Tsilly Dagan Leaves Bar-Ilan For Oxford

Tsilly Dagan appointed to the Professorship of Taxation Law:

Tsilly Dagan, LLB JSD Tel-Aviv, LLM New York, Raoul Wallenberg Professor of Law at Bar-Ilan University, has been appointed to the Professorship of Taxation Law in the Law Faculty. Professor Dagan will take up the post with effect from 23 September 2019.

Professor Dagan’s main fields of research and teaching are tax law and policy (both domestic and international) and the interaction of the state and the market. She has taught and researched as a scholar in residence at the University of Michigan, University of Western Ontario, and the University of Columbia, and was a member of the Group on Global Justice at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Jerusalem. At Bar-Ilan Professor Dagan served as Editor-in-Chief of the law review and Associate Dean for Research. Her book International Tax Policy: Between Competition and Cooperation (Cambridge University Press) is the winner of the 2017 Frans Vanistendael Award for International Tax Law.

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Khrista McCarden Awarded Tenure At Tulane

Tulane University News, Law Prof. McCarden Awarded Tenure:

Khrista McCarden, Tulane’s Hoffman Fuller Associate Professor of Tax Law, has been awarded tenure, Law Dean David Meyer announced.

“Since joining the Tulane Law School faculty last year from Pepperdine School of Law, Khrista McCarden has continued to build a national reputation as a thoughtful and creative scholar of tax law and policy, won the praise and appreciation of students for her teaching, and actively jumped in to serve the law school community on multiple fronts, ranging from help with planning the Tulane Tax Institute to advising several student organizations,” Meyer said.

McCarden earned both her B.A. and J.D. from Harvard University with honors. She began her legal career with Latham & Watkins LLP in Los Angeles and has practiced tax law internationally. During her first two years of practice, she was selected as a Washington, D.C. delegate by the State Bar of California and the Los Angeles County Bar Association Taxation section.  She later clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City.  Prior to joining the faculty of Pepperdine, McCarden practiced tax law in Paris and in London with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. 

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Kristin Hickman Completes One-Year Stint In The White House As Special Adviser To OMB

Bloomberg Law, Tax Scholar Leaves White House Regulatory Review Office:

Kristin Hickman is no longer working with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget after being hired last year to strengthen its tax expertise.

Hickman, a law professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in tax administration and administrative law, confirmed in an email to Bloomberg Tax that she wrapped up her time at OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in April. OIRA announced around the same time last year that it had selected Hickman to serve as a special adviser.

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Dorothy Brown: Goodbye, But Not Farewell

Dorothy Brown headed back to Emory yesterday after completing her stint at Pepperdine as our Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor. She left behind one old friend and countless new ones. She regaled our students in Federal Income Tax and Tax Policy, which she co-taught (cough) with a frazzled dean. I will have three lasting memories of Dorothy's time here: (1) the great tax workshop series we put together, with seven outstanding speakers and wonderful post-presentation lunches; (2) the wonderful Critical Tax Conference we co-hosted, particularly Dorothy's fiery keynote address, The Life of a Tax Crit: When Keeping It Real Can Go Really Really Wrong; and (3) most importantly, the relationships Dorothy developed in her four months here, particularly with the students and staff (perhaps never before has a Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor (certainly not me) taken several staff people out for meals and given them gifts on her departure). We hope Dorothy will be back in Malibu in the future, initially as part of our Spring 2020 tax workshop series.

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Kyle Rozema To Join Washington University Tax Faculty

Kyle Rozema (Wachtell Lipton Fellow in Behavioral Law and Economics, Chicago) has accepted a tenure-track tax position at Washington University, beginning in August 2019:

Kyle Rozema’s research interests are in how legal rules affect economic inequality, disparate outcomes, and discrimination. To study these questions, he uses a range of empirical methods, collaborates across disciplines, and collects original data. His main research interests are in tax law and policy. Kyle's tax research explores the distributional consequences of taxes and the interactions between tax laws and other public policies. Much of his tax research to date seeks to understand the extent to which the distributional consequences of tax laws are more nuanced than conventional wisdom would suggest. Beyond tax law, Kyle conducts empirical research on bias and discrimination in the law in general, largely focusing on the manners in which discrimination can affect employment patterns in law-related professions.

