Mr. Jelsma received a B.S. degree from the University of Southern California in 1979 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1986. After clerking for Judge Howard Turrentine, he became associated with the law firm of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps in San Diego, California. Mr. Jelsma joined the partnership of Luce, Forward in 1995. Mr. Jelsma is also a public accountant, certified in the state of California. Mr. Jelsma is a member of the Executive Committee of the Tax Section of the California Bar and the former Chair of the Real Estate and Passthroughs Committee. He is an adjunct professor of law at the University of San Diego where he teaches courses in the taxation of real property and limited liability companies.
Mr. Jelsma also served as a Tax Section Liaison to the California Limited Liability Drafting Committee and assisted in drafting two technical clean–up bills. Mr. Jelsma has lectured extensively on the subject of limited liability companies for organizations such as the California Bar, the California Society of CPAs, and CLE International. He is the author of a column on state taxation of pass–through entities that appears regularly in The California Tax Lawyer. Mr. Jelsma is also the author of a chapter discussing the tax treatment of LLCs in the book Forming and Operating California Limited Liability Companies.