TaxProf Blog

Top 12 Law School Acceptance Rates for MIT, Princeton & Yale Grads

The Daily Princetonian, U. Trails Yale in Law School Acceptance Rates:

Undergrad	Acceptance % at Top 12 Law Schools	Average LSAT	Average GPA
Yale	37%	166	3.58
Princeton	32%	164	3.45
MIT	30%	164	3.32

 

Harvard and Stanford law schools refused to participate in the Daily Princetonian's study.  The average GPA for all undergraduates was 3.51 at Yale and 3.28 at Princeton.

(Hat Tip: Law School Headlines.)

Helge: Regulation of the Charitable Sector Through a Federal Charity Oversight Board

Terri Lynn Helge (Texas-Wesleyan) has posted Policing the Good Guys: Regulation of the Charitable Sector Through a Federal Charity Oversight Board, 19 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 101 (2010), on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

Recently, public confidence in the charitable sector has eroded due to a barrage of media reports on scandals and abuses. The principal parties charged with regulation of the charitable sector, the Internal Revenue Service and state attorneys general, are saddled with bureaucratic constraints that make it difficult to enforce the laws governing the fiduciary responsibilities of charity managers. Substantial reform in the regulation of charitable organizations is necessary to curb the reported abuses that have undermined confidence in the charitable sector.

Some advocate expanding private regulation of the charitable sector to improve enforcement of the fiduciary responsibilities of charitable managers. While some of these private regulatory alternatives have had success in isolated situations, none are satisfactory in providing comprehensive and effective oversight of the charitable sector. Overall, the policies underlying oversight of charitable organizations support maintaining primary responsibility for their regulation in a centralized authority. However, the financial, political, institutional, and agency constraints imposed on the Internal Revenue Service and state attorneys general make them unlikely to implement enough internal reform to be an ongoing, effective enforcement presence in the charitable sector.

This Article advocates the creation of a new, federal, quasi-public agency that would be the principal regulator of the charitable sector. The new agency would be a self-funded, independent, and proactive regulator that would serve the dual purposes of curbing the abuses that have eroded public confidence in the sector and educating charity managers of their obligation to be responsible stewards of charitable resources. The proposed agency would be primarily responsible for enforcing federal tax laws aimed at influencing fiduciary behavior of charity managers and preserving charitable assets for public benefit. Its formation, therefore, would separate oversight of charity governance from the tax collection function, thus harmonizing the United States with other countries that have established independent charity oversight agencies.

ABA Webcast Today on Using Graegin Loans to Pay Estate Taxes

The ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section offers a teleconference and webcast today on Black, White, and Grae(gin): Borrowing to Pay Estate Taxes from 1:00 p.m. -2:30 p.m. EST:

A "Graegin loan" is a popular option for estates that lack enough liquid assets to pay estate taxes and other expenses incurred during the administration of an estate. A Graegin loan is often utilized in estates of decedents whose major asset was an interest in a closely-held business. Instead of selling the business interests, the estate can borrow cash from the business in exchange for a promissory note. There are several potential advantages to borrowing money to pay estate taxes and other expenses of administration. This program will address the economics and mathematics of Graegin loans including:

• Financing and funding
• Liability and litigation
• Death and deductions
• Use and usury
• Administration and audit
• Regulations and re-financing

Speakers:

• Charles E. Hodges II (Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin, Atlanta)
• Paul S. Lee (Bernstein Global Wealth Management, New York)
• Stephanie Loomis-Price (Baker Botts, Houston)
• Janine Racanelli (JPMorgan Private Bank, New York)

Law School Partnerships with LSC-Funded Programs

The Legal Services Corporation has released a 53-page report on Law School Partnerships with LSC-Funded Programs.

Tax Consequences of Tiger Woods' Marital Troubles

• Don't Mess With Taxes, Tiger Tales, Taxes and Divorce
• Tax Girl, Taking Tiger by the Tax Tale
• Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog, More on Tiger Woods' New Marital Agreement
• Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog, Price for Cheating -- $5,000,000

NY Times: Is it OK for Law Firms to Discriminate Against Conservative Law Students?

New York Times, The Ethicist: Taking on the Unlikables:

While interviewing law students for jobs as paid summer interns and full-time associates for my firm, I noticed several had résumés listing their activities in the Federalist Society. Some of my partners have conservative views similar to those of the society, but I do not. These students’ politics would not affect their professional function, but my review is meant to consider their judgment and personality (though I don’t need to give reasons for the assessments given). May I recommend not hiring someone solely because of his or her politics? NAME WITHHELD, GREENWICH, CONN.

• ABA Journal, Hiring Lawyer Rejects Federalist Society Members—and Columnist’s Advice
• Above the Law, Discriminating Against Conservatives in Law Firm Hiring: Is It Wrong?
• Professor Bainbridge:  Politics in Law Firm and Law School Hiring: Time for Some Tit for Tat?

Why Does the IRS Audit the Poor?

Seattle Times, $10 an Hour With 2 kids? IRS Pounces, by Danny Westneat:

Rachel Porcaro knows she's hardly rich. When you're a single mom making 10 bucks an hour, you don't need government experts to tell you how broke you are. But that's what happened. ...   It all started a year ago, when Porcaro, a 32-year-old mom with two boys, was summoned to the Seattle office of the IRS. She had been flagged for an audit.

She couldn't believe it. She made $18,992 the previous year cutting hair at Supercuts. A few hundred of that she spent to have her taxes prepared by H&R Block. "I asked the IRS lady straight upfront — 'I don't have anything, why are you auditing me?' " Porcaro recalled. "I said, 'Why me, when I don't own a home, a business, a car?' "

The answer stunned both Porcaro and the private tax specialist her dad had gotten to help her. "They showed us a spreadsheet of incomes in the Seattle area," says Dante Driver, an accountant at Seattle's G.A. Michael and Co. "The auditor said, 'You made eighteen thousand, and our data show a family of three needs at least thirty-six thousand to get by in Seattle." "They thought she must have unreported income. That she was hiding something. Basically they were auditing her for not making enough money."

Seriously? An estimated 60,000 people in Seattle live below the poverty line — meaning they make $11,000 or less for an individual or $22,000 for a family of four. Does the IRS red-flag them for scrutiny, simply because they're poor?

