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Hey all,

I'm an evening student about to graduate and I'll be clerking at Superior Court civil division my first year out. I always assumed that I wanted to go into litigation. This semester I took a class on Federal Taxes and surprisingly, I love the topic. I looked a little bit into the field and I think I would really enjoy it.

I am now rethinking my pursuit of a job in litigation and want to look into tax law.

My question is: is it too late? I haven't focused at all on tax classes, tax clinic, etc., and I have no interest in getting an LLM (I am evening student with a family and a job, and four years of school plus work plus family has been quite enough). What are my chances of getting a job as a tax attorney with little background in tax law? Are there any tips or tricks to get into a tax attorney job? My grades are good (not top though) and I attend Rutgers.

Thanks to all in advance.

I'm afraid without an LLM, your chances are low.

Here's the problem: tax work tends to focus on the high-end. This is because low-end tax work (individuals and small business) mostly goes to CPA firms, who are better equipped to handle the needs of such people. There are tax lawyers who do individual and small business work, but most of them are accountants by trade who are mostly using the legal background as an additional marketing tool. Small business and individuals rarely encounter significant tax legal matters (at least tax legal matters big enough to justify the billing rates of an attorney).

That leaves you with mostly large businesses or high-net worth individuals wanting tax legal services- they tend to go to biglaw and the Big4. Big4 is a bit easier to get for someone from a non T14 background, but they are also likely going to want you to have some sort of accounting background or at least stronger tax credentials than simply having taken a couple of tax classes. Biglaw likely isn't in the cards with your grade/school combo.

There are a few "tax consulting" firms that mostly specialize in helping business claim specialized tax credits. They would hire someone with your credentials, but the experience would be a poor foundation for anything other than similar work. From my limited knowledge, pay isn't great and hours are bad. Likewise, there are offer in compromise mills (the source of the commercials and billboards asking if you owe $10,000 or more to the IRS), but I wouldn't consider their work real legal work, and I imagine working for one would be unpleasant.

A NYU or Georgetown LLM would give you a shot at the Big 4 and a very outside shot of biglaw, but it would be a high risk "all-in" move for you.