Should I get a tax LLM? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Currently a 3rd year M&A associate at a V20. I'm always interested in tax and took three tax courses at my T14 and got decent grades. At law school, I wanted to do "big things" so I chose M&A after my 2L summer, though I had a chance at tax group. Now I got bored with pushing papers and all the administrative mid-level work and wanted to switch to tax. I'm already working with a recruiter but it's just hard, especially this year. No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

I'm thinking about getting a tax LLM at NYU/GT. But I heard it's extremely competitive. My JD grades were just median-ish, so I'm not completely confident that I can do much better at tax LLM programs. I did well on my tax courses, but they were 2L/3L electives so they were inflated I believe. I'm worried if I get shitty grades I may strike out at tax interviews and need to go back to M&A eventually, which would just be a waste of time and money. Any advice?

[The Lsat Airbender]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

[Sad248]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

I’ve actually thought of this as well like OP (doing a tax LLM to switch to tax), but ultimately I decided to stay put. But I’m wondering, can’t OP just indicate they’re happy to start as a first year? Wouldn’t that be a dream for a firm? An associate who has all the interpersonal and firm skills of a fourth year, but they’re paying as a first year because of his tax knowledge.

[Anonymous User]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

Aren't LLMs there for exactly this purpose? For biglaw associates to "retool". (genuine question since I don't know)

[Anonymous User]

If you had the grades to get a V20 M&A role, I have little doubt that you will get into NYU’s LLM. I used my NYU LLM to transition from government to big law but for most, it seemed like the LLM was just a second bite at the apple for big law for folks that didn’t get the jobs they wanted the first time.

That said, I’m surprised you’re struggling to land a tax role. If you’re willing to take a haircut (maybe come in as a second year), I would think your firm or other peer firms would jump at that opportunity.

Tax has a very steep learning curve—LLM or not, and you probably shouldn’t try to come in at your current class year.

[CanadianWolf]

If you had the grades to get a V20 M&A role, I have little doubt that you will get into NYU’s LLM. I used my NYU LLM to transition from government to big law but for most, it seemed like the LLM was just a second bite at the apple for big law for folks that didn’t get the jobs they wanted the first time.

That said, I’m surprised you’re struggling to land a tax role. If you’re willing to take a haircut (maybe come in as a second year), I would think your firm or other peer firms would jump at that opportunity.

Tax has a very steep learning curve—LLM or not, and you probably shouldn’t try to come in at your current class year.

The bolded portion seems overly optimistic.

Typically, tax llm programs want demonstrated interest in tax.

[nealric]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

Aren't LLMs there for exactly this purpose? For biglaw associates to "retool". (genuine question since I don't know)

Traditionally, tax LLMs were regarded as a supplemental training program for people already practicing tax. In fact, even though I did my LLM prior to practicing, I think I would have gotten more out of it had I done it during practice.


The OP will get into the NYU and/or GT programs (admissions isn't really that competitive), but I would first exhaust the potential for a practice group switch. Biglaw LLM recruiting tends to be meager. I only went to Biglaw because I already had an offer from my 2L summer- almost nobody got one from LLM recruiting. Big4 is much more common, but that will pay significantly less than a Biglaw 1st year.

[CanadianWolf]

Are you willing to share which tax llm program you attended that yielded few biglaw offers ?

Also curious because of your statement that you feel that you would have gotten more out of the tax llm program if you had practiced tax law prior to entering the llm program.

(NYU seems to be the only tax llm program for one seeking a decent chance of biglaw immediately upon completion of the program.)

P.S. The OP will be admitted to the llm taxation programs at NYU, Georgetown, Northwestern, etc., but may not be eligible/competitive for some scholarships due to lack of demonstrated interest in tax law prior to entering the program.

NYU llm taxation admissions standards have lessened over the years. The old standard was that one was expected to have graduated in the top 25% of his/her law school class. Of course, exceptions were made for those with experience, but the top 25% was the stated requirement (expectation ?) for those applying directly upon graduation from law school (JD degree).

NYU Executive LLM Taxation Program is completely online--at least to the best of my knowledge--and admissions standards are minimal.

Not much chance for biglaw directly upon completion of an llm taxation program unless NYU LLM Taxation & the candidate was biglaw material/qualified upon completion of one's JD program. Georgetown & Northwestern are the next best llm taxation programs and do offer a slight chance of biglaw.