(Hat Tip: Woody McNair.)

Supreme Court Grants Cert. in UC-Hastings Christian Legal Society Case

The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal from a 9th Circuit decision upholding UC-Hastings College of Law's decision to deny student-activities funds and official recognition to a Christian Legal Society student group on the ground that the group's refusal to allow gay and lesbian members and officers violates the school's antidiscrimination policies.  Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, No. 08-1371.

• 9th Circuit decision
• District Court decision
• Copies of all documents in the case
• Alliance Defense Fund press release
• Christian Legal Socity press release
• ABA Journal
• Blog of the Legal Times
• Bloomberg
• Chronicle of Higher Education
• Faculty Lounge
• Inside Higher Ed
• L.A. Times
• Mirror of Justice
• Religion Clause
• SCOTUS Blog
• USA Today
• Volokh Conspiracy

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• District Court: Hastings Can Refuse to Recognize Christian Legal Society Student Group (Apr. 20, 2006)
• 7th Circuit Grants Injunction to Christian Legal Society in Lawsuit Against Southern Illinois Law School (July 11, 2006)
• Supreme Court Declines to Resolve Circuit Split Over Leadership of Law School Christian Legal Society Chapters (July 2, 2009)

The Declining Tax Rate on Millionaires

Following up on my post last month on the Fall 2009 Statistics of Income Bulletin, which included the article, Individual Income Tax Returns, 2007:  Martin Sullivan today tracks the declining U.S. tax rate on millionaires:

Ralph Nader Disses Law Schools

Ralph Nader Calls Out Legal Profession, Law Schools (The Connecticut Law Tribune):

A University of Connecticut School of Law moot courtroom was a fitting setting last month, as consumer activist, politician and lawyer Ralph Nader sought to put the legal profession on trial. ...

Nader attended law school in the 1950s at Harvard -- an institution with which one law student in attendance said Nader seems to have "a love-hate relationship."

"We were told we were being taught by the best and brightest law professors the world could produce," Nader said. "And if you doubted [they were the best and brightest], you could just ask them."

But Nader said his legal education failed to address deeper issues behind substantive law. His Corporations Law professor assigned case upon case from Delaware, Nader recalled, without explaining so many companies incorporate in that state because of its corporate-friendly laws. Law students must be made aware of corporate influences on the legal system, he said.

"As power gets more and more concentrated in a few hands in our country … it puts more and more strains on the law," said Nader. "It's that tension back and forth you've got to be aware of in all your courses." ...

Nader also noted the economic realities facing law students today, many of whom owe thousands and thousands of dollars in student loans. Indeed, he criticized law schools for "allowing [students] to sign one of the most one-sided contracts with" lenders. "You're going to try to persuade me that law professors here who teach contracts couldn't have opened that can of worms years ago?" he asked.

Washington University Starts 3-Year J.D.-Tax LL.M. Program

Washington University-St. Louis has announced a three-year joint J.D.-Tax LL.M. program without any required summer classes:

The School of Law recently became the first top law school to allow students to earn both a juris doctorate and a master of laws in taxation in six semesters without any summer coursework. By not requiring a summer component, students interested in this joint degree program can continue to take advantage of summer employment opportunities while earning the J.D. and the LL.M. in three years. ...

To earn the additional degree, students must take eight credits beyond those required for the J.D., and the students' coursework must include "Federal Income Tax" and 24 additional qualifying credits in tax-related courses — the same requirements as for the traditional one-year LL.M. in Taxation Program.

"Employers like to see a more focused courseload in tax when filling tax positions," said Michael Spivey, assistant dean for career services, strategy and marketing. "Students interested in the tax field should find this program highly beneficial to their job search. "Additionally, the ability to complete internships over the summer will uniquely position these students to start their legal careers with valuable and relevant experience," Spivey said.

IRS Approves 99% of Applications for Public Charity Status

New York Times, Charities Rise, Costing U.S. Billions in Tax Breaks, by Stephanie Strom:

The number of organizations that can offer their donors a tax break in the name of charity has grown more than 60% in the United States, to 1.1 million, in just a decade.

Experts say nonprofits are skillfully exploiting the tax code’s broad and elastic definition of what constitutes such a charity, making it difficult for the IRS, which must bless them, to say no. The agency approved 99% of the applications for public charity status last year, according to a new study by students at Stanford University. ...

Organizations in the [nonpublic charity category] include groups like chambers of commerce, the National Rifle Association and private golf clubs. The IRS received some 3,600 applications from those types of organizations last year, compared with more than 40,000 applications from those seeking designation as a public charity.

In most years, less than 5% of the applications for public charity status were turned down. While no one contends that even a small portion of the new charities are fraudulent, critics argue that the IRS and state regulators cannot keep up with the growth of charities — and therefore cannot possibly determine whether the applicants are adhering to state and federal regulations and laws.

Indeed, the students at Stanford found that while the IRS’s electronic database records more than 40,000 new charities, its much more widely circulated annual Data Book puts the figure at more than 50,000, a discrepancy of more than 20%.

“It just seems utterly implausible that anyone can be doing due diligence in any way that constitutes a serious review of the applicant, let alone keeping an eye on them after they are approved,” said Rob Reich, an associate professor of political science at Stanford, whose students did the study on the growth of charities, titled Anything Goes: Approval of Nonprofit Status by the IRS.

The Stanford report includes this chart:

The Stanford report also includes a description of "The 20 Most Eccentric Public Charities Approved by the IRS in 2008," including:

• The Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence, an international order of drag nuns
• International Society of Talking Clock Collectors, a virtual museum of talking clocks and related artifacts
• Red Nose Institute, which sends red clown noses to overseas troops in order to lighten their moods
• GeekAid of Michigan, which brings together individuals passionate about art and technology
• Planet Jelly Donut, which "spreads the common belief that the core essence of the human spirit is goodness"

(Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)

UC-Berkeley: The Death of a Public Law School

The Berkeley Daily Planet, The Death of a Public Law School, by Benjamin Eisenberg (J.D. 2011, UC-Berkeley):

The University of California Berkeley Law School is poised to become the most expensive publicly owned law school in the world. Over the next two years, fees will increase by 32%. That means that California students will soon pay almost $52,000 a year in tuition, only a few thousand less than equivalent private law schools. Out-of-state students will pay the same as if they had gone to Harvard or Yale.

