About James Maule

My Mission

The mission is simple: help individuals, families, and small business owners get through the stress and complexity of tax problems so they can get back to the things that matter most. My clients are people who help and heal others, build and design, run households, raise families, and run businesses. They shouldn't have to spend their time worrying about the IRS.

I believe everyone deserves access to experienced tax counsel, not just large corporations. I built this practice so real people could get the same caliber of representation that Fortune 500 companies take for granted.

People do business with people. You work directly with an attorney who knows your name, understands your situation, and is personally invested in the outcome. No call centers. No revolving door of associates. Just experienced, personal attention from start to finish.

James Maule

James Maule is an attorney with thirteen years of experience at Big 4 firms and large multinational accounting and consulting firms, where he handled some of the most complex tax issues in the country for corporate clients.

He founded Maule Law after seeing firsthand how individuals, families, and small business owners were underserved by a system that prioritized large corporate clients. The work is no less meaningful at this scale, and the stakes for the client are often higher.

James grew up in Flint, Michigan, in a family that worked the General Motors line for generations. He was the first in his family to go to college, and later the first to go to law school, earning his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School. That background is the reason this practice looks the way it does. This firm is built for working families and small business owners, the people he grew up around, and it exists to help small businesses get started, stay compliant, and grow.

His practice spans IRS audit representation nationwide and estate planning, combining deep knowledge of the Internal Revenue Code with practical experience handling matters before the IRS, the U.S. Tax Court, and state tax agencies. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court and represents clients in all 50 states for federal tax matters.

James understands the anxiety clients feel when faced with the tax code. He enjoys alleviating that stress by serving as a trusted advisor, so you never have to face a tax matter alone.

Why I Started This Practice

I have watched family businesses get sold for far less than they were worth because the owner trusted the buyer's lawyer to be fair. Earn-outs designed to fail. Working-capital clawbacks that quietly recovered a quarter of the headline price. Indemnification provisions the seller never saw coming until two years after closing. I have seen private equity firms walk in with full-time M&A attorneys and a playbook refined across hundreds of acquisitions, sit across the table from a family that built something over thirty years, and leave with most of the value.

I have been on the other side of that table. I started this practice so the next generation of family business owners has someone in their corner who knows the playbook. Whether you are planning to sell, hand the business to a family member, build toward going to market in a few years, or just want a tax structure that protects what you have already built, you should have an advocate, not a generalist. That is why this firm exists.

The same principle runs through every corner of the practice. Whether it is a routine personal return, an audit letter that just landed in your mailbox, a quarterly tax plan for a small business, or the sale of a company you spent your life building, you deserve counsel who is genuinely on your side.