Kyle's recent publications include:

• The Legal Academy's Ideological Uniformity, 47 J. Legal Stud. 1 (2018) (with Adam Bonica (Stanford), Adam Chilton (Chicago) & Maya Sen (Harvard))
• Legal Rasputins? Law Clerk Influence on Voting at the U.S. Supreme Court, 35 J.L. Econ. & Org. 1 (2019) (with Adam Bonica (Stanford), Adam Chilton (Chicago), Jacob Goldin (Stanford) & Maya Sen (Harvard))
• Inequality and the Mortgage Interest Deduction, 70 Tax L. Rev. 667 (2017) (with Daniel Hemel (Chicago)) (reviewed by Ari Glogower (Ohio State) here)
• The Effect of Tax Expenditures on Automatic Stabilizers: Methods and Evidence, 14 J. Empirical Legal Stud. 548 (2017) (with Hautahi Kingi (Cornell))

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George Yin To Retire After 25 Years At Virginia

Professor George Yin Retiring After 25 Years:

When does a seasoned tax expert decide to retire? At age 70½, of course.

That’s when beneficiaries of retirement plans usually have to start taking distributions — and the age University of Virginia School of Law professor George Yin will be this year. Yin will retire at the end of the spring semester

“The Law School has been really wonderful to me,” Yin said. “It just seemed to me that I should think of it as I’ve had my shot and it’s time to pass it on to somebody else.”

Yin, who began teaching at UVA Law in 1994 after visiting from the University of Florida College of Law, is a noted public servant. From 2003-05, he took leave to serve as chief of staff of the U.S. Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, one of the most influential tax positions in the country. ...

Yin is retiring at the top of his game as an influential voice in tax policy. He’s become the leading expert on the legal issues involved in the release of the president’s tax returns, and congressional power to acquire and release returns in general.

Professor Jon Cannon, a longtime colleague who has also served in government (including as general counsel to the Environmental Protection Agency), said Yin’s approach to academia has been a template he has emulated.

“George has been a wonderful mentor, colleague and friend ever since I came to the Law School some 20 years ago,” Cannon said. “He combines a practical sense of what’s important with a scholar’s commitment to finding — and saying — the truth. He is unfailingly generous and kind. There could not have been a better model.”

Yin became interested in tax law after taking an introductory tax class in the first semester of his second year at George Washington University Law School.

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Neil Buchanan Leaves George Washington For Florida

Neil Buchanan Joins UF Law Faculty (Apr. 9, 2019):

The University of Florida Levin College of Law is pleased to announce that Neil H. Buchanan will join the faculty as a Professor of Law and the James J. Freeland Eminent Scholar Chair in Taxation. Professor Buchanan currently serves as a Professor of Law at The George Washington University and the Smith Freehills Visitor to the Faculty of Law in the University of Cambridge.

Professor Buchanan is nationally and internationally known for his groundbreaking work on intergenerational tax equity. His work has appeared in Cornell Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Virginia Tax Review, and George Washington Law Review, among others.

In addition to his scholarship concerning tax law and policy, Professor Buchanan regularly contributes to public debates surrounding federal tax and spending policies.

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Charlene Luke Named Associate Dean For Tax Programs At Florida

University of Florida Press Release:

Dean Laura Rosenbury is very happy to announce that Professor Charlene Luke has agreed to serve as the Associate Dean for Tax Programs at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. In this role, Dean Luke will work with Professor Fred Murray, Director of the Graduate Tax Program, and Professor Mindy Herzfeld, Director of the International Tax Program.

Dean Luke joined the University of Florida in 2008 and currently serves as a UF Research Foundation Professor (2017–2020). She became the editor-in-chief of the Florida Tax Review in 2016.

Dean Luke’s research primarily focuses on the problem of tax avoidance and evasion and has appeared in the Virginia Tax Review, Tax Lawyer, Buffalo Law Review, Hofstra Law Review, Seattle University Law Review, and Connecticut Insurance Law Journal. She also recently became a co-author of the McDaniel, McMahon, and Simmons’s series of business entity taxation casebooks, as well as Repetti and Lyons’s Partnership Income Taxation (Concepts and Insights) (6th ed. 2018).

