By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Attorney Erik VanderWeyden was raised in Grand Rapids and completed undergraduate and law school at Michigan State University. After law school, he moved to Chicago and spent 11 years at a national law firm with a multi-faceted practice including tax controversy, data privacy and cybersecurity, and real estate taxation. VanderWeyden recently joined Ayar Law, a tax law firm headquartered in Farmington Hills. He recently moved back to Grand Rapids and will lead the local office. He brings 13 years of innovative tax controversy experience to Ayar Law, where he specializes in resolving complex disputes with the IRS and state tax authorities. His practice focuses on creative approaches, including Offers in Compromise, penalty abatement, and defense against Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) claims. He has negotiated multi-million dollar settlements, defended businesses against crippling payroll tax assessments, and secured substantial penalty reductions for clients with international tax exposure.
Residence: Grand Rapids.
What would surprise people about your job? Tax controversy work is often about problem-solving and advocacy as opposed to punishment. I help people and businesses find fair resolutions to complex issues – often turning stressful situations into manageable outcomes.
Why did you become a lawyer? I wanted to help people navigate challenging and stressful situations with confidence and clarity.
What’s your proudest moment as a lawyer? I successfully secured a full charitable property tax exemption for a charitable organization located in Chicago that operates a coffee shop on part of its property. The coffee shop serves as a training facility for cognitively disabled young adults. After a long process, I successfully proved the main function of the coffee shop was charitable in nature, since its main purpose is to provide hands-on work experience and equipping the young adults with the skills necessary to secure future employment.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? Representing an indigent client in a pro bono IRS audit and securing a result resulting in a badly needed refund.
What advice do you have for someone considering law school? Utilize professor’s office hours. It took me too long to realize the huge benefits of meeting with professors on a regular basis.
Who are your law role models? During my time at a big law firm, I was fortunate to have many mentors who guided me throughout the years, but I have always admired my law professors the most, whose teachings provided the foundation for my legal career.
What’s your favorite law-related movie? “My Cousin Vinny” – beyond being a hilarious movie, the rules of evidence portrayed in the movie are surprisingly accurate. My law school professor actually showed clips of the movie to demonstrate how to effectively enter evidence.
What’s the best advice you received? An attorney told me early in my career not to assume experience automatically means greater knowledge.
If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be? An NHL player – getting to play hockey for a living sounds like the ultimate dream job!
What do you do to relax? Spend time with my wife and two kids, swimming, biking, hiking and cheering on the MSU Spartans.
What other career path might you have chosen? My father and brother are commercial airline pilots. I love to travel and would have likely followed the family tradition.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self? Challenge yourself and break out of your comfort zone more often.
Favorite local hangouts: I enjoy discovering dive bars and local breweries. Current favorites are Brewery Vivant and the Winchester.
Favorite websites? I enjoy staying up to date on sports news by following the beat writers on Mlive.com.
Favorite music? My favorite band is Radiohead, I also enjoy Indie Rock (Whitney, The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie) and Progressive Rock (Pink Floyd, Rush).
Favorite app? X (formerly Twitter), I enjoy getting up to date news on sports teams.
What is your happiest childhood memory? Traveling to Europe to visit family.
What is your most treasured material possession? My laptop – almost all of my family photos and important projects live on it.
What do you wish someone would invent? Teleportation.
What has been your favorite year so far and why? Probably 2020, although it was a chaotic year--transitioning from working in an office five to six times a week to working from home and spending every day with family was very refreshing.
What’s the most awe-inspiring place you’ve been? My wife and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary in Moorea, French Polynesia. The mountain terrain and beaches were surreal, and sunsets breathtaking.
What one super power would you like? The ability to time travel.
What’s one thing you would like to learn to do? Play piano.
What is something most people don't know about you? I’ve never broken a bone, despite playing multiple contact sports growing up.
Favorite places to spend money? Traveling, and discovering new restaurants.
What is your motto? Do the right thing, even when no one is watching.
Who do you most admire? People who use their success and skills to uplift others, such as chef and humanitarian Jose Andres.
What is the most unusual thing you have done? I once spent over 35 hours traveling to spend 40 hours in Tokyo.