To state the obvious, those in OP's situation should speak with the head of the taxation dept. in their current firm regarding possibility of switching practice areas within the same firm.

[CanadianWolf]

Currently a 3rd year M&A associate at a V20. I'm always interested in tax and took three tax courses at my T14 and got decent grades. At law school, I wanted to do "big things" so I chose M&A after my 2L summer, though I had a chance at tax group. Now I got bored with pushing papers and all the administrative mid-level work and wanted to switch to tax. I'm already working with a recruiter but it's just hard, especially this year. No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

I'm thinking about getting a tax LLM at NYU/GT. But I heard it's extremely competitive. My JD grades were just median-ish, so I'm not completely confident that I can do much better at tax LLM programs. I did well on my tax courses, but they were 2L/3L electives so they were inflated I believe. I'm worried if I get shitty grades I may strike out at tax interviews and need to go back to M&A eventually, which would just be a waste of time and money. Any advice?

You may generate offers from Big 4 accounting offices National Tax Offices if you earn an LLM in Taxation from NYU or Georgetown because they like candidates with biglaw experience. However, the pay will be far less than you are currently earning.

[papermateflair]

Do you have good relationships with anyone in the tax group at your firm? If you're doing M&A work presumably you're working with the tax specialists, so you should know enough people to know who would be a good person to talk about re-tooling. If a very good M&A associate came to me and said they were interested in transitioning into tax, I would certainly talk through their options with them and think about whether we could get them more involved in the tax aspects of the deals we're working on. If we had an opening for a junior to work on deals, we might even consider re-tooling an M&A associate if they were willing to take a cut. I know you're saying there are no current openings, but surely you could do a little dabbling in tax if there's overflow, or sit in on some calls, or otherwise work with some trusted folks in the tax group to learn a little more or even develop some basic tax skills. I don't know about your firm, but mine would rather keep a really great associate and re-tool them than hire a lateral that comes with some risk (why are they leaving their old firm?).

[Anonymous User]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

I’ve actually thought of this as well like OP (doing a tax LLM to switch to tax), but ultimately I decided to stay put. But I’m wondering, can’t OP just indicate they’re happy to start as a first year? Wouldn’t that be a dream for a firm? An associate who has all the interpersonal and firm skills of a fourth year, but they’re paying as a first year because of his tax knowledge.

OP here. I think tax LLMs typically start as second year, which I'm fine. I don't expect to start as a fourth year while knowing nothing about tax.

[Anonymous User]

If you had the grades to get a V20 M&A role, I have little doubt that you will get into NYU’s LLM. I used my NYU LLM to transition from government to big law but for most, it seemed like the LLM was just a second bite at the apple for big law for folks that didn’t get the jobs they wanted the first time.

That said, I’m surprised you’re struggling to land a tax role. If you’re willing to take a haircut (maybe come in as a second year), I would think your firm or other peer firms would jump at that opportunity.

Tax has a very steep learning curve—LLM or not, and you probably shouldn’t try to come in at your current class year.

OP here. I already told the recruiter that I'm happy to take one or even two years cut. But still got no interviews after a month. I think one reason is the economy. It's really hard to lateral now. Also I'm a bit tired of M&A and I don't mind taking a gap and go back to school. I hope the market gets better in 2025.

[Anonymous User]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

Aren't LLMs there for exactly this purpose? For biglaw associates to "retool". (genuine question since I don't know)

Traditionally, tax LLMs were regarded as a supplemental training program for people already practicing tax. In fact, even though I did my LLM prior to practicing, I think I would have gotten more out of it had I done it during practice.


The OP will get into the NYU and/or GT programs (admissions isn't really that competitive), but I would first exhaust the potential for a practice group switch. Biglaw LLM recruiting tends to be meager. I only went to Biglaw because I already had an offer from my 2L summer- almost nobody got one from LLM recruiting. Big4 is much more common, but that will pay significantly less than a Biglaw 1st year.

Thanks, nealric. I already talked with the tax group at my current firm. It's a no-go. They are a bit overstaffed right now. I'd rather get an LLM than doing M&A work for another year, which just adds nothing to my personal growth. I looked at NYU's job placement. Looks like 40%~ got into biglaw. Though many of them are ECB I believe.

