DIRECTOR, TAX SERVICES
ABOUT CHERISH
Cherish joined LaPorte in 2018 where she provides tax planning, advisory, and compliance services to a variety of clients, with a focus on estate, gift, and succession planning, and on state and local, and family business tax planning. With her extensive experience, Cherish delivers advisory services to family offices on tax issues both pre- and post-transaction and consults on compliance and personal wealth issues. She represents clients in proceedings before federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Cherish is an adjunct professor at LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center where she teaches Income Tax I.
Cherish began her professional career representing the Internal Revenue Service before the US Tax Court on procedural and tax controversy issues and contributing to the drafting of regulations dealing with tax collection issues. She later worked for a large regional law firm, where she negotiated settlements and abatement of tax obligations at the federal, state, and local levels for taxpayers. Cherish’s legal practice also consisted of counseling and representing clients on trust and estate planning and administration (successions); federal, state, and international taxation; and entity governance issues.
NONPROFIT
Cherish has extensive experience assisting a wide variety of nonprofit clients through the lifecycle of their needs from tax exempt status through compliance and operations to dissolution. In addition, she has assisted nonprofit clients with formation, governance, and reinstatement issues. Cherish is a member of the LaPorte Nonprofit Industry Group.
TRANSACTION ADVISORY SERVICES
As a member of the LaPorte Transaction Advisory Services team, Cherish helps partnerships, S Corporations and closely held businesses with options on structuring transactions and operations. She also guides her clients on sales and use tax issues.
TRUSTS AND ESTATES
Cherish has decades of experience working with all types of trusts and estates. She provides pre- and post-death estate planning to help her clients preserve wealth for future generations and the continuation of their legacies.
Master of Laws in Tax, New York University School of Law
Juris Doctorate, Louisiana State University Law Center
Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Louisiana State University
Certified Public Accountant
Board Certified Estate Planning and Administration Specialist, Certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization
Board Certified Tax Law Specialist, Certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization
Louisiana State Bar Association, Former Tax Section Chair
New Orleans Estate and Business Planning Council
Arnold Air Society – Silver Wings (Angel Flight) Education Fund, Inc., Board Member
Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization, Board Member and Former Chair
Junior League of Baton Rouge, Former Endowment Chair
Lighthouse Louisiana, Former Board Member
Spay Baton Rouge, Treasurer
Louisiana Bar Foundation, Fellow
National Business Institute, “Trusts 101.” August 2020
Louisiana State Bar Association Tax Section, “How the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Will Impact You: A First Look.” May 2020
2020 Joint Annual Meeting of Deep Southern Equipment Dealers Association and Midwest-SouthEastern Equipment Dealers Association, “Selling Across State Lines in a Post Wayfair World.” February 2020
National Business Institute, “LLCs From Start to Finish.” December 2019
Lafayette Bar Association & Foundation, Bench Bar Conference, “CLE Framework.” September 2019
Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission, “Prosper Jefferson: Online Sales Tax Update.” August 2019
Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations (LANO), “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Effect on Nonprofit Entities.” August 2019
LaPorte Nonprofit Summer Series, “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Effect on Nonprofit Entities.” August 2018
“When a Tax Return Doesn’t Add Up, the IRS Will Notice,” Lagniappe, January/February 2021
“Could Louisiana’s new pass-through entity tax help lower your individual taxes?” Micah J. Stewart, JD, LL.M., and Cherish van Mullem, CPA, JD, LL.M., CityBusiness Guest Perspective, July 2019
“Asset Protection Trusts,” Estate Planning, 2018
“Estate Planning in Louisiana,” 2017–2021, contributing author
