The Founding Conviction
In 1978, Donald W. "Mac" MacPherson moved from Oklahoma to Phoenix and established a solo law practice. He was a West Point graduate, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, and a former Green Berets A-Team commander. He could have practiced almost any kind of law.
He chose to fight the IRS.
"If you are afraid of your own government, you might as well move to Russia. I figured if I was willing to volunteer twice for Vietnam, spend 18 months there, mostly in combat, why should I tremble at the thought of being tailed by Treasury Agents?"
— Donald W. "Mac" MacPherson
That conviction — that every American deserves principled, fearless defense against a government that overreaches — became the foundation of The MacPherson Group and the inheritance that Mac passed to his sons and grandchildren. Nearly five decades later, it remains the firm's defining characteristic.
Military Service — Before the Law
Mac's formation as a man, a strategist, and a fighter happened long before he passed the bar. His father, Malcolm Douglas MacPherson, died of a heart attack when Mac was two years old — and his mother enrolled Mac and his older brother in military schools beginning at age six. By the time Mac was a teenager, he had been shaped by two military academies and a singular ambition: West Point.
St. Aloysius Military Academy & Millersburg Military Institute
Mac and his brother attended St. Aloysius Military Academy in Fayetteville, Ohio — a Catholic boarding school operated by the Sisters of Charity. When the school closed, they transferred to Millersburg Military Institute in Kentucky. "From the time I was six years old my dream was to attend a service academy," Mac says. "I thrived on the regimen."
United States Military Academy — B.S. Engineering Science
Mac won a Congressional appointment to West Point directly from a Cincinnati high school, where he played football and broke several butterfly records as a competitive swimmer. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science — the same rigorous analytical framework he would later apply to tax defense strategy.
173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate) — Platoon Leader & Company Commander
After West Point, Mac qualified Airborne, Ranger, and Infantry — then volunteered for 18 months of combat duty in Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader and company commander with the storied 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate). He was awarded several Air Medals, numerous Bronze Star Medals, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star. He subsequently served as a Jump Master and Special Forces ("Green Berets") A-Team Commander.
ROTC Instructor · University of Cincinnati · Departed as Major
After Vietnam, Mac taught ROTC at the University of Cincinnati and coached the rifle team. He also served as a Survivor Assistance Officer — responsible for notifying the next of kin of soldiers lost in Vietnam, and for their wake, funeral, and posthumous award ceremonies. He departed military service with the rank of Major. No aspect of that service left him without consequence. And no aspect of it was unrelated to the attorney he became.
Legal Career — 1978 to Present
Mac arrived in Phoenix in 1978 as "an attorney in search of a practice." He found one in the intersection of tax law and federal criminal defense — a niche that almost no one else was willing to inhabit, and that he approached with the same fearlessness he brought to the jungles of Vietnam.
Criminal Tax Cases Tried — 25 States
Mac personally tried 55 criminal tax cases across 25 states during his active practice. He traveled the country with his family — wife Barbara as navigator, sons in tow — aboard the firm's 1963 Cessna 205. In one trial in Bismarck, North Dakota, he won acquittals for all five of his clients. The case became known as "The Fargo Five." Victories in California, Montana, Kansas, and New York followed.
Won a Criminal Tax Case Before the United States Supreme Court
In the most prestigious forum in American law, Mac won a criminal tax case on appeal before the United States Supreme Court. His knowledge of federal criminal procedure, appellate advocacy, and constitutional law — built across decades of trial work — made him one of the few tax attorneys in the country who could credibly argue at that level.
Board Certifications — Tax Law and Criminal Law
Mac is the only attorney in the country certified by a state bar as a specialist in both tax law and criminal law. Obtaining board certification in one area is rare — the study, examination, and experience requirements are demanding. Obtaining it simultaneously in the two most distinct areas of law in which Mac practiced is, as far as anyone can determine, unprecedented.
Clients — From Two Governors to Truck Drivers
Mac's client list over 40+ years of active practice spans two governors, three state senators, two CIA operatives, two Hollywood stars, a major U.S. airline, a Hollywood stunt double, James Earl Ray, street preachers, medical doctors, and truck drivers. He has represented clients at every level of wealth, notoriety, and legal complexity — and treated each one with the same dogged commitment to their defense.
