US Treasury’s Ruth Madrigal joins Steptoe

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

US Treasury’s Ruth Madrigal joins Steptoe

Madrigal Ruth 100 x 90

Ruth Madrigal has joined Steptoe & Johnson as a partner in the tax group in the Washington office.

Madrigal has spent the past six years at the US Treasury department’s office of tax policy, where she served as the exempt organisations (EO) attorney and policy adviser. While at Treasury, Madrigal drafted regulations and other administrative guidance relating to the tax-exempt sector, including Treasury guidance on programme-related investments and other types of mission-related investments, updated rules facilitating foreign grant making, and new regulations detailing requirements for tax-exempt hospitals. She also contributed to legislative proposals relating to charitable organisations and charitable giving, and represented the department in public hearings and in meetings with other federal agencies, foreign governments, Congress, and state regulators.

At Steptoe, Madrigal will build upon the firm’s tax-exempt organisations practice, led by Suzanne McDowell and Catherine Wilkinson.

Madrigal previously worked in private practice at Caplin & Drysdale, where she advised EOs on a broad range of issues, including entity choice, private foundation rules, intermediate sanctions, unrelated business activities, and reporting and governance issues. She also worked at Irell & Manella, advising on tax and corporate transactions.

Steptoe is the second US firm in recent days to announce the hire of a former government official, as firms get ready for a year of tax action under President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Almost three-quarters of surveyed tax professionals are concerned about inaccurate AI outputs; in other news, Dentons hired a partner from CMS to lead its Belgian tax team
Long-running, high-value and complex enquiries are a significant reason for HM Revenue and Customs’s increased TP yield, experts suggest
Landmark legal updates in India have led companies to prioritise specialised tax advisers over accountants, ITR has found
Brazil’s shift to a nationwide consumption tax is more than conceptual; it fundamentally transforms municipal revenue, enforcement, and administrative disputes
While some advisers praised the ruling’s definition of a ‘voucher’ for VAT purposes, a UK partner said the case left unanswered questions
While pillar two has been enacted on paper in Brazil, companies are encountering a range of practical compliance issues, ITR has heard
Moore, founding partner of the Chicago tax boutique which bears her name, shares her career wisdom for ITR’s new Women in Tax interview series
But partners at the firm admit that jumping ship to the US would not be as easy as some believe
Governments are rewriting tax policy for the AI era, deploying digital taxes, tailored incentives and algorithmic enforcement that redefine where value is created
Wingrove will succeed Bill Thomas, who has served in the role since 2017; in other news, Andersen unveiled a sharp increase in revenues for 2025
Gift this article