[Anonymous User]

Do you have good relationships with anyone in the tax group at your firm? If you're doing M&A work presumably you're working with the tax specialists, so you should know enough people to know who would be a good person to talk about re-tooling. If a very good M&A associate came to me and said they were interested in transitioning into tax, I would certainly talk through their options with them and think about whether we could get them more involved in the tax aspects of the deals we're working on. If we had an opening for a junior to work on deals, we might even consider re-tooling an M&A associate if they were willing to take a cut. I know you're saying there are no current openings, but surely you could do a little dabbling in tax if there's overflow, or sit in on some calls, or otherwise work with some trusted folks in the tax group to learn a little more or even develop some basic tax skills. I don't know about your firm, but mine would rather keep a really great associate and re-tool them than hire a lateral that comes with some risk (why are they leaving their old firm?).

OP here. The problems is that the tax group at my current firm is not hiring. I have a friend at tax group and they are billing less than 1600 on average. I believe this is true at other firms since I'm not even getting any interviews. I'm pretty much deadset on tax. I think in the long term it would be better for me to put an LLM on my resume than churning out M&A documents for another year.

[Miss-Bubbled]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

I’ve actually thought of this as well like OP (doing a tax LLM to switch to tax), but ultimately I decided to stay put. But I’m wondering, can’t OP just indicate they’re happy to start as a first year? Wouldn’t that be a dream for a firm? An associate who has all the interpersonal and firm skills of a fourth year, but they’re paying as a first year because of his tax knowledge.

OP here. I think tax LLMs typically start as second year, which I'm fine. I don't expect to start as a fourth year while knowing nothing about tax.

Just to say it and set expectations, I only know one person from my LLM class that started as a second year. Most firms do not give credit for the LLM year. Your situation could be different based on your experience, but it is not standard for LLM grads to come in as second years.

[CanadianWolf]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

I’ve actually thought of this as well like OP (doing a tax LLM to switch to tax), but ultimately I decided to stay put. But I’m wondering, can’t OP just indicate they’re happy to start as a first year? Wouldn’t that be a dream for a firm? An associate who has all the interpersonal and firm skills of a fourth year, but they’re paying as a first year because of his tax knowledge.

OP here. I think tax LLMs typically start as second year, which I'm fine. I don't expect to start as a fourth year while knowing nothing about tax.

While possible, this is unlikely.

OP: Remember, you are switching primarily due to burn-out, not due to a demonstrated driving interest in tax law.

Which tax law courses did you take in law school ? And were your grades superior in those three tax courses ?

You may think that my questions are irrelevant, but they are not. (You would probably be surprised at the difficulty of getting a biglaw tax position even for those with years of tax experience in Big 4 WNT and several published articles on current tax issues. And these candidates almost always have earned the highest grade in a couple of tax courses during their JD years or, if an LLM Taxation degree holder, the highest grades in a couple of tax llm courses. Many of the Big 4 WNT principals and partners are former biglaw partners and they tend to run WNT in a more high pressure atmosphere than biglaw tax.)

Your advantage is your law school pedigree and Vault 20 law firm experience. Biglaw tax attorneys tend to be generalists, while Big 4 tax attorneys are typically specialists.

[CanadianWolf]

OP: Consider earning a Certificate in Corporate Tax rather than committing to a full-time tax llm program. You can earn the certificate on a part-time basis. If you remain interested in earning an LLM in Taxation degree, the certificate courses will count toward the degree requirement.

Biglaw tax is not going to hire you for your knowledge of, & experience in, tax law, but because of your brainpower, law school pedigree,and biglaw work experience. In my view, you need some demonstrated proof of interest in tax law beyond just being tired of corporate M&A and having taken 3 tax courses while in law school. This is why I suggest earning a certificate in corporate tax law if that is your area of interest in tax. A certificate involves less time & money than an llm, but will allow one to earn an llm in taxation if still interested. The downside of earning a certificate in a specific area of tax law is that you do not get to explore other areas of tax law beyond the focus of the certificate program unless you continue on to earn the llm degree.

Tax Controversy is essentially tax litigation.

International Tax is Corporate Tax with lots of complicating factors.

Estate Tax/Wealth Transfer Tax is a separate area for those who like trusts & estates type work.

Tax Crimes & penalties is litigation & criminal law.

