The room was full of cookies. Thin Mints, Samoas, you name it — stacks of Girl Scout cookies taller than Nikki Williams’ children. Her oldest, Julia, helped organize the orders, delegate the correct number boxes for each troop and direct scout leaders to their appropriate tower.
Hordes of women came and went from the Williams’ Canton home, and young Julia had to wait until the very last boxes had been claimed until she could break into her own cookies.
Such a scene was typical in the childhood of Julia Hall, tax manager at BCG & Co. “[My grandfather] left a legacy of helping,” Hall says. “He instilled it in my mom and her siblings, … and then I got it from my mom.”
Hall’s grandfather, Joseph Marshall Sr., filled a variety of volunteer positions at Our Lady of Peace in Louisville, Ohio, where Hall and her siblings attended grade school. Hall’s mother was the neighborhood Girl Scouts chairman and a volunteer gardener at St. Thomas Aquinas Church. And Hall, a 33-year-old mother of two, has carried this lineage into her professional life.
“I love that ability to help people, especially in tax,” she says. “It’s an area that is easily overwhelming for people. I love being able to take questions that clients and staff have and help find an answer.”
Hall spends her days at BCG & Co. working primarily with real estate developers in tax planning and tax compliance. She researches tax law to advise clients on ownership structures, structuring transactions and finding the most beneficial tax strategies.
The other part of her day?
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LIFE LESSONS
⊲ People have to know you care before they care what you know.
⊲ I’m always looking for ways to be efficient. Working full time and having two children and a husband and a life, I’m always looking for ways to save time. Time is very valuable.
⊲ So many times, it just comes back to communication.
⊲ I always think of faith, hope and love. Those three things will get you through whatever challenge you face, whatever you come across.
⊲ I have a good attitude. A positive attitude is important.
⊲ One tiny fact can make a big impact.
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“Frankly, you could say I answer questions,” Hall says. “That’s so much of my job.Whether it’s clients, whether it’s staff, it’s just a lot of questions.”
One real estate client came to Hall in 2008 asking about a possible deduction for a building it had recently constructed. On the surface, it looked as though the building may not qualify.
“Tax law is just that — it’s law,” Hall says. “And if you are able to do research and find support for your position, you’re able to take advantage of previous case law.”
So Hall started researching the tax code, [white papers] and an inordinate amount of information. Her digging paid off. She uncovered two definitions of the new law that supported the eligibility of her client, producing a $2 million write-off that year.
Her interest in helping clients goes beyond the balance sheet. After reading an article about a foreign retailer expanding into the U.S., she forwarded it to a client that runs a property management company.
“She went beyond and above the call of duty,” says BCG’s director of taxation Laura Culp.
Emily Zaubi, a tax supervisor at BCG & Co., can also attest to Hall’s personal touch. She came to the company in 2006 as an intern, and Hall became her informal mentor.
“[She was] very helpful, always providing tidbits of advice, just checking in on me,” explains Zaubi. “About a year or two ago, we started [to] do this on a more regular basis, get lunch, get out of the office.”
Hall and Zaubi’s relationship inspired the creation of a formal mentoring program at BCG & Co. Now, nearly every employee has a mentor and is a mentor.
“I’ve just always kind of admired her,” Zaubi says. “I’ve definitely tried to [be a role model] with our current interns because I know how much I appreciated that and how much it meant to me.”