With these tuition changes, there will be no more Berkeley public law school. The California public law school dies today.

In this new world, Berkeley will be much like Stanford or Duke, except that the California government will act much like a well-respected alumnus, one that can put its name on a very large plaque in the donor lobby

(Hat Tip:  Law School Headlines.)

IRS Releases Revised Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax

The IRS has released a revised edition of Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax (305 pages), for use in preparing 2009 tax returns:

  

For a YouTube video on 2009 tax tips from the IRS, see here.

Dennis Ventry Podcast on the Mortgage Interest Deduction

Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. (UC-Davis), author of The Accidental Deduction: A History and Critique of the Tax Subsidy for Mortgage Interest, 72 Law & Contemp. Probs. ___ (2010), discusses the mortgage interest deduction on this Tax Foundation podcast.

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Saturday:

• Total Tax Ratio as Percentage of GDP, 2008
• 1/3 of Tax Returns Filed Pay Zero Tax (and 1/2 of Those Get "Refunds")
• TIGTA Submits Semiannual Report to Congress
• Lahav:  Why Did Israeli Law Faculties Come to Resemble Elite U.S. Law Schools?

Sunday:

• SNL on the White House Party Crashers
• Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads
• Do Law Schools Average LSAT Scores or Take the Highest Score?
• IRS Sells Indian Tribe's Land to Pay $3.1m in Employment Taxes
• Horses and Hobby Losses

SNL on the White House Party Crashers

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

There is quite a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with new papers debuting on the list at #4 and #5.  :

1.  [336 Downloads]  2009 Federal Tax Update, by Samuel A. Donaldson (U. Washington)

2.  [222 Downloads]  The Accidental Deduction: A History and Critique of the Tax Subsidy for Mortgage Interest, by Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. (UC-Davis)

3.  [177 Downloads]  Miller: Effective FLP Line Drawing, by Wendy C. Gerzog (Baltimore)

4.  [147 Downloads]  Taxing Unreasonable Compensation: § 162(a)(1) and Managerial Power, by Aaron Zelinsky (J.D. 2010, Yale)

5.  [135 Downloads]  Through the Looking Glass: The Politics of Estate Tax Reform, by Edward J. McCaffery (USC)

Do Law Schools Average LSAT Scores or Take the Highest Score?

Do Law Schools Average LSAT Scores?:

[I]n June of 2006, the ABA replaced their longstanding requirement that schools report their students’ average scores with a new requirement that schools report only their students’ highest scores. Mind you, strictly speaking, this change had nothing to do with law school admissions, but rather with the particular data that law schools reported to the ABA. Law schools were still free to consider your average or highest LSAT for admissions.

But the all-important US News law school rankings treat the LSAT scores of admitted students as one of the most important factors in rankings. In fact, US News simply uses the ABA data when calculating their rankings. ...

[S]oon after the ABA decision, rumors circulated that schools would now rely only on your highest LSAT score in admissions. The problem is that there isn’t a great deal of clarity over which schools average and which schools don’t.

So, we ... thought that we’d help out by researching which law schools average and which ones don’t. We ... asked the top 20 law schools and threw in a couple others for good measure. We got information by checking schools’ websites and (when possible) speaking with their representatives. ...

Schools that claim to consider the highest score:
Yale
Chicago
Northwestern
Cornell
UCLA
Pepperdine
Southwestern

Schools that claim to average:
NYU
UC-Berkeley
Duke
Virginia
Georgetown
Loyola-L.A.

Schools that won’t commit either way:
Harvard
Stanford
Columbia
Pennsylvania
Michigan
Texas
USC

IRS Sells Indian Tribe's Land to Pay $3.1m in Employment Taxes

The IRS on Thursday auctioned off 7,100 acres (11 square miles) owned by an impoverished Indian tribe to help pay off more than $3 million in back employment taxes, penalties and interest. The tribe has sued to block the sale, claiming that it was told by a Bureau of Indian Affairs official that federally recognized tribes are not liable for employment taxes.

• Associated Press
• Daily Telegraph
• Interncontinental Cry

Horses and Hobby Losses

Anna I. Garcia (J.D. 2010, Kentucky) has published Comment. Topping v. Commissioner: An Example of How an Equestrian Taxpayer Can Utilize "Single Activity" to Preclude the IRS "Hobby Loss" Challenge. (Topping v. Comm'r, 93 T.C.M. (CCH) 1120, 2007), 1 Ky. J. Equine, Agri., & Nat. Resources L. 97 (2009).  Here is the abstract:

Professionals in the equine industry are prone to having their horse-based activities classified as “hobbies” by the IRS. Examples of activities that are considered hobbies by the IRS include, but are not limited to: racing, showing, boarding, and breeding horses. Often professionals in the equine industry utilize these same activities to promote their equine businesses. The equine professional taxpayer suffers non-deductible losses when horse-based activities relating to his or her business are classified as hobbies instead of what they really are: business pursuits. Mrs. Garcia’s comment advises equine professionals on how to avoid hobby loss challenges.

In order for an equine professional to avoid a hobby loss challenge, he or she must prove that the activities the IRS classifies as “hobbies” are in reality business activities. The best way to convince the IRS that horse-based activities are business related is by aggregating the activities together, showing that they are sufficiently interconnected to be considered a single activity. When hoping to avoid a hobby loss by claiming a “single activity,” taxpayers should: (1) develop a written business plan integrating the various business activities, (2) keep and consolidate the records and books of multiple activities, (3) utilize services of the same manager and CPA for all activities, (4) use the same assets for both businesses, (5) file a single Schedule C form for sufficiently related business and hobby activities, (6) employ conventional advertising, unless the industry custom creates an exception, and (7) create “goodwill” by participating in and actually winning public competitions related to the hobby. By employing the aforementioned advice, the taxpayer is often able to show the organizational and economic relationship of their activities, thus improving the taxpayers chance of winning against the IRS.

