Overview
Vanja Habekovic is a Partner in the Business & Corporate and Tax Departments.
Vanja’s clients rely on her dynamic counsel to establish, grow, maintain and sell their businesses and to navigate the important tax consequences that arise when making deals. Vanja has a reputation of not only working closely and collaborating with her clients on existing matters, but looks long term to further develop strategies to advance a company’s future endeavors. She digs deep to understand the business concerns to ensure business and tax counseling is seamless and comprehensive. Addressing taxation issues as part of a greater business plan helps clients maintain the tax efficiency of organizations and transactional decision. Vanja advises clients in a variety of industries, including real estate, technology, fashion and restaurant.
She counsels clients on business and tax planning in connection with:
- Entity formation and choice of entity
- LLC and partnership agreements
- Equity and debt financings
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Corporate governance
- Executive compensation, including equity and deferred compensation agreements
- Inbound and outbound foreign investment, including real property investments
- Pre and post immigration business and tax planning
Prior to joining ECJ, Vanja was a tax associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP.
Vanja hones her decision strategy skills at the poker table and is also a competitive pool player. She is a gourmet chef, classical pianist and dances tango.
Representative Matters
Advised a beauty product company in connection with its initial round of financing
Represented employee in acquisition of stock in cryptocurrency company
Served as outside corporate counsel to major fashion retail company
Negotiated stock deal for sale of an oil refinery maintenance company to a public company
Structured and negotiated a foreign investor’s acquisition of US real property to minimize income and estate taxes
Drafted phantom equity plan for restaurant group
Represented a closely held company in the sale of its assets to a large waste management company
Negotiated tax and executive compensation issues on behalf of a technology company in a tax-free merger
Honors & Affiliations
Honors & Recognitions
Women of Influence: Attorneys, Los Angeles Business Journal, 2021
Southern California Super Lawyers, 2020-present
Southern California Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, multiple years
Community & Professional
State Bar of California
Real Estate Broker in California, 01860429
Media & Events
Client Alerts
Blog Posts
Publications
Speaking Engagements
Successes
Education
J.D., Stanford Law School
B.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Phi Beta Kappa
Practice Areas
Admissions
- California
- U.S. Tax Court
Languages
- Croatian
- Spanish