Employee Benefits is health, benefits, and welfare type work (for example: pension plans/qualified retirement plans).

Executive Compensation is another specialty area favored by biglaw firms. Basically, incentive pay and non-qualified deferred compensation.

Again, it would be helpful to know which 3 tax courses you completed as a JD student.

P.S. As pointed out in the post below, many tax llm biglaw placements are associates returning to their firms. This is a significant factor at NYU Tax LLM program, but less so at other tax llm programs because they place so few in biglaw firms.

Nevertheless, there is a recruiting fair for upcoming tax graduates of NYU & Georgetown tax llm programs. A few other schools participate as well.

[nealric]

No firm is willing to take an M&A mid-level to their tax groups. There's no openings at my current firm either.

LLM won't change this sadly, and you're only going to get more senior (i.e. more expensive) over time.

Your current firm is highly unlikely to pay for your LLM and/or go easy on you wrt balancing coursework with billables. I think you might need to let this dream go.

If you mainly want a change of pace I'd either go in-house or wait a couple years, because once M&A dealflow picks up you'll find that a 5th-year is taking on a lot more responsibility than you currently are as a 3rd-year.

Aren't LLMs there for exactly this purpose? For biglaw associates to "retool". (genuine question since I don't know)

Traditionally, tax LLMs were regarded as a supplemental training program for people already practicing tax. In fact, even though I did my LLM prior to practicing, I think I would have gotten more out of it had I done it during practice.


The OP will get into the NYU and/or GT programs (admissions isn't really that competitive), but I would first exhaust the potential for a practice group switch. Biglaw LLM recruiting tends to be meager. I only went to Biglaw because I already had an offer from my 2L summer- almost nobody got one from LLM recruiting. Big4 is much more common, but that will pay significantly less than a Biglaw 1st year.

Thanks, nealric. I already talked with the tax group at my current firm. It's a no-go. They are a bit overstaffed right now. I'd rather get an LLM than doing M&A work for another year, which just adds nothing to my personal growth. I looked at NYU's job placement. Looks like 40%~ got into biglaw. Though many of them are ECB I believe.

The placement number is likely deceptive because a lot of those offers were given prior to entering the program. I went into biglaw after my LLM, but it's unlikely I would have gotten an offer from the LLM program itself.

You might also give a lateral move a shot. I used to work with someone who lateraled from Biglaw M&A to a junior tax job with no LLM and then did the LLM part time while working.

[CanadianWolf]

Tax law certificate programs:

https://law.nyu.edu/tax/academicprogram ... intaxation

https://curriculum.law.georgetown.edu/l ... -programs/

https://law.northwestern.edu/academics/ ... tificates/

Practicing tax law will be easier & more rewarding financially in a biglaw firm than at a Big 4 WNT office or at a major city office of a Big 4 accounting firm according to several who made the move from Big 4 to biglaw. (Big 4 practice areas were either M&A Tax or International Tax.) SALT is a less demanding specialization than either M&A Tax or International Tax.

[papermateflair]

Do you have good relationships with anyone in the tax group at your firm? If you're doing M&A work presumably you're working with the tax specialists, so you should know enough people to know who would be a good person to talk about re-tooling. If a very good M&A associate came to me and said they were interested in transitioning into tax, I would certainly talk through their options with them and think about whether we could get them more involved in the tax aspects of the deals we're working on. If we had an opening for a junior to work on deals, we might even consider re-tooling an M&A associate if they were willing to take a cut. I know you're saying there are no current openings, but surely you could do a little dabbling in tax if there's overflow, or sit in on some calls, or otherwise work with some trusted folks in the tax group to learn a little more or even develop some basic tax skills. I don't know about your firm, but mine would rather keep a really great associate and re-tool them than hire a lateral that comes with some risk (why are they leaving their old firm?).

OP here. The problems is that the tax group at my current firm is not hiring. I have a friend at tax group and they are billing less than 1600 on average. I believe this is true at other firms since I'm not even getting any interviews. I'm pretty much deadset on tax. I think in the long term it would be better for me to put an LLM on my resume than churning out M&A documents for another year.