Total Tax Ratio as Percentage of GDP, 2008

OECD, Revenue Statistics 1965-2008 (2009 ed.):

The overall tax-to-GDP ratio in OECD countries was 35.8% in 2007, the latest year for which complete figures are available. ... Out of 26 OECD countries that have provided provisional figures for 2008, tax-to-GDP ratios fell in 17 and rose in 9. ... Denmark has the highest tax-to-GDP ratio among OECD countries in 2008 (48.3%), closely followed by Sweden (47.1%). ...  Mexico and Turkey have the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios among OECD countries. Mexico collected taxes equivalent to 21.1% of GDP in 2008 ... Turkey’s tax-to-GDP ratio was 23.5% in 2008.

1/3 of Tax Returns Filed Pay Zero Tax (and 1/2 of Those Get "Refunds")

The Tax Foundation reported yesterday that 46.6 million people who filed tax returns in 2007 had a zero or negative tax liability -- 32.6% of the 143.0 million tax returns filed. In about half of these cases, substantial additional money was "refunded" to the tax filer.  15 million people do not earn enough to file a tax return, so 61.6 million people do not pay federal income taxes.

TIGTA Submits Semiannual Report to Congress

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday submitted its Semiannual Report to Congress:

I am pleased to submit this Semiannual Report to Congress, highlighting the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s many accomplishments in promoting its mission to provide oversight of the IRS and protect the integrity of Federal tax administration. TIGTA’s achievements for the six-month period ending September 30, 2009 (the Reporting Period), are showcased through the many noteworthy audits, investigations, and inspections and evaluations summarized in this report. ...

TIGTA’s combined audit and investigative efforts have recovered, protected and identified monetary benefits totaling more than $3.8 billion for the Reporting Period and more than $14 billion for all of fiscal year 2009. ... For the Reporting Period, TIGTA’s Office of Audit completed 86 reports (142 for all of fiscal year 2009) and our Office of Investigations closed 1,992 investigations (3,527 for all of fiscal year 2009).

Lahav: Why Did Israeli Law Faculties Come to Resemble Elite U.S. Law Schools?

Pnina Lahav (Boston University) has posted  American Moment[s]: When, How, and Why Did Israeli Law Faculties Come to Resemble Elite U.S. Law Schools?, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, Vol. 10, No. 2, Art. 13, 2009.  Here is the abstract:

Following independence in 1948, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem founded a law faculty and modeled it on the European example (Continental and British). Today, the Israeli law faculty is much more similar to the U.S. law school than to institutions of legal education in Europe. This Article traces the history of the changes in Israeli legal education. It argues that the shift began after 1967, faced resistance in the 1980s, and gained momentum in the 1990s. Presently we may be witnessing the beginning of a shift away from U.S. influence and back to Continental Europe or even Asia. The Article discusses three major educational components, which together signaled the shift to U.S. influence: a student-run law review, curricular reform, and open and lively class discussion. The Article then offers several factors to explain the shift: judicial opinions that began to rely on American decisional law, the adoption of the U.S. model of practice by the legal profession, the privatization of law schools, globalization, and Americanization and foreign affairs. Finally, the Article considers the contribution to Americanization made by active U.S. attempts to export American law to other legal systems.

Estate Planning Mishaps of the Rich and Famous

Forbes, Estate Mistakes: Where Heath Ledger And Princess Di Went Wrong; What You Can Learn From the Planning Failures of the Rich and Famous, reviewing Andrew W. Mayoras & Danielle B. Mayoras, Trial & Heirs (Wise Circle Books, 2009):

What do Princess Di, Marlon Brando, Heath Ledger, Jimi Hendrix and former Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger have in common? They all flubbed their estate planning, costing intended heirs money and/or grief, according to a readable (really) estate planning how-to book, Trial & Heirs. The new book uses these celebrity cliffhanger cases to dish out real-life advice.

The mistakes these folks made run the gamut. Jimi Hendrix died without a will, leaving his close brother Leon with nothing. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote his own will, which at 176 words left out basic tax clauses that could have saved $450,000 in estate taxes. Princess Di relied on a "letter of wishes" to give away belongings, and her godchildren got shortchanged. For more on these and other celebrity flubs, see our slide show.

Remembering Ward Hussey

Following up on my prior post, Death of Ward M. Hussey:  today's Washington Post has a letter to the editor, A Legislative Master at Work:

He was a master of his art, what the Japanese call a living national treasure, an inspiration to others who strive to achieve excellence. And he put his consummate skill to the service of the public.

(Hat Tip: Robert Weinberger.)

IRS & California Slap $1.9m Tax Liens Against Pamela Anderson

The IRS ($1.7 million) and California ($250,000) have slapped tax liens on actress Pamela Anderson.

Tax Practices Are Booming Because of UBS Tax Shelter Investigation

The Recorder, Amnesty's Allure:

The Justice Department's success in cracking the secrecy of Swiss bank UBS has opened up a whole new arena for lawyers handling tax disputes. The lower-penalty voluntary disclosure program the IRS ran between March and October prompted thousands of U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts to come out of the woodwork — more than anyone had dreamed. In mid-November, the government announced that more than 14,700 taxpayers had come forward, dwarfing the number of those who'd done so in 2008. ...

Though the deadline to fess up under the special program has passed, California tax lawyers say they're still getting calls. People worried their foreign bank will hand their records over to the IRS continue to look for guidance on how to minimize penalties and avoid criminal charges. ...

Scott Frewing, a tax controversy partner in the Palo Alto office of Baker & McKenzie, says he's always done one or two formal voluntary disclosures a year to the criminal investigation side of the IRS. But things have picked up since the UBS investigation first made headlines last fall. Now Frewing, whose hourly rate is $720, is working with about 140 clients on the West Coast alone. Most of them have offshore accounts in Europe, but a growing number are linked to accounts in Asia. He suspects the next announcement will be about an agreement between the government and a bank in Hong Kong or Singapore. "I know there are agents here working on those issues," he said.

Baker & McKenzie has shifted resources from other practices to handle the work. A year ago, Frewing said, he was the only lawyer in the Bay Area working on offshore accounts. Now, up to eight lawyers devote a significant portion of their time to them, including tax litigators and lawyers versed in trusts and closely held corporations in an international setting.

