Biography


John D. Ward has been engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C. for nearly 30 years. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, John received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1974 and his Juris Doctor degree from the Columbia University School of Law in 1977. From 1978 through 2004, John was successively an associate of, a member of and of counsel to Dow Lohnes & Albertson PLLC (now DowLohnes PLLC), a medium-sized law firm based in Washington, D.C. with a diversified practice centered around the communications industry. Since January 1, 2005, John has owned and operated his own law firm under the name “John D. Ward, Attorney at Law.”

Areas of Practice


For many years, John’s practice has focused upon the legal needs of two very different types of clients – labor unions and individuals and families of means.

Since the late 1970s, a significant part of John’s practice has focused upon the representation of many of the country’s financially successful individuals and families. Much of his time and attention has been devoted to assisting these individuals and families to develop strategies to achieve their estate and business succession planning goals in a tax-efficient and family-friendly manner and to the preparation of legal instruments, such as wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, restrictive stock ownership agreements, partnership agreements and limited liability company operating agreements that implement such strategies. John has also worked with a number of individuals and families to establish discreet and effective lifetime and post-mortem vehicles for charitable giving including charitable trusts, private foundations, supporting organizations and public charities. In addition, John has represented a number of his clients in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service involving income tax, gift tax, generation-skipping transfer tax and estate tax issues including, in many instances, asset valuation controversies. John also currently assists a number of his clients in administering estates, trusts and private foundations.

Since 1983, John has represented labor unions and their associated benefit funds with respect to a wide variety of tax and ERISA issues. He has advised union-sponsored pension and health and welfare funds concerning tax qualification issues as well as ongoing administrative and operational issues. He has also worked with labor unions to establish and develop a number of innovative member benefit programs and has represented both the unions themselves and union-sponsored benefit funds in connection with a number of Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor audits.