About

Kurt Magette has spent over 40 years at the intersection of tax law and complex transactions — and in June 2026, he founded Magette Law TET, PLC to practice exactly the kind of focused, high-stakes tax counsel he's known for.

He's not a generalist. Tax-efficient transactions — the structuring of businesses, commercial real estate deals, ownership transfers, and M&A — is what he does, what he teaches, and what he writes about. Clients who come to Magette Law TET, PLC often arrive through a CPA or a fellow attorney who knows that this particular set of problems calls for this particular depth of expertise.

That reputation was built at some of Virginia's most respected law firms — McGuireWoods, Spotts Fain, and Whiteford Taylor & Preston — and in classrooms at William & Mary, VCU, and the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, where Kurt has lectured on partnership taxation and other Business Entity taxation for decades.

Education

Duke University

A.B., magna cum laude, 1980 | Management Science / Accounting | Highest ten percent of class

Northwestern University School of Law

J.D., cum laude, 1983 | Highest ten percent of class

CPA

Registered CPA in Illinois, 1980

Career

Magette Law TET, PLC — Founder

June 2026 – Present

Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP — Senior Counsel

March 2023 – May 2026

Spotts Fain, P.C. — Senior Counsel

June 2014 – March 2023

Kurt R. Magette, PLC — Founder

February 2000 – June 2014

LeClairRyan — Shareholder

April 1995 – January 2000

RF&P Corporation — Associate General Counsel

April 1994 – April 1995

McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe — Partner, Tax Department

June 1983 – March 1994 | Head of Real Estate Tax Section

Teaching & Lecturing

Kurt has taught partnership and entity taxation at multiple Virginia institutions, including:

•       Adjunct Professor, William & Mary (Marshall-Wythe School of Law) — Partnership Planning; LLM Program in Taxation (Partnership and S Corporation Taxation; International Taxation)

•       Adjunct Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University — Masters in Taxation and Masters in Accounting Programs (Partnership Taxation), multiple years

•       Annual Guest Lecturer on Pass-Through Entities, Darden Business School, University of Virginia — 1991 through 1999

Recognition

Kurt has been listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America multiple times, including 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Bar Memberships & Community

Member, Virginia State Bar

Past member: American Bar Association and Virginia Bar Association (Sections on Taxation and Real Estate); Subcommittee on Tax in VBA Real Estate Section; National Association of Real Estate Trust Counsel (NAREIT)

Member and Past Advocate, Knights of Columbus, St. Mary's Catholic Church

Director, St. Andrew's School Board, 2003–2008 (Secretary and Executive Committee Member)