Buchanan: The Public and Higher Education

Tax Prof Neil H. Buchanan (George Washington):

• The Real Damage From Investing Too Little in Higher Education: State Budget Cuts and Federal Responsibilities (FindLaw)
• Public Skepticism About Higher Education (Dorf on Law)

Sen. Schumer's Bill Provides Tax Incentives to Kill Bambi

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has introduced S. 2794, which provides tax incentives for the charitable donation of wild game meat:

• Sen Schumer press release
• Albany Times Union, Chuck Schumer Courts Hunters (Since Deer Can’t Vote)
• Future of Capitalism, Senator Schumer Shoots for Bambi
• Newsday, Schumer Proposes Tax Break for Deer Donors 

U.S. News to Expand Rankings of Part-Time J.D. Programs

Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News & World Report, announced on his blog yesterday that the magazine will expand its ranking of part-time J.D. programs to include peer assessment scores:

In addition to having a peer score on a 5.0 scale, U.S. News is contemplating including other factors in the upcoming part-time law J.D. program rankings. Additional ranking variables under consideration include:

• 2009 entering part-time J.D. students' LSAT scores
• 2009 entering part-time J.D. students' undergraduate grade point averages
• 2009 acceptance rate for those entering a part-time J.D. program
• An indicator to measure to what degree a part-time program has both rich academic offerings and other law school activities for its students.

See also ABA Journal,U.S. News to Add Peer Assessment to Part-Time JD Program Rankings.

Democrats Propose .25% Stock Transaction Tax to Raise $150b/Year

Democrats in the House and Senate yesterday proposed a transaction tax to raise $150 billion per year to help close the federal budget deficit and fund infrastructure projects.  H.R. 4191, the Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act, would impose a 0.25% tax on stock transactions and a 0.02% tax on futures contracts, credit default swaps, and securities swaps.

• Bloomberg, Wall Street Transaction Tax Proposed by Democrats
• Bloomberg, Geithner Dismisses Tax on Financial Transactions as Unworkable
• The Hill, Dems to Introduce Stock Tax Proposal
• Politico, Nancy Pelosi Pushes Global Financial Fee
• Reuters, Wall St Tax Has "Great Deal of Merit" -- Pelosi
• Web CPA, Democrats Propose Securities Transaction Tax

The Impact of a Law Review Article v. a Popular Press Book

Jay D. Wexler (Boston University) compares the impact of his article, Preparing for the Clothed Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic Education, and the Constitution, 43 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1159 (2002), with the popular press book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't (Harper, 2007):

Rangel Identifies $30b of Tax Increases to Pay for 45 Tax Extenders

House Ways & Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) yesterday announced that Tax Extenders Act of 2009 (blogged here) would include two revenue-raising provisions to pay the $30 billion cost of extending 45 tax provisions that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2009:

• H.R. 1935, a tax on carried interests
• H.R. 3933, tightening the rules on foreign accounts

Update:  Bloomberg, Democrats Seek ‘Carried Interest’ Tax Rise on Funds.

House Approves Permanent Estate Tax Fix, 225-200

The House voted 225-200 today to approve H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009, which permanently extends the estate tax with a $3.5 million exemption ($7 million for married couples) and 45% top rate.  The 225 votes in favor of the bill all came from Democrats; 26 Democrats voted with 174 Republicans in opposition to the bill.  Under current law, the estate tax is scheduled to be repealed for one year on Jan. 1, 2010, before returning on Jan. 1, 2011 with a $1 million exemption ($2 million for married couples) and a 55% top rate.

• Bill
• Joint Committee on Taxation, Technical Explanation (JCX-57-09)
• Joint Committee on Taxation, Estimated Revenue Effects (JCX-58-09) 
• Associated Press
• Bloomberg
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• Don't Mess With Taxes
• House Ways & Means Committee Press Release
• Nancy Pelosi Press Release
• The Tax Lawyer's Blog
• Wall Street Journal
• Washington Post (editorial)

Mason Presents Rethinking Tax Expenditures Today at Columbia

Ruth Mason (UConn) presents Rethinking Tax Expenditures at Columbia today as part of its Tax Policy Colloquium Series. Here is the abstract:

Critics have prematurely dismissed tax expenditures as a policy device based on the flawed assumption that the most likely alternative to tax expenditures are federally-administered programs that provide cash subsidies directly to taxpayers. While helpful for highlighting the economic equivalence of tax expenditures and cash spending, use of what I call the “federal check heuristic” tends to shift focus away from realistic comparisons between tax expenditures and cash spending. This Essay is the first to compare tax expenditures with the realistic federal spending alternative of grants to the states. It examines the classic criticisms of tax expenditures and finds that grants are susceptible to the same criticisms as tax expenditures. For example, tax expenditures have long been criticized as inequitable because they usually distribute more benefits to higher income taxpayers. However, consideration of alternative grant programs reminds us that affluent suburbanites are likely to capture a disproportionate share of grant money provided to state governments. Analysis of other traditional criticisms of tax expenditures reveals similar insights.

Tax Court Allows Nurse to Deduct Cost of University of Phoenix MBA

The Tax Court yesterday allowed a nurse to deduct the cost of an M.B.A. degree from the University of Phoenix.  Singleton-Clarke v. Commissioner, T.C. Summ. Op. 2009-182 (Dec. 2, 2009) (citations omitted):

Petitioner began taking courses at the University of Phoenix in March 2005, graduating in April 2008 with an MBA/HCM. She chose the University of Phoenix because the institution allowed students to complete the program via online courses, which was a major priority for petitioner.

Petitioner enrolled in the program to become more effective in her then-present duties. She realized that nursing had evolved greatly in the 24 years since she earned her bachelor’s degree, and she felt disadvantaged working with highly educated doctors. Petitioner believed that although an MBA was not required for her job, the degree would give her greater credibility and the courses would make her more effective in her present and future role as a quality control coordinator.

The University of Phoenix MBA/HCM provides students “with the business management skills needed to manage successfully in today’s health care delivery systems.” ...

An MBA degree is different from a degree that serves as foundational qualification to attain a professional license. For instance, this Court had denied deductions for law school expenses, because a law degree qualifies a taxpayer for the new trade or business of being a lawyer.

An MBA is a more general course of study that does not lead to a professional license or certification. This Court has had differing outcomes when deciding whether a taxpayer may deduct education expenses related to pursing an MBA, depending on the facts and circumstances of each case. The decisive factor generally is whether the taxpayer was already established in their trade or business. ...

