Updates for the Tax Court

James G Busby Jr Related Seminars and Products

Senior Member

The Cavanagh Law Firm PA

is a Senior Member of The Cavanagh Law Firm, a Phoenix-based law firm where his practice involves all areas of state and local tax including sales, use, gross receipts, privilege, excise, and severance taxes as well as income, real and personal property taxes. Before entering private practice, Mr. Busby served as Chief Auditor and Principal Tax Analyst for the Transaction Privilege (Sales) and Use Tax Division of the Arizona Department of Revenue. During his time at the Department, he argued and settled cases for the Department, advised the Director on tax policy issues as a member of the Uniformity Committee, and acted as liaison to the Attorney General's office. As Chief Auditor, he employed a staff of 125 professionals to administer Arizona's sales, use and severance tax audit programs including the Cities Program, which conducts audits for 75 Arizona municipalities. In his law practice, and before that while working for two of the world’s largest accounting firms (Arthur Andersen and Deloitte), Mr. Busby has successfully advised and represented numerous clients of all sizes and from numerous industries in a variety of tax matters. Active in the business, professional and nonprofit communities, he is a past Chair and the current Legislative Liaison for the State Bar of Arizona’s Tax Section, a board member at the Arizona Tax Research Association, on the Advisory Board for the Phoenix Tax Workshop, and a member of the Business Advisory Council for the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. Mr. Busby lectures extensively on state and local tax topics, co-authored the chapter regarding the Judicial Review of Taxation in the Arizona Appellate Handbook published by the State Bar of Arizona, and authors a monthly column on state and local tax topics entitled A Dash of SALT for the AZ CPA Magazine. He earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from Arizona State University and his B.A. from Brigham Young University. Mr. Busby is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the State Bar of Arizona and the Utah State Bar. Direct dial: (602) 322-4146. E-mail address: JBusby@CavanaghLaw.com
(01/2015)

Honorable Erik Thorson Related Seminars and Products

Maricopa County Superior Court

Judge Thorson was appointed to the Maricopa County Superior Court on December 13, 2017, and took the bench in early 2018. Judge Thorson serves as the Arizona Tax Court Presiding Judge, and has a calendar that includes Commercial Court cases, while generally presiding over cases for the Civil Department of the Court. After graduation from the University of Michigan Law School, Judge Thorson was a lawyer with Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., first as an Associate and then as a Partner in its Special Litigation and Compliance Group. Judge Thorson co-chairs the Arizona Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence and has served for nine years on the State Bar of Arizona Civil Practice and Procedure Committee. The judge is a veteran petitioner of several court rules cycles for a variety of rule sets and chaired the Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.4 Working Group in 2018 and 2019. During the pandemic, Judge Thorson chaired the Task Force on Conducting Juvenile Court Proceedings Safely in a Community Experiencing the Spread of an Infectious Disease, earning recognition as a "Presiding Judge's COVID Hero" for that work. A former journalist, Judge Thorson earned a B.A. in Journalism from Arizona State University, serving as Editor in Chief of the University's morning daily, The State Press, as a college senior.