DOJ Tax civil or criminal? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know how easy it is to switch once you are in DOJ Tax? Also which one is better for trying to:

1. Go to USAO;

2. Go to Biglaw; or

3. Go into academia?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know how easy it is to switch once you are in DOJ Tax? Also which one is better for trying to:

1. Go to USAO;

2. Go to Biglaw; or

3. Go into academia?

I was a paralegal at DOJ Tax in one of the civil trial sections. I do not recall any attorneys switching from civil to crim or vice versa.

I can't speak much to whether crim is good for those three categories, but my inclination is that civil is better for most, especially Biglaw -- civil tax controversy is likely more billable than criminal. In the "biggest" tax scams / shelters involving lots of money, the litigation was mostly civil (probably because it's difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt criminal conduct when hundreds/thousands of people are participating and the scams involve hundreds of millions of dollars). Difficult to prove criminal violation when taxpayers have financial advisors, accounting firms, and large law firms telling them what they're doing is legal.

Criminal may be better for USAO because I think USAO handles some tax criminal work (I know they do in SDNY and also some smaller districts that I've seen bulletins on). I don't know the extent of civil tax work done in USAOs.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know how easy it is to switch once you are in DOJ Tax? Also which one is better for trying to:

1. Go to USAO;

2. Go to Biglaw; or

3. Go into academia?

I was a paralegal at DOJ Tax in one of the civil trial sections. I do not recall any attorneys switching from civil to crim or vice versa.

I can't speak much to whether crim is good for those three categories, but my inclination is that civil is better for most, especially Biglaw -- civil tax controversy is likely more billable than criminal. In the "biggest" tax scams / shelters involving lots of money, the litigation was mostly civil (probably because it's difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt criminal conduct when hundreds/thousands of people are participating and the scams involve hundreds of millions of dollars). Difficult to prove criminal violation when taxpayers have financial advisors, accounting firms, and large law firms telling them what they're doing is legal.

Criminal may be better for USAO because I think USAO handles some tax criminal work (I know they do in SDNY and also some smaller districts that I've seen bulletins on). I don't know the extent of civil tax work done in USAOs.

This is op. Thanks for the response. Did you enjoy working there? What was the impression you got from those you worked with?

[anon168]

Does anyone know how easy it is to switch once you are in DOJ Tax? Also which one is better for trying to:

1. Go to USAO;

2. Go to Biglaw; or

3. Go into academia?

When I was at the USAO, met several DOJ Tax guys, and the first thing they always asked me was whether our office was looking to hire. It is really hard to transition from DOJ Tax to USAO.

It's probably easier to go from DOJ Tax to Biglaw, but it depends on what kind of tax cases you've been doing. Civil summons, tax protestors, etc., then people will avoid you like yesterday's box of donuts. If you've doing tax fraud cases, then it might be different, but those are rare.

No idea what chances are like at academia.