Analyzing petitioner’s situation, her facts and circumstances far more closely resemble the cases that allowed a deduction for pursuing an MBA. Petitioner is unlike the student in Link, who went straight from his undergraduate degree into an MBA program, and the officer in Schneider, who went straight from the Army into an MBA program. Petitioner is considerably closer in circumstance to the taxpayers in Sherman, Allemeier, and Blair, who had 2 years, 3 years, and 1 year, respectively, of experience performing tasks and activities in their chosen professions before beginning their MBA programs. The facts in favor of petitioner are even stronger than those in the three cases above where the taxpayers prevailed. Petitioner worked for 1 year as a quality control coordinator and had more than 20 years of directly related work experience, gaining vast clinical and managerial knowledge in acute and subacute health care settings, before beginning the University of Phoenix MBA/HCM program.

In summary, the MBA/HCM may have improved petitioner’s preexisting skill set, but objectively, she was already performing the tasks and activities of her trade or business before commencing the MBA. For all of the above reasons, we find that petitioner’s MBA/HCM did not qualify her for a new trade or business, and we hold, therefore that petitioner may deduct her education expenses for 2005.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage of the deductibility of M.B.A. expenses:

• Deducting the Cost of an M.B.A. Degree (Aug. 19, 2009)
• Willens:  How M.B.A. Students Can Deduct Their Education Expenses (Oct. 28, 2008)
• Tax Court Denies Deduction for Harvard M.B.A. Expenses (Feb. 29, 2008)
• Tax Court Denies Attorneys' Fees in Allemeier MBA Expense Case (Feb. 17, 2006)
• Deductibility of J.D. and M.B.A. Expenses (Oct. 21, 2005)
• More on Deductibility of M.B.A. Expenses (Sept. 9, 2005)
• Tax Court Allows Deduction for M.B.A. Expenses (Sept. 1, 2005)
• More on Tax Deduction for M.B.A. Expenses (Aug. 26, 2004)
• Washington Post on Tax Court's Denial of M.B.A. Expense Deductions (Aug. 23, 2004)
• Tax Court Denies Deduction for M.B.A. Expenses (Aug. 19, 2004)

NLJ: Law School Grades Matter More Than Ever; Harvard & Georgetown Ease Grade Curves

• Grades: A Perspective -- Grades Matter, but Service Matters More, by William A. Chamberlain (Assistant Dean, Law Career Strategy and Advancement, Northwestern):

Grades loom like Marley's ghost or the Spirit of Christmas Future in the minds of law students, particularly first-years, at this time of year. In no other profession do grades play such a central role in hiring decisions, and they matter even ten years out of law school.

Grades especially matter at the largest firms, which pay six-figure salaries to students right out of law school. Because supply far exceeds demand for those positions, grades become an efficient evaluation tool, however flawed, for these employers. They also influence hiring at the federal government honors programs. Judicial clerkships at all levels have become more competitive in terms of grades. Even non-profits are not immune. Several post-graduate public interest fellowship programs consider grades.

The downturn in legal hiring has made getting good grades, particularly in the first year, even more important.

• Above the Law, Harvard and Georgetown Make Grading Easier:

Harvard:  HLS recently changed from a letter grade system to a modified pass/fail system. Now the grades are High Pass/Pass/Low Pass/Fail. ... When the new grading system was implemented, however, there was a mandate that 8% of the class had to receive a “low pass.” This is Harvard, after all. But not anymore. ...  Just learned that HLS faculty voted to dump mandatory LPs.

Georgetown:

Grade	Old Curve	New Curve
A	10%	12%
A-	15%	19%
B+	25%	28%
B	30%	31%-36%
B-	15%	5%-10% (B- & Below)
C+	5% (C+ & Below)	n/a

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Lake Wobegon Michigan: 50 Years of Grade Inflation (Mar. 2, 2009)
• Harvard Adopts Pass-Fail Grades Like Yale & Stanford (Sept. 26, 2008)
• Greta Calls Law School Grading a "Fraud" -- She Gave "Almost Everybody" A's at Georgetown (Sept. 23, 2008)
• Law School as Lake Wobegon: The Gentleman's C Becomes the Gentleman's B (Feb. 26, 2008)

IRS Releases 2010 Standard Mileage Rates

The IRS has released (IR-2009-111) the standard mileage rates for 2010 (Rev. Proc. 2009-54):

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2010, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups, or panel trucks) will be:

• 50 cents per mile for business miles driven [down from 55 cents last year]
• 16.5 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes [down from 24 cents]
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations [same as last year]

The new rates for business, medical and moving purposes are slightly lower than last year's. The mileage rates for 2010 reflect generally lower transportation costs compared to a year ago. to a spike in gasoline prices. The rate for charitable purposes is set by law and is unchanged from 2008.

The Influence of U.S. News on Law Schools

Back in 2007, I blogged an article by Wendy Nelson Espeland (Northwestern University, Department of Sociology) & Michael Sauder (University of Iowa, Department of Sociology), Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds, 113 Am. J. Sociology 1 (2007).  Today's National Law Journal reports on their related 2007 article, Fear of Falling: The Effects of U.S. News & World Report Rankings on U.S. Law Schools, just released by the LSAC: Research Documents the 'U.S. News' Effect on Law Schools:

Like it or not, the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of law schools profoundly influences the way those schools are managed, spend resources and are perceived internally and by the outside world.

That is the conclusion reached by two sociology professors who interviewed more than 200 law school administrators, faculty members and prospective law students and combed through other statistical data. Their report, "Fear of Falling: The Effect of U.S. News & World Report Rankings on U.S. Law Schools," has been released by the Law School Admission Council, which partially funded the research.

"One of the things that surprised us most is what a big impact the rankings have," said Northwestern University associate professor Wendy Espeland, who co-authored the report with University of Iowa assistant professor Michael Sauder. "They affect so many aspects of legal education."

The rankings have become a routine consideration in law school decision-making, according to the report, and pressure to move up in the rankings influences the way law schools distribute their resources.

The study's conclusion that law schools have several ways of gaming the system likely won't surprise the many critics who have charged that the rankings are easily manipulated and are harmful to the educational mission of law schools. Most of the interviewed administrators said that the rankings hurt law schools, but some believed that they add transparency and accountability to legal education. The magazine bases its rankings on reputation, selectivity, placement success and faculty resources.

