advisory Committee to U.S. Civil Rights Commission
L.L. Bean Audit Committee and Compensation Committee
- NH Journal, SCOTUS Decision Left Door Open for Taxpayer Challenge
- NH Journal, Massachusetts May Have Crossed Constitutional Line With Tax Scheme
Congressional Internet Caucus Academy Panel on South Dakota v. Wayfair - State Tax Notes: The Strange Death of Stare Decisis
- Beware a World Without Quill
- All Signs Point to 2018 as a Year of Escalating Conflict
- Saving ECommerce from Virtual Nexus Predators ITFA to the Rescue
- Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, Spring 2016, “A Supreme Court Homecoming”
- House Testimony on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law
- Senate Testimony on Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement
- Shipping and Handling Charges: Legal Risks and Ethical Obligations
- State Tax Notes: “A Promise Unfulfilled: How The Streamlined Sales Tax Project Failed To Meet Its Own Goals For Simplification Of State Sales and Use Taxes”
- A Tax Whose Time Has Passed? Sales and Use Tax In an Electronic Commerce Environment [Matthew Bender Co.]
- Journal of International Affairs: “A Constitutional Crisis In Canada: Confronting The Prospect of Quebec Secession”
- State Tax Notes: “A Modest Proposal for Mediation of State Tax Disputes”
- State Tax Notes: “An Interview With George Isaacson”
- State Tax Notes: “No Parity in New Federal Online Sales Tax Bill”
- State Tax Notes: “What Europe’s Excessive Tax Burdens on E-Commerce Can Teach Us”
- State Tax Notes: “The Problems With State Efforts to Kill Quill”
- State Tax Notes: “Retail Giants vs. Small Business: The Real Remote Sales Tax Fight”
- State Tax Notes: “Lessons to Be Learned: Gross Receipts Taxes”
- State Tax Notes: “Wayfair Is a Policy Dispute for Congress, Isaacson Says”
- State Tax Notes: “Descending Into the Rabbit Hole,” vol., 92, no. 13, 1113-14 (June 24, 2019)
- National Tractor Parts Dealer Association, “Confronting the Chaos of State Taxes” (Jan. 17, 2020)
Chair, Board of Trustees, MaineHealth
Trustee, Maine Public Broadcasting Network (Chair, Governance Committee)
Director, Maine Partners Health Plan (HMO)
Trustee, Maine Medical Center (Chair, Education & Research Committee)
Board of Directors, Livermore Falls Trust Company
Chair, Board of Trustees, Bowdoin International Music Festival
Board of Directors, Pine Tree Legal Assistance