Alex J. Becker

Associate

Alex focuses his practice on complex litigation, government investigations and compliance, and tax controversy.

Alex Becker Portrait

Alex represents clients in litigation, government investigations and compliance, white-collar, internal investigations, and tax controversy matters. He has experience in federal and state courts. He has represented clients in connection with Department of Justice investigations and before the Internal Revenue Service. 

Client Work

Litigation, Government Enforcement & White Collar, and Investigations

Alex has represented clients in a range of litigation matters including antitrust class actions, commercial litigation, trust and estate disputes, and civil rights litigation. He contributed substantially to a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court on constitutional issues. 

Alex has represented clients in government enforcement and investigations, white-collar, and federal criminal defense matters, including in connection with Department of Justice investigations, grand jury proceedings, sentencing, and violation of supervised release hearings. 

Monitorships, Compliance, and Internal Investigations

Alex is a member of the Independent Monitoring Team overseeing the implementation of a multi-year consent decree outlining reforms for the Chicago Police Department. 

He has participated in conducting internal investigations related to allegations of misconduct and compliance with state and federal regulations.

Tax

Alex has represented clients in civil and criminal tax controversy matters including cases involving allegations of tax fraud related to conservation easements, offshore voluntary disclosure submissions, and research and development tax credits. He has represented clients in connection with IRS information and records requests, IRS examination and appeals, federal tax liens, tax penalties, innocent spouse relief submissions, voluntary disclosure submissions, voluntary correction program submissions, and state and local tax matters.

Alex has also represented tax-exempt organizations in federal and state tax compliance matters and has experience with estate tax matters.

Previous Work

Alex’s clients benefit from his knowledge and insights gained in nearly a decade of professional and public service experience before practicing law. As co-chair of a large city’s Human Rights Commission, he decided administrative appeals in employment, housing, and public accommodation cases, worked closely with city officials, and gained experience in local government policymaking, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Alex was a senior manager at a nonprofit organization, where he oversaw programs, communications and public relations for hundreds of constituents. He devoted two years to AmeriCorps and VISTA National Service.

Alex served as a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow in a national study of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), contributing to the report “Building the Assets of Low and Moderate Income Workers and their Families: The Role of Employee Ownership,” Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, March 2019.

Professional Activities

Alex is committed to pro bono. He is the recipient of ArentFox Schiff’s 2022 Roger Pascal Pro Bono Award for outstanding contributions to the public interest.

He has worked on court-appointed Section 1983 civil rights cases and Criminal Justice Act (CJA) cases, and has volunteered with Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, Legal Aid Chicago, and the National Immigrant Justice Center. While in law school, as a student attorney in Northwestern’s Bluhm Legal Clinic-MacArthur Justice Center, he worked on Section 1983 civil rights cases in federal district and appeals courts and was recognized as a Public Service Star. He served as a Legal Intern at the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington in 2018. 

Boards, Memberships & Certifications

  • American Bar Association 
    • Tax Section, Civil & Criminal Tax Penalties Committee 
    • Litigation Section
  • Chicago Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association

Publications, Presentations & Recognitions

While in law school, Alex was an Executive Editor of Northwestern University Law Review. He received the Adlai E. Stevenson II Award for Best Brief in the Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition. In the LL.M. Taxation program, he was awarded a Dean’s Scholarship and served as a student editorial board member of The Tax Lawyer, the nation’s premier, peer-reviewed tax law journal published by the American Bar Association. 

Insights