2025 Tax Analysts Award of Distinction in U.S. State and Local Taxation
Jaye Calhoun
Kean Miller LLP
Ms. Calhoun was selected for her remarkable record of legal leadership, academic engagement, and policy innovation that exemplifies the values and mission of Tax Analysts. A board-certified tax expert and certified member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, Ms. Calhoun has spent her career helping clients navigate tax complexity while advocating for practical solutions, systemic reform, and sound tax policy.
Tax Analysts is proud to present the inaugural Award of Distinction for Contributions in U.S. State and Local Taxation to Jaye Calhoun.
Presented at the Paul J. Hartman State and Local Tax Forum, this national recognition honors individuals and organizations whose work has strengthened how tax systems function and serve the public good.
Transforming Tax Policy Through Leadership
The State and Local Tax Award of Distinction recognizes transformative contributions that improve how tax systems operate and serve the public interest. Through her scholarship, mentorship, and advocacy, Ms. Calhoun has set a standard for professional excellence that strengthens trust, accountability, and informed dialogue across the tax community.
About Jaye
Jaye Calhoun is a partner in the New Orleans and Houston offices of Kean Miller LLP, where she provides clients with full-service tax representation. She has many years of experience assisting clients with state and local tax challenges and business opportunities, tax compliance and planning, the use of tax and business incentives, and tax audits and controversies.
Jaye is an adjunct professor of law at Tulane University Law School, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, and LSU Law Center, and she is a former professor in the online program of Northeastern University D’Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston.
Jaye is board certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization in both taxation and estate planning and is a certified member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation. She was elected a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and serves as both a regent and chair of its nominating committee, and she participates in the amicus committee. She is a former chair of both the American Bar Association Section of Taxation State and Local Tax Committee and the Louisiana State Bar Tax Section, and she has served on the ABA tax section council as a council director.
Jaye is frequently quoted in the tax press and serves on the editorial board of the ABA publication The Tax Lawyer. She has a long list of tax publications, most recently being awarded, along with her co-authors, the Bloomberg Tax Author of the Year Award – 2023 for a state corporate income tax navigator.
In 2015 Tax Notes profiled Jaye in its State Tax Spotlight, and in 2012 she was recognized as “The Problem Solver” in an article about her in Louisiana Life Super Lawyers.
Jaye is ranked in Band 1 - Tax by Chambers and has been listed for many years in Louisiana Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America. She is AV-rated preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and was recognized in 1999 as a YWCA Role Model and by New Orleans City Business as a 2005 Woman of the Year. New Orleans City Business also selected her as a 2014 recipient of a Leadership in Law award.
In her free time, Jaye enjoys hanging out with her family, writing fiction, teaching Jazzercise, and participating in New Orleans’ Mardi Gras as a member of the Krewe of Muses.