Contingent Fee Deferral: Strategies & Options

Jeremy Babener
Jeremy Babener
Structured Consulting

Jeremy is a nationally recognized tax expert. He counsels plaintiffs and plaintiff-side law firms on settlement planning, helping to maximize recovery outcomes. He also reviews and structures settlement transactions for trust companies, insurance companies, and other financial institutions. Jeremy has worked across a broad spectrum of cases and settlement sizes, including individual claims, mass torts, and class actions.

Peter Darling
Peter Darling
Structured Consulting

Peter Darling is a settlement advisor and former litigation attorney who helps plaintiffs and trial lawyers craft tax-efficient, financially beneficial and strategic settlement strategies. With a career spanning over two decades, Peter’s work incorporates expertise in law, business development, strategy and marketing. He began his career as an advertising copywriter under Peter Arnell at Arnell/Bickford Associates, contributing to major campaigns for clients like Donna Karan and Lifetime Television and winning the J. Walter Thompson copywriting competition.

Live Video-Broadcast: September 5, 2025

1 hour CLE

Tuition: $395.00
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Program Summary

Deferring the receipt of a contingent fee can offer significant tax advantages, allowing you to reduce your immediate tax burden and delay taxes on any investment growth. By postponing payment, you not only minimize current tax liabilities, but also have the flexibility to invest those deferred fees in various ways. In this session, we'll explore the essential steps to successfully defer taxes, why these steps matter, and provide you with practical language to implement in your agreements.

Key topics to be discussed:

  • Understanding the tax advantages of deferring fees
  • Differences between deferral options
  • Steps needed to protect contingent fee deferral

Date / Time: September 5, 2025

  • 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern
  • 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Central
  • 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Mountain
  • 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific

Closed-captioning available

Speakers

Speaker_Jeremy BabenerJeremy Babener | Structured Consulting

Jeremy is a nationally recognized tax expert. He counsels plaintiffs and plaintiff-side law firms on settlement planning, helping to maximize recovery outcomes. He also reviews and structures settlement transactions for trust companies, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

Jeremy has worked across a broad spectrum of cases and settlement sizes, including individual claims, mass torts, and class actions. His role often includes drafting and refining settlement terms, proposing tax-efficient and financial strategies, and negotiating their adoption with defense teams.

He has developed and evaluated financial vehicles, trust arrangements, and income deferral solutions. Among these is the Plaintiff Fund Charity, a no-cost program that protects plaintiffs’ Medicaid eligibility when they fundraise for medical needs.

Jeremy is an active member of the ABA TIPS Plaintiffs’ Practice Committee and leads the Legal Committee of the Society of Settlement Planners. Earlier in his career, he served as a Fellow in the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department.

He frequently speaks on settlement taxation and ethics at law schools such as NYU School of Law and the University of Chicago, contributes articles to Forbes, Bloomberg, and the ABA, and shares his insights on CNN, Fox News, and CNBC.

 

Peter Darling |Structured Consulting

Peter Darling is a settlement advisor and former litigation attorney who helps plaintiffs and trial lawyers craft tax-efficient, financially beneficial and strategic settlement strategies. With a career spanning over two decades, Peter’s work incorporates expertise in law, business development, strategy and marketing.

He began his career as an advertising copywriter under Peter Arnell at Arnell/Bickford Associates, contributing to major campaigns for clients like Donna Karan and Lifetime Television and winning the J. Walter Thompson copywriting competition.

After earning his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School Peter practiced commercial litigation before co-founding Flycast Communications in 1997. Flycast grew to 350+ employees, went public, and was sold for $750 million. He has been on the founding teams of two more venture-backed startups: ComScore Networks and Hercules AI, as well as consulting with dozens more. Peter later launched a consultancy focused on strategy, marketing, and business development for professional services firms, advising leading law and advertising firms across the U.S.

Peter has worked with companies across Asia, Europe, and North America. He holds a B.A. with honors in English Literature from Swarthmore College and is a certified Kauffman FastTrac trainer, speaker, and published author in the legal and consulting industries.

Agenda

I. Understanding the tax advantages of deferring fees | 2:00pm – 2:20pm

II. Differences between deferral options | 2:20pm – 2:40pm

III. Steps needed to protect contingent fee deferral | 2:40pm – 3:00pm

Credits

Alaska

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Our programs are CLE-eligible through Alaska’s recognition of multi-jurisdictional reciprocity.
Alabama

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Arkansas

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Arizona

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

California

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Colorado

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Connecticut

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

District of Columbia

No MCLE Required
1 CLE Hour(s)

Delaware

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Florida

Approved via Attorney Submission
1 General Hours

Receive CLE credit in Florida via attorney submission.
Georgia

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Hawaii

Approved for CLE Credits
1.2 General

Iowa

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Idaho

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Illinois

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Indiana

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Kansas

Pending CLE Approval
1 Substantive

Kentucky

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Louisiana

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Massachusetts

No MCLE Required
1 CLE Hour(s)

Maryland

No MCLE Required
1 CLE Hour(s)

Maine

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Michigan

No MCLE Required
1 CLE Hour(s)

Minnesota

Approved for Self-Study Credits
1 General

Missouri

Approved for CLE Credits
1.2 General

Mississippi

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Montana

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

North Carolina

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

North Dakota

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Our programs are CLE-eligible through North Dakota’s recognition of multi-jurisdictional reciprocity. Section 1, Policy 1.14
Nebraska

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

myLawCLE reports attendance to Nebraska on each attorney’s behalf for all programs. Please do not self-report.
New Hampshire

Approved for CLE Credits
60 General minutes

As of July 1, 2014, the NHMCLE Board no longer provides pre- or post-approval of courses. Attendees must self-determine whether a program is eligible for credit, and self-report their attendance online at www.nhbar.org, based on qualification provisions of Rule 53.
New Jersey

Approved for CLE Credits
1.2 General

Our programs are CLE-eligible through New Jersey’s recognition of multi-jurisdictional reciprocity, except for the courses required under BCLE Reg. 201:2
New Mexico

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Nevada

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

New York

Approved for CLE Credits
1.2 General

Our programs are CLE-eligible through New York’s Approved Jurisdiction Group “B”.
Ohio

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Oklahoma

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Oregon

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Pennsylvania

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Rhode Island

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

South Carolina

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

South Dakota

No MCLE Required
1 CLE Hour(s)

Tennessee

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Texas

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Utah

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

Virginia

Not Eligible
1 General Hours

Vermont

Approved for CLE Credits
1 General

Washington

Approved via Attorney Submission
1 Law & Legal Hours

Receive CLE credit in Washington via attorney submission.
Wisconsin

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

West Virginia

Pending CLE Approval
1.2 General

Wyoming

Pending CLE Approval
1 General

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