The "West Point Systems Engineering" Approach
Mac's West Point training gave him something most attorneys never develop: a formal methodology for approaching complex, high-stakes problems. He calls it the "West Point Systems Engineering" approach — a structured, multi-angle analysis of every case that examines the problem from every dimension before committing to a strategy.
"He eats, breathes and sleeps tax law, especially criminal defense, and analyzes cases from every possible angle, like playing 3D chess."
— Nathan MacPherson, on his father
This approach — examining the full picture rather than the immediate visible problem — is what Nathan and Scott absorbed growing up inside Mac's practice. It is what "holistic" meant before the word became a marketing term. It means identifying every available legal tool, every procedural option, every constitutional angle, and applying them in a coordinated sequence rather than reacting to the IRS one notice at a time. Nathan now teaches this same methodology to his son Noah.
Books Authored
Mac has authored three books on federal tax law, all developed with the assistance of his wife Barbara and his sons, who helped write, proofread, edit, and desktop publish each volume.
Tax Fraud and Evasion: The War Stories
ISBN: 978-0-9617124-6-4
The book that gave the firm's case narratives their name. A practitioner's account of real criminal and civil tax defense cases — written for attorneys, tax professionals, and anyone who wants to understand how the IRS prosecutes tax crimes and how skilled defense counsel defeats them. Available through major online booksellers.
Two additional books on federal tax law authored by Donald W. MacPherson.
Nathan to provide titles, ISBNs, and cover images for these volumes.
The Family He Built Around the Practice
Mac met his wife Barbara when he was 18 and she was 15. They married in 1970, raised three sons — Scott, Ryan, and Nathan — and involved all of them in the practice from the earliest ages. Scott prepared the exhibits Mac used before the Arizona Supreme Court at age 19. Nathan and Ryan were on their high school Mock Trial team, which Mac and Barbara coached. The whole family traveled to trials across the country aboard the firm's 1963 Cessna 205, with Mac at the controls and Barbara navigating.
"I never allowed my career, about which I'm obviously passionate, to come between my family and me. The best way to do that was to involve all three sons and my wife in my practice."
— Mac MacPherson
Barbara served as a paralegal from the beginning. All three sons grew up attending trials, preparing exhibits, and absorbing the West Point systems engineering approach to case strategy. Ryan earned a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Notre Dame and became the firm's legal researcher and financial advisor. Scott became a tax attorney. Nathan became the firm's second generation. And now Nathan's son Noah — Mac's grandson — has joined the practice as a paralegal, completing three generations of a family that never separated its work from its values.
Notable Matters
United States Supreme Court — Criminal Tax Win
Won a criminal tax case on appeal before the United States Supreme Court — one of the most rarefied outcomes in federal criminal defense practice.
The Fargo Five — Five Acquittals in One Trial
Achieved acquittals for all five clients in a single criminal tax trial in Bismarck, North Dakota — with wife Barbara and son Nathan at his side throughout the proceedings.
Arizona Supreme Court — Governor Mecham Case
Argued before the Arizona Supreme Court that impeached Governor Evan Mecham could again run for office — with son Scott, then 19, preparing the trial exhibits.
Represented James Earl Ray
Among Mac's most publicly noted clients was James Earl Ray — a representation that speaks to Mac's unwavering conviction that every person accused of a crime deserves skilled and fearless defense.
Of Counsel Today
Mac substantially reduced his active caseload as Nathan and Scott built their own independent practices in the spirit and tradition of The MacPherson Group. In 2008, he sold his historic office building in Glendale, Arizona, and transitioned to a virtual home office practice — a move that fit naturally with the nationwide, client-first approach he had always taken.
Today Mac serves the firm as Of Counsel — available for consultation on select matters where his depth of experience, his unique dual board certification, or his decades of institutional knowledge can benefit a client or a case. He advises Nathan on strategy and reviews matters from his homes in Arizona and California.
"Therein lies the solution to the changing of the guard. Working together, Scott and Nathan developed independent practices in the spirit and tradition of The MacPherson Group. They each have a fierce — and stubborn — sense of independence, no doubt attributed to their MacPherson Scottish heritage."
— Mac MacPherson
Mac MacPherson serves the firm in an Of Counsel capacity and is not actively accepting new client engagements directly. For all new matters, please contact Nathan MacPherson. Where Mac's involvement would benefit your case, Nathan will facilitate that consultation.