Just because they're not hiring now doesn't mean they won't hire in the future, or that they're not open to helping you develop some tax expertise. Also...you're likely not getting any interviews for tax positions because you have zero experience in tax. I know my firm is hiring in tax, but we're looking for people with experience who can hit the ground running. If you're truly committed to tax, I'm not sure why you wouldn't explore more about what the tax practice is like from the safety (and paycheck) of your current job. You can apply for an LLM now, and you don't have to do it if you're gaining traction at your current firm.

[Anonymous User]

OP: Consider earning a Certificate in Corporate Tax rather than committing to a full-time tax llm program. You can earn the certificate on a part-time basis. If you remain interested in earning an LLM in Taxation degree, the certificate courses will count toward the degree requirement.

Biglaw tax is not going to hire you for your knowledge of, & experience in, tax law, but because of your brainpower, law school pedigree,and biglaw work experience. In my view, you need some demonstrated proof of interest in tax law beyond just being tired of corporate M&A and having taken 3 tax courses while in law school. This is why I suggest earning a certificate in corporate tax law if that is your area of interest in tax. A certificate involves less time & money than an llm, but will allow one to earn an llm in taxation if still interested. The downside of earning a certificate in a specific area of tax law is that you do not get to explore other areas of tax law beyond the focus of the certificate program unless you continue on to earn the llm degree.

Tax Controversy is essentially tax litigation.

International Tax is Corporate Tax with lots of complicating factors.

Estate Tax/Wealth Transfer Tax is a separate area for those who like trusts & estates type work.

Tax Crimes & penalties is litigation & criminal law.

Employee Benefits is health, benefits, and welfare type work (for example: pension plans/qualified retirement plans).

Executive Compensation is another specialty area favored by biglaw firms. Basically, incentive pay and non-qualified deferred compensation.

Again, it would be helpful to know which 3 tax courses you completed as a JD student.

P.S. As pointed out in the post below, many tax llm biglaw placements are associates returning to their firms. This is a significant factor at NYU Tax LLM program, but less so at other tax llm programs because they place so few in biglaw firms.

Nevertheless, there is a recruiting fair for upcoming tax graduates of NYU & Georgetown tax llm programs. A few other schools participate as well.

OP here. I took Federal Income Tax (A), Corporate Taxation (A-) and Executive Compensation (A-). At my T14, I believe A- for 2L/3L electives is like top ~40% and A is about top ~25%.

Also, I'm thinking about switching to tax not because I'm burning out. The M&A market is pretty slow this year. I'm just more interested in tax than M&A. I've been talking with my friends at tax group and I know what kind of work tax associates do since I worked with them a lot on my M&A deals.

[CanadianWolf]

If you had the grades to get a V20 M&A role, I have little doubt that you will get into NYU’s LLM. I used my NYU LLM to transition from government to big law but for most, it seemed like the LLM was just a second bite at the apple for big law for folks that didn’t get the jobs they wanted the first time.

That said, I’m surprised you’re struggling to land a tax role. If you’re willing to take a haircut (maybe come in as a second year), I would think your firm or other peer firms would jump at that opportunity.

Tax has a very steep learning curve—LLM or not, and you probably shouldn’t try to come in at your current class year.

OP here. I already told the recruiter that I'm happy to take one or even two years cut. But still got no interviews after a month. I think one reason is the economy. It's really hard to lateral now. Also I'm a bit tired of M&A and I don't mind taking a gap and go back to school. I hope the market gets better in 2025.

If you are located in NYC, then you should give serious consideration to attending NYU's LLM Taxation program full time. You should make lots of valuable connections & gain insights into the practice of tax law at major law firms.

Regarding online LLM Taxation program, I have no knowledge as to placement success rates/difficulty.
If based in DC, Georgetown's LLM in Taxation is a solid option. Lots of contacts, but biglaw favors NYU Tax LLMs.

Your tax grades are fine.

Try to avoid entering the accounting industry as most biglaw firms are reluctant to hire from the Big 4 including the WNTOs ( Washington National Tax Offices) although very few below the Partner/Principal level have your pedigree of T-14 & Vault 20 law firm.

You are young enough to make the move. Decide whether you want to do online part-time while continuing to work, or full-time or part-time in person tax llm. If still hesitant, then consider a part-time certificate (5 or 6 courses total) while continuing to work full-time.