Update:

• Above the Law, Study Confirms That U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Important
• WSJ Law Blog, ‘Fear of Falling’: How the U.S. News Rankings Have Changed Law School

Government Challenges Expert Testimony of David Weisbach & Ethan Yale in Son of BOSS Tax Shelter Case

There is an interesting Son of BOSS tax shelter case in Texas involving billionaire investor Andrew Beal, who is seeking to have two Tax Prof luminaries, David Weisbach (Chicago) and Ethan Yale (Virginia), testify as expert witnesses over the objection of the Government:

• Expert Report of David A. Weisbach (May 2, 2008)
• Expert Report of Ethan Yale (May 2, 2008)
• Rebuttal Report of Ethan Yale Responding to Expert Report of Bruce G. Dubinsky (June 2, 2008)
• Supplemental Expers Report of Bruce G. Dubinsky (July 31, 2009)
• United States' Motion to Exclude Expert Testimony of Plaintiff's Tax Lawyer "Experts" David Weisbach and Ethan Yale (Nov. 5, 2009)
• Plaintiffs' Response to United States' Motion to Exclude Expert Testimony of David Weisbach and Ethan Yale (Nov. 17, 2009)
• United States' Reply Brief in Support of its Motion to Exclude Expert Testimony of Plaintiff's Tax Lawyer "Experts" David Weisbach and Ethan Yale (Nov. 30, 2009)
• United States' Motion for Summary Judgment (Nov. 2, 2009)
• Plaintiffs' Opposition to United States' Motion for Summary Judgment (Nov. 17, 2009)
• United States' Reply in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment (Nov. 30, 2009)

(Hat Tip: Richard Jacobus.) Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Stanford Law Review Debate: The Role of Expert Opinions in the Tax Shelter Problem (May 15, 2009)
• Fortune: The Role of Expert Opinions in the Tax Shelter Problem (May 30, 2008)
• Court Excludes Tax Prof's Expert Testimony in Tax Shelter Case (April 4, 2008)

Update: Legal Profession Blog, Two Law Profs (in Tax) Are Challenged As Expert Witnesses

NYLS & Hofstra Plummet on NY Bar Exam, Blame Bad Economy

New York Law Journal, N.Y. Law Schools Experience Slight Decline in Bar Pass Rates:

Nine of New York state's 15 law schools saw a decrease in performance among first-time candidates for the July 2009 bar examination over last year, when 10 of the 15 campuses saw increases. ...  The overall decline in this year's bar pass rates involved dips of only a few points at most campuses, pushing the statewide average down to 88% from an all-time high of 90% in 2008.

The more substantial declines at New York Law and Hofstra, 10 points and 9 points, respectively, put their placements at the middle and bottom ranks of the schools. Only two campuses saw improvements this year, Syracuse, up 5 points to 87% over last year's 82%, and Pace at 86%, up 1 point over last year's pass rate. ...

The usual top three performers -- Columbia, NYU and Cornell  -- remained in place, but in a different order from last year. This time, Columbia and NYU scored within fractions of each other at 97%, displacing Cornell from the No. 1 position. Cornell scored 94% this year, compared to 99% last year. Hofstra sank from ninth place last year to the bottom of the list. A 10-point decline at New York Law caused the school to slip out of the high middle ranks, occupied once again by St. John's, Cardozo and Fordham.

Members of the deans' staffs who analyze the data at New York Law and, to a lesser degree, at Hofstra are exploring a theory: given the economy of 2009, working students had less time to prepare for the bar exam. Anecdotal information suggests that evening course students in particular had added responsibilities on the job, perhaps due to the layoffs of former colleagues, or a reluctance to request time off for fear of likewise becoming unemployed.

Update:

• ABA Journal, Bar Exam Pass Rate Dips at 9 New York Law Schools: Bad Economy to Blame?
• American Lawyer, Is the Economy to Blame for Lower Bar Exam Passage Rates? 

Dodge: Revisiting Dickman: Are Loans of Tangible Property Gifts?

Joseph M. Dodge (Florida State) has posted Revisiting Dickman: Are Loans of Tangible Property Gifts? on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

Suppose a parent “loans” her vacation home “Dellview” in Aspen to her adult child for a non-specified period of time without rent or other charge for the use of the property. The home has a rental value of $1,000 per day. There is no formal lease agreement. Therefore, the parent (as owner) can occupy the premises or evict the child at will. The daughter in fact occupies the property for 65 days in the summer of 2009. Has Mother made a gift to daughter for gift tax purposes? Would any variation in this fact pattern alter the answer?

Continue reading "Dodge: Revisiting Dickman: Are Loans of Tangible Property Gifts?"

Connecticut 'Super Lawyers'

Following up on my prior posts:

• Which Law Schools Produce the Most "Super Lawyers"? (Nov. 4, 2009)
• Law School Rankings by "Super Lawyers" (Nov. 17, 2009)
• More 'Super Lawyer' Per Capita Law School Rankings (Nov. 19, 2009)

Connecticut Law Tribune, A New, Simple Way To Rank Law Schools, by Christian Nolan:

Why waste time weighing factors like faculty size and bar passage rates when choosing a law school when you can simply look at one factor — the number of Super Lawyers among the alumni? ...

A pair of officials at Connecticut law schools that didn’t rank quite that high seemed skeptical of the new ranking system. But while quick to point out its flaws, they stopped short of dismissing it altogether.

Jeremy Paul, dean of the University of Connecticut’s School of Law, and Brad Saxton, dean of Quinnipiac University School of Law, provided similar analogies to bolster arguments that the biggest, rather than the best, law schools have an advantage.

“If you have one school that had 500 graduates and another that had 50, and there are three [Super Lawyers] in 500 or two in 50, which is better?” asked Paul. “According to their calculation, three are better because it’s more.”

Saxton said the rankings were obviously “skewed” because Yale could graduate an entire class of Super Lawyers, and Harvard would still get a better rating if only 50 percent of its graduating class became Super Lawyers. That’s because Harvard’s student body is much larger.

But both deans said that acknowledging the post-graduation accomplishments of law school alumni isn’t such a bad idea. In contrast, the oft-cited U.S. News and World Report rankings put more weight on LSAT scores of incoming students and various law school resources. “One good aspect is it’s focused on actual achievements of graduates as opposed to the stats of students entering the school,” said Paul. ...

