John DeBruyn, who practices law in Denver, Colorado, received his J.D. from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and his Masters of Law in Taxation from New York University.  Before entering private practice in 1972, Mr. DeBruyn served as a trial attorney with the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.  His practice emphasizes tax, estate and business planning and he continues to handle tax disputes.

Mr. DeBruyn is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council (ACTEC) and the American College of Tax Counsel and he has served on the ACTEC International Estate Planning Committee. He is listed in Martindale-Hubbell's Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers under both Tax Law and Probate and Estate Planning and in The Best Lawyers in America under Tax Law and Trusts and Estates.

Mr. DeBruyn served as an adjunct professor teaching estate and gift taxation in the University of Denver Graduate Tax Program. He speaks and lectures frequently at national and regional conferences and seminars on estate and tax planning including the ALI-ABA, the joint Continuing Legal Education arm of the American Bar Association and the American Law Institute, the Practicing Law Institute, the University of Miami Estate Planning Institute, the Advance Estate Planning Conference sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Million Dollar Roundtable, the National Conference of the Certified Financial Planners, the Northwest Tax Institute, the Southern California Tax and Estate Planning Forum, the Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, the Southern Methodist University Estate Planning Seminar and the National Conference of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC). As an NAEPC director, John worked with NAEPC presidents Harold S. Small, David E. Lajoie, Gary R. Froid and Hartman Axley and others on the board to develop and implement the AEP® designation program.

Article's authored by Mr. DeBruyn include "Choice of Entity and Structuring Limited Liability Entities for the Best of Both Worlds" 31 University of Miami Estate Planning Institute, 1997;  Estate Planning and Subchapter S after TRA 1976," 15 University of Miami Estate Planning Institute, 1981; "Recent Developments in Federal Taxation Affecting Estates, Gifts and Trusts, " Southern Methodist University Symposia on Federal Taxation, 1979, 1980 and 1981";  and he co-authored "To Be or Not to Be Exclusive: Statutory Construction of the Charging Order in the Single Member LLC" DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal, Vol. 9, 2010.

Mr. DeBruyn has served as Co-chair, Joint Committee on Limited Liability Companies, of the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section (RPTE); and Chair, Business Valuation Committee of RPTE's Trust and Estate Division; and Chair, Family Partnership Task Force, Estate and Gift Tax Committee, ABA Section of Taxation; and National Chairman, Estate and Gift Taxation Committee of the Federal Bar Association.