The San Diego French-American Chamber of Commerce held its second Legal Business Conference at Thomas Jefferson School of Law on December 7. It was called The French & American Legal Systems: A Comparison on Business Taxation.
The chamber’s Executive Director Elsa Depeupiere opened the event and thanked everyone for coming. SDFACC Director Lionel Bochurberg then took the stage and introduced the event by giving an outline of what was to come. He welcomed the first speaker, TJSL’s Professor Richard Winchester, who actually was moving to Tunisia a few days later. Professor Winchester explained the many details of the American Legal System and its complexity.
“I gave an overview of the various options that are available to someone who wants to operate a business in the U.S.,” said Professor Winchester. “My presentation was focused on the forms of doing business that are available under state law (i.e. corporation, partnership, and limited liability company)."
He also addressed how the business is taxed on its profits and how the owners of the business are taxed on their share of the profits of the business. Professor Winchester then left the audience with some advice: “I suggest you get a tax counselor.”
The second speaker was Stephane Taieb who made the transition between the two legal systems and did not even know what time zone he was in; he addressed the audience by saying “good morning!” Finally, Lionel introduced Jean-Baptise Bonnefoux who explained the French Legal System via Skype. Being as it was 4:30am in Paris, the audience was very grateful. The event was finished with networking opportunities and delicious food catered by Indigo café.
All in all, the night was a great success and we all learned a lot about business taxation from both sides of the Atlantic!