Yale, which sat atop this year’s U.S. News and World Report rankings, is only No. 10 on the Super Lawyers list. UConn came in at No. 63, Western New England School of Law in Springfield, Mass., was 144th and Quinnipiac ranked 153rd. In all, 180 schools made the list.

Taylor: Taxation in Indian Country After Carcieri v. Salazar

Scott A. Taylor (University of St. Thomas) has posted Taxation in Indian Country After Carcieri v. Salazar, 36  Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. ___ (2010), on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

Federally recognized Indian tribes are governments within our federal legal system. Tribes have aboriginal sovereignty that provides them with inherent governmental powers, such as the power to tax. Tribal sovereignty also protects tribes from state interference, such as state taxation of tribal lands. Both the exercise of tribal governmental powers and the tribal immunity from state interference have a territorial component. This makes the status of Indian lands a critical inquiry into tribal/state relations. Because of the importance of land status in federal Indian law, especially in matters involving taxation, the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Carcieri v. Salazar deserves special attention. In the Carcieri case, the Court held that the Secretary of the Interior did not have the statutory authority to place lands into trust on behalf of Indian tribes that were recognized after the enactment of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. This article explores taxation in Indian Country after Carcieri.

Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2009

House Ways & Means Committee Chair Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) today introduced H.R. 4169, the Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2009.  The Joint Committee on Taxation has released its description of the 25 technical corrections to five pieces of legislation:

• The 2009 economic stimulus law (Pub. L. No. 111-5)
• The 2008 financial bailout law (Pub. L. No 110-343)
• The 2008 military tax law (Pub. L. No. 110-245)
• The 2008 economic stimulus law (Pub. L. No. 110-185)
• The 2007 tax technical corrections law (Pub. L. No. 110-172)

If Hitler Were a 2L at UC-Berkeley

(Hat Tip: Above the Law.)

House to Vote Tomorrow on Permanent Estate Tax Fix

In advance of tomorrow's expected House vote on permanently extending the estate tax (with a $3.5 million exemption and 45% top rate):

• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, House Bill to Make Current Estate Tax Permanent Is More Than Reasonable
• Citizens for Tax Justice, Latest State-by-State Estate Tax Data Show Why We Need a Strong Estate Tax
• Don't Mess With Taxes, The Estate Tax, a Dickens of a Law
• Huffington Post, Of Death Panels and Tax Policy
• Reuters, Congress Grapples With Estate Tax
• Wall Street Journal, Estate Tax Battle Could Go Down to Wire
• Wall Street Journal, U.S. Business Groups Split Over Democrats' Estate-Tax Efforts

More on Blogs as Legal Scholarship

In 2006, I organized a conference at Harvard Law School on Bloggership: How Blogs Are Transforming Legal Scholarship, with the papers published in a symposium issue of the Washington University Law Review (84 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1025-1261 (2006)).  Among the particpants were Orin Kerr (George Washington) and Douglas A. Berman (Ohio State), who offer on their blogs their current observations on the subject:

• Orin Kerr, Rethinking Blogging-as-Scholarship (The Volokh Conspiracy):

Back in 2005 and 2006, a lot of law-professor bloggers wondered whether blog posts could and would serve as ways to advance scholarly ideas about law. At the time, I was very skeptical. ...

Fast forward to the present, and I now think my old self was wrong. Or at least a bit off. I now think blogging actually does provide an effective way to present new scholarly ideas in many cases. In this post, I want to explain why my view has changed. ...

I think we’re seeing a shift in how law professors and legal journal editors view blogs. The old lines have blurred. Blogs have become a significant part of the scholarly conversation. I didn’t expect this to happen, at least so soon. And I don’t know whether the trend will continue. But I think the trend is a real one.

• Douglas A. Berman,  Orin Kerr Gamely (and Finally) Admits that Blogs Can be Legal Scholarship (Sentencing Law & Policy):

Way back in 2006, I had the joy of participating in an exciting conference at Harvard Law School entitled "Bloggership: How Blogs Are Transforming Legal Scholarship." The papers for the conference, which were all absolutely fascinating, can still be accessed here. In my contribution, which was titled "Scholarship in Action: The Power, Possibilities, and Pitfalls for Law Professor Blogs," I made the argument that blogs can be a new and useful form of legal scholarship. But Orin Kerr was part of a group of "traditionalists" who contended that, though valuable for other purposes, blogs were not (and should not be seen as) a form of legal scholarship.

I remind everyone of this history of blogs as scholarship debate as a prelude to linking to Orin's new post ... he commentors to Orin's post usefully note that it seems what has really changed is how blogs are perceived as much as whether this medium of expression has changed. Thus, I will stick to my view that thoughtful blogs always were (or could be) a form of scholarship, just like any other form of communication can be a form of scholarship if deployed effectively to that end.

Though I share Orin's sense that the perception of blogs have evolved in recent years, I have been largely disappointed that blog technology has not advanced much to better enable blogging to serve as a truly sophisticated and effective academic medium.

Update: 

• Ann Althouse (Wisconsin), Orin Kerr Notes a Convergence of Lawprof Blogging and Lawprof Scholarship: "I still maintain, as I did back then, that blogs are a distinct form that offers the opportunity to write in new, challenging, artistic ways. Reading Orin's post reminds me to think of myself as a true blogger, not a professor taking advantage of a device to push out scholarship. Of course, I want credit and regard for my writing here, but because it is different, not because it is the same."
• Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA), Blogging as Scholarship Redux:  "I think Orin's right that "blogging actually does provide an effective way to present new scholarly ideas in many cases," but it's also fun. And I wouldn't do it if it weren't fun."
• Orin Kerr (George Washington), Responses to “Rethinking Blogging-As-Scholarship”: "In collective response to Doug, Steve, and Ann, I agree that the question isn’t whether blogging “is” scholarship, “can be” scholarship, or “has to be” scholarship. Rather, I think the question is the extent to which those who write scholarly blog posts are participating in a useful way (and are recognized as participating in a useful way) in the scholarly enterprise. My sense is that they often are, more than I anticipated in 2005."
• Gordon Smith (BYU), Bloggership Redux: "While I agree that blogs are being cited more often in law review articles than they used to be, this does not seem to me like a fundamental change in circumstances, but rather a fulfillment of the promise of academic blogging."