Legal News
Attorney Erik VanderWeyden was raised in Grand Rapids and completed undergraduate and law school at Michigan State University. After law school, he moved to Chicago and spent 11 years at a national law firm with a multi-faceted practice including tax controversy, data privacy and cybersecurity, and real estate taxation. VanderWeyden recently joined Ayar Law, a tax law firm headquartered in Farmington Hills. He recently moved back to Grand Rapids and will lead the local office. He brings 13 years of innovative tax controversy experience to Ayar Law, where he specializes in resolving complex disputes with the IRS and state tax authorities. His practice focuses on creative approaches, including Offers in Compromise, penalty abatement, and defense against Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP) claims. He has negotiated multi-million dollar settlements, defended businesses against crippling payroll tax assessments, and secured substantial penalty reductions for clients with international tax exposure.
Residence: Grand Rapids.
What would surprise people about your job? Tax controversy work is often about problem-solving and advocacy as opposed to punishment. I help people and businesses find fair resolutions to complex issues – often turning stressful situations into manageable outcomes.
Why did you become a lawyer? I wanted to help people navigate challenging and stressful situations with confidence and clarity.
What’s your proudest moment as a lawyer? I successfully secured a full charitable property tax exemption for a charitable organization located in Chicago that operates a coffee shop on part of its property. The coffee shop serves as a training facility for cognitively disabled young adults. After a long process, I successfully proved the main function of the coffee shop was charitable in nature, since its main purpose is to provide hands-on work experience and equipping the young adults with the skills necessary to secure future employment.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? Representing an indigent client in a pro bono IRS audit and securing a result resulting in a badly needed refund.
What advice do you have for someone considering law school? Utilize professor’s office hours. It took me too long to realize the huge benefits of meeting with professors on a regular basis.
Who are your law role models? During my time at a big law firm, I was fortunate to have many mentors who guided me throughout the years, but I have always admired my law professors the most, whose teachings provided the foundation for my legal career.
What’s your favorite law-related movie? “My Cousin Vinny” – beyond being a hilarious movie, the rules of evidence portrayed in the movie are surprisingly accurate. My law school professor actually showed clips of the movie to demonstrate how to effectively enter evidence.
What’s the best advice you received? An attorney told me early in my career not to assume experience automatically means greater knowledge.
If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be? An NHL player – getting to play hockey for a living sounds like the ultimate dream job!
What do you do to relax? Spend time with my wife and two kids, swimming, biking, hiking and cheering on the MSU Spartans.
What other career path might you have chosen? My father and brother are commercial airline pilots. I love to travel and would have likely followed the family tradition.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self? Challenge yourself and break out of your comfort zone more often.
Favorite local hangouts: I enjoy discovering dive bars and local breweries. Current favorites are Brewery Vivant and the Winchester.
Favorite websites? I enjoy staying up to date on sports news by following the beat writers on Mlive.com.
Favorite music? My favorite band is Radiohead, I also enjoy Indie Rock (Whitney, The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie) and Progressive Rock (Pink Floyd, Rush).
Favorite app? X (formerly Twitter), I enjoy getting up to date news on sports teams.
What is your happiest childhood memory? Traveling to Europe to visit family.
What is your most treasured material possession? My laptop – almost all of my family photos and important projects live on it.
What do you wish someone would invent? Teleportation.
What has been your favorite year so far and why? Probably 2020, although it was a chaotic year--transitioning from working in an office five to six times a week to working from home and spending every day with family was very refreshing.
What’s the most awe-inspiring place you’ve been? My wife and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary in Moorea, French Polynesia. The mountain terrain and beaches were surreal, and sunsets breathtaking.
What one super power would you like? The ability to time travel.
What’s one thing you would like to learn to do? Play piano.
What is something most people don't know about you? I’ve never broken a bone, despite playing multiple contact sports growing up.
Favorite places to spend money? Traveling, and discovering new restaurants.
What is your motto? Do the right thing, even when no one is watching.
Who do you most admire? People who use their success and skills to uplift others, such as chef and humanitarian Jose Andres.
What is the most unusual thing you have done? I once spent over 35 hours traveling to spend 40 hours in Tokyo.
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