Over 50+ Years, The NYU Tax VAP Program Has Launched Dozens Of Tax Prof Careers

NYU Law News, The Visiting Assistant Professor of Tax Law Program Has Launched Multiple Generations of Tax Law Leaders:

The Visiting Assistant Professor of Tax Law program, formerly known as the Acting Assistant Professor of Tax Law program, has been a successful launching pad for generations of tax law academics. VAPs typically spend two years at the Law School as full-time, non-tenure-track instructors. During their second year, they seek tenure-track positions in the law school academic job market.

While at NYU Law, VAPs devote considerable time to developing their research agendas and working on their scholarship. In addition to teaching a course in the Graduate Tax Program each semester, VAPs serve as assistant editors of the Tax Law Review. VAPs benefit from the tax faculty’s mentorship as they develop their scholarship and prepare for the academic job market. They also participate in faculty workshops and conferences, including the renowned Tax Policy and Public Finance Colloquium.

Jon Endean and Rita Julien, the current VAPs, bring the total number of participants in the history of the program to 78. [1961-2023 list] ...

In the VAP program’s early days, it often acted as a direct pipeline to NYU Law’s tenure-track faculty. Among those who transitioned to full-time faculty were Professor Noël Cunningham LLM ’75, Professor Emeritus Brookes Billman LLM ’75, Professor Emeritus John Steines LLM ’78, and Professor Emerita Laurie Malman ’71. Former VAP Victor Zonana (1969-71) was on the full-time faculty until 1981, and continued to teach as an adjunct until 2018, while another former VAP, Professor Emeritus John Peschel, who passed away in December, spent some time in private practice and as a professor at Tulane Law School before joining NYU Law’s tenured faculty in 1978. ...

Since the VAP program began in 1961, its alumni have taken tenure-track or tenured teaching positions at the law schools of the University of Virginia, Cornell, Northwestern, UCLA, the University of Texas, USC, the University of Florida, the University of North Carolina, George Washington University, Arizona State University, George Mason University, and UC Irvine. Among their ranks are current or former partners at Hogan Lovells; McDermott Will & Emery; Cooley; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and King & Spalding.

“The NYU Tax VAP program set me on the path to academia,” says Ruth Mason, Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law and Taxation and director of the Virginia Center for Tax Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Mason was a VAP from 2005 to 2006, and also served as executive director of the Graduate Tax Program and deputy director of the International Tax Program.