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one of two law firms that performed legal services for
petitioner, with not more than a 1.35-percent equity interest at
any relevant time. Cervin performed 67.7 hours of legal services
out of a total of 145.5 hours performed by Thompson & Knight for
petitioner. Wilson & White performed a total of 600.55 hours of
legal services for petitioner.
Respondent argues that Cervin cannot recover litigation
costs in this case because Cervin's relationship to petitioner
cannot be distinguished from a taxpayer's representing himself,
and pro se taxpayers cannot recover attorney's fees under section
7430. Frisch v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. 838 (1986).
In Frisch v. Commissioner, supra, we disallowed all
attorney's fees that were claimed by the taxpayer, who was an
attorney. In Minahan v. Commissioner, 88 T.C. 516 (1987), we
disallowed all fees paid by the taxpayer-attorney to the law firm
in which the taxpayer-attorney worked and of which he was
president and a senior stockholder. We do not believe that the
rationale of those cases applies to the circumstances of this
case.
In Frisch v. Commissioner, supra, we held that the plain
language of section 7430 could not be read to include lost
opportunity costs of the petitioning attorney and that, in any
event, his fees were not paid or incurred within the meaning of
the statute. In Minahan v. Commissioner, supra, we denied fees
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