Tax Law Forum

[bmwhype2]

Although having the LLM would not advance one a class year, I assume the degrees would play a different role once the person becomes a partner? I would imagine a person with virtually the same credentials as another except one has JD/LLM (top3) would have a "sexier" compensation package than say a JD/MS Tax or just JD.

[nealric]

I would imagine a person with virtually the same credentials as another except one has JD/LLM (top3) would have a "sexier" compensation package than say a JD/MS Tax or just JD.

Nope. Once you are a partner, it's all about how much business you generate.

[Danteshek]

Hi Nealric- are most of the advanced tax classes at GULC offered during the day? It's really annoying how at Loyola so many of them are from 8:10-10:10.

I'm planning on taking Income Tax I and Tax-Exempt Orgs next semester.

[nealric]

Hi Nealric- are most of the advanced tax classes at GULC offered during the day? It's really annoying how at Loyola so many of them are from 8:10-10:10.

I'm planning on taking Income Tax I and Tax-Exempt Orgs next semester.

A bit of both. A lot of them are 5:45 to 7:45, to make it possible for 9-5 gov't types to take them. A few are late night. A few are during the day.

Exempt orgs is a fun class- very political and not too technical.

[bmwhype2]

I would imagine a person with virtually the same credentials as another except one has JD/LLM (top3) would have a "sexier" compensation package than say a JD/MS Tax or just JD.

Nope. Once you are a partner, it's all about how much business you generate.

well, from my conversations with some Partners at accounting firms, its either your book of business or your specialty.

What areas of tax law are considered specialties such that a book of business is not the prime driver of performance?

[JOThompson]

It's not advisable to choose a school based on the specialty rankings. Those rankings don't do much for your job prospects in that area of law. Also, your interest may change after three years of lawl school.

[nealric]

It's not advisable to choose a school based on the specialty rankings. Those rankings don't do much for your job prospects in that area of law. Also, your interest may change after three years of lawl school.

As a general matter, that's true, but I would make the case with tax that it does make sense to look at the tax rankings among similarly situated schools. You would be wise to choose GULC over Cornell or NYU over Chicago for tax, because the former schools have top LLM programs and are nationally known for tax, while the latter will have comparatively fewer tax offerings by much less well-known profs.

well, from my conversations with some Partners at accounting firms, its either your book of business or your specialty.

What areas of tax law are considered specialties such that a book of business is not the prime driver of performance?

I was talking law firms more than accounting firms. Because accounting firms tend to have more established long-term clients, I imagine they have a bit less pressure to generate business. For large publicly traded companies, there are really only 4 accounting firms. But there are 100 V100 firms.

I don't think there are particular specialties that necessarily make you exempt from having to generate businesses. It's just that certain specialties are in high demand and short supply such that people are willing to overlook business generation. Also, in some law firms, tax is more of a service group to corporate. The tax people will be working on the deals the corporate people brought in.

[NZA]

I was an undergrad intern for almost two years with Chief Counsel, IRS. Most of the older attorneys pretty much just had their JDs, though the manager had a JD/MBA from Notre Dame (two other managers just had JDs, all from non-T14 schools). We also had an attorney with a JD and a masters in accounting, and a few other JD/MBA types.

In 2009, they hired about four new, young attorneys, and two of the four had LLMs in Tax. One of the remaining had a natural resources degree from the Yale FS, and they pretty much hired him for his specialty in calculating land/timber value.

None of them came from especially prestigious schools, IIRC. One had an LLM degree from NYU, I think, but I don't even remember. And from what my manager told me, the bosses were pretty much looking at your grades and how you interviewed. When I was talking with one of them, though, she said that having an LLM for Tax definitely gives you a leg up, since it is such a specialized field.

So...I realize that's all anecdotal evidence, but I thought I'd post it. I'm a 0L, and have no interest in tax, so I'm not really sure if this is helpful, but there it is.


EDIT: Also, one of the four new attys clerked for the TC.

[bakedgoldfish]

University Florida grad here, its fairly well established that if you're interested in tax law, you should take U of FL over yale, stanford columbia or chicago... its pretty much a no brainer. V-5 firms like wachtell obviously know this and will choose our grads over those schools any day.

Thanks for the interesting posts; this was the kind of insight I was looking for. I was initially looking at the US News rankings for top tax law programs, which lists the following:

1 - New York University
2 - Georgetown University
3 - University of Florida (Levin)
4 - Northwestern University
5 - University of Miami
6 - Boston University
University of San Diego
8 - Harvard University
9 - Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
10 - University of Virginia

My intentions at the moment consist of being involved in estate/wealth planning; however, that could very well change as I progress through law school. The little exposure I have had to tax (many tax-related undergrad classes and I work at an accounting firm) have enticed me enough to want to explore the field further.

Rando, yes, I am aware that law schools do not have "majors," I suppose I should have used the term "specialty" instead. I was not aware that Loyola and USD do not place well in the area (on the contrary, I was under the belief that they did place well within southern California); thank you for that piece of information. I will have to look into that further, as those were some of my top choices.

[tabula rasa]

University Florida grad here, its fairly well established that if you're interested in tax law, you should take U of FL over yale, stanford columbia or chicago... its pretty much a no brainer. V-5 firms like wachtell obviously know this and will choose our grads over those schools any day.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

University Florida grad here, its fairly well established that if you're interested in tax law, you should take U of FL over yale, stanford columbia or chicago... its pretty much a no brainer. V-5 firms like wachtell obviously know this and will choose our grads over those schools any day.

You shouldn't troll when you don't have a substantive post history. You might confuse people into momentarily thinking you're actually an idiot.