USC Defers Launch of Graduate Tax Program

The University of Southern California Gould School of Law has decided to defer the launch of its graduate tax program to Fall 2011.  From USC Dean Robert K. Rasmussen:

The basic problem is that our search to find the appropriate director for the program took longer than I had anticipated. We view having the right leadership as essential to launching the program, and we are still in the process of finding our founding director. Without a director, we were concerned that we could not offer the high quality program that was the reason that we decided to launch the Tax LLM in the first instance. We simply will not offer any program that does not meet USC's standards for excellence. That said, I an optimistic that we will have a director in place this fall, and that person will then have ample time to ensure that we will offer an excellent and innovative Tax LLM beginning in the Fall of 2011.

From Santa Clara 3L Gadi Zohar:

I am a 3L and an applicant to several LL.M. in Taxation programs, including USC.  I received a phone call about 30 minutes ago from one of their representatives informing me that they are postponing the launch of their LL.M. in Taxation program.  When I inquired about the reasons, [] told me that USC is not confident that it would have been able to place graduates in really great positions (I don't remember exactly how she put it, but it was something like "really great positions") so they would rather postpone the inaugural year of the program.  She said that USC could not justify having students invest so heavily in their program without the likeliness of a good job ...  I have to applaud USC when many other law schools are opting for tuition sources uber alles.  [] said that USC will contact me next year about the possibility of attending in 2011-12, and that they will be refunding me the $75 application fee.  At least I don't have to pay income taxes on that $75!

Update:  Legal Blog Watch, USC Law Pushes Back Tax LLM Program