William M. Backstrom, Jr., a partner on the firm's State & Local Tax team in the New Orleans office, will serve as a panelist at the New York University's 34th Institute on State and Local Taxation on December 17-18, 2015, in New York City. The panel discussion about mergers and acquisitions will examine issues that can arise in planning corporate acquisitions, including apportionment, characterization of gain or loss, sales tax exemptions, spin-off-issues, treatment of net operating loss carryovers, and others.