P.S. This may vary a bit, but many consider Partnership Taxation (Subchapter K) to be a challenging course as well as practice area. The actual practice of International Tax can get into accounting more than other areas. M&A Tax is boom or bust just like M&A transactional work. Employee Benefits is its own world. Transfer Pricing ( part of International Tax) is useful for both transactional tax and tax litigation.

If interested in clerking, Tax Court Clerkships are an option. Commitment of one or two years. Fairly easy work, but low pay.

https://ustaxcourt.gov/law_clerk_program.html

https://ustaxcourt.gov/judges_recruiting.html

[nealric]

If you had the grades to get a V20 M&A role, I have little doubt that you will get into NYU’s LLM. I used my NYU LLM to transition from government to big law but for most, it seemed like the LLM was just a second bite at the apple for big law for folks that didn’t get the jobs they wanted the first time.

That said, I’m surprised you’re struggling to land a tax role. If you’re willing to take a haircut (maybe come in as a second year), I would think your firm or other peer firms would jump at that opportunity.

Tax has a very steep learning curve—LLM or not, and you probably shouldn’t try to come in at your current class year.

OP here. I already told the recruiter that I'm happy to take one or even two years cut. But still got no interviews after a month. I think one reason is the economy. It's really hard to lateral now. Also I'm a bit tired of M&A and I don't mind taking a gap and go back to school. I hope the market gets better in 2025.

If you are located in NYC, then you should give serious consideration to attending NYU's LLM Taxation program full time. You should make lots of valuable connections & gain insights into the practice of tax law at major law firms.

Regarding online LLM Taxation program, I have no knowledge as to placement success rates/difficulty.
If based in DC, Georgetown's LLM in Taxation is a solid option. Lots of contacts, but biglaw favors NYU Tax LLMs.

Your tax grades are fine.

Try to avoid entering the accounting industry as most biglaw firms are reluctant to hire from the Big 4 including the WNTOs ( Washington National Tax Offices) although very few below the Partner/Principal level have your pedigree of T-14 & Vault 20 law firm.

You are young enough to make the move. Decide whether you want to do online part-time while continuing to work, or full-time or part-time in person tax llm. If still hesitant, then consider a part-time certificate (5 or 6 courses total) while continuing to work full-time.

P.S. This may vary a bit, but many consider Partnership Taxation (Subchapter K) to be a challenging course as well as practice area. The actual practice of International Tax can get into accounting more than other areas. M&A Tax is boom or bust just like M&A transactional work. Employee Benefits is its own world.

Subchapter K specialists are usually either in real estate or funds. Real estate client tend to pinch pennies. Funds tend to be slave drivers. Maybe it's my personal proclivities, but I think international is the better track. Clients are more likely to be public companies (usually more chill) and will pay higher rates than real estate clients. Plus, there's a lot going on in the international space right now.

[CanadianWolf]

Subchapter K specialists seem to be in demand, but I agree that International Tax fits the profile described above. Lots of work in both areas, but International can get one into more accounting than other areas.

SALT (state & local taxation) offers steady work and is easier than almost all other tax practice areas.

Of course, individual preferences vary and firm needs vary.

Broadly speaking, biglaw tax wants generalists while Big 4 tax wants & breeds specialists. However, Employee Benefits as well as Executive Compensation tend to be specialty areas even in biglaw.

[Anonymous User]

OP, I've been trying to switch from tax to M&A. I'm a bit more senior than you, have done some M&A work (i.e., non-tax parts of transactions), and am willing to start as a third/second/first year. No dice. I think large part of it is the market, for both of us.

Even "transactional" tax, i.e., deal support, involves a lot of research (and does tax law have all manner of sources... the code, the regs, the proposed regs, rev. rulings, PLRs, treaties, case law...). You have another layer of clients (your corporate team) "above" you, making your hours even more unpredictable. Pretty much everything requires a lot of brain power (no signature packets, no conforming defined terms in the entire agreement, no duping out exhibits and other easy hours), and the learning curve is very, very steep (with new stuff constantly coming out). I'm sure you already know all of this, as you've talked to your friends in tax. But just wanted to briefly outline why tax wasn't for me in the first place (rather than outlining why "corporate" practices like M&A are a better fit for me... no, it's not just the signature packets and similar tasks ). I think I do decent work and my reviews have always been good (meets expectations as more junior, and exceeds expectations since hitting mid), but I want to cry every Sunday night (whether I'm already working or not ).