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Michelle Layser To Join Illinois Tax Faculty

Michelle D. Layser (Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown) has accepted a tenure-track tax position at Illinois, beginning in August 2018:

Professor Layser is currently a Research Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches a course on social justice and taxation. Professor Layser's legal scholarship focuses on the intersection of tax law and social policy, touching on such diverse issues as housing and segregation, unequal taxation of same-sex families, the potential role of non-profits in supporting news production, and tax incentives for investment in clean energy technologies. Her most recent paper is forthcoming in 2018 in the Indiana Law Journal (How Federal Tax Law Rewards Housing Segregation). She has also published three articles in the flagship law reviews at Missouri (Improving Tax Incentives for Wind Energy Production: The Case for a Refundable Production Tax Credit), Utah (The Quest to Save Journalism: A Legal Analysis of New Models for Newspapers from Nonprofit Tax-Exempt Organizations to L3Cs), and Hawaii (Tax Justice and Same-Sex Domestic Partner Health Benefits: An Analysis of the Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act).

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Phil Hackney Leaves LSU For Pittsburgh

Philip Hackney, James E. and Betty M. Phillips Professor of Law at LSU, will join the Pittsburgh tax faculty in Fall 2018:

Phil Hackney joins Pitt Law from the Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2011. Hackney’s scholarship focuses on the law that governs the nonprofit tax-exempt sector of the economy, such as charities, social welfare organizations, labor unions, and trade associations. In addition to his scholarly work, he has been published in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and Salon. He is frequently quoted in the press as a national expert on nonprofit organizations.

Hackney is deeply engaged in law reform efforts. He served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Independent Sector to update its Ethics and Principles of Good Governance for Nonprofit Organizations in 2014. In Louisiana, he served as a member of the Louisiana Tax Institute, a state board created to aid the state in improving its tax system. He also served as a member of the Corporations Committee of the Louisiana Law Institute to revise the limited liability company statute of Louisiana. He is an author of a treatise on Limited Liability Companies in Louisiana.

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Ariel Stevenson, NYU VAP, To Join San Diego Tax Faculty

Ariel Jurow Stevenson (Acting Assistant Professor of Tax Law, NYU) has accepted a tenure-track position at San Diego, beginning in August 2018.

• JD 2014, Yale
• MSc (Economic Development) 2008, London School of Economics and Political Science
• BA (Economics & International Development Studies) 2007, UCLA

Before joining NYU, Ariel received a Skadden Fellowship to work at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles, where she founded and directed a program that provides tax legal services to low-income and immigrant workers. She represented low-income clients in state and federal tax controversies, and regularly served as an advisor on tax issues for public interest attorneys throughout California.

Ariel's publications include:

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Chris Pietruszkiewicz Named President Of University Of Evansville

Stetson Law School Dean (and Tax Prof) Chris Pietruszkiewicz has been named President of Evansville University:

The University of Evansville has appointed Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz (petra-skev-ich) as the 24th president of the institution.

Pietruszkiewicz, who currently serves as dean and professor of law at Stetson University’s College of Law, was chosen for the position after an exhaustive nationwide search. The presidential search committee was led by UE trustee Sally Rideout, and the Board of Trustees elected Pietruszkiewicz in a formal vote on March 28.

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Vic Fleischer Leaves San Diego For UC-Irvine

Leading Tax Scholar and Teacher Victor Fleischer Joins UCI Law Faculty:

Fleischer will join tax faculty Omri Marian and Josh Blank at UCI Law

UCI Law is pleased to announce the appointment of renowned tax expert Victor Fleischer to its faculty as professor of law. Fleischer joins UCI Law from University of San Diego School of Law, where he currently is a professor of tax law and director of tax programs.

"We are delighted to have Vic join our preeminent faculty and further enhance our robust tax program," said UCI Law Dean L. Song Richardson.

"UCI has an amazing, diverse, talented, and energetic faculty," said Fleischer. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for me and I’m delighted to join the team.”

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Leigh Osofsky Leaves Miami For North Carolina

Tax Law Expert Leigh Osofsky Joins UNC School of Law Faculty:

UNC School of Law is pleased to welcome Leigh Osofsky as a tax law professor. Osofsky joins the Carolina Law faculty from the University of Miami School of Law, where she has taught courses addressing various aspects of taxation and policy for the last seven years. Before joining the University of Miami faculty, Osofsky was an acting assistant professor of tax law at New York University from 2009 to 2011.

“We are thrilled to have Leigh join our faculty this summer,” says Kathleen DeLaney Thomas, assistant professor of law and director of the UNC School of Law Tax Institute. “Leigh is a well-respected and accomplished tax scholar, as well as a committed and effective teacher. We’re also excited that she will help us expand our tax law course offerings at the law school and will be a great resource for our students.”

Leigh's recent publications include:

• Regulating by Example, 35 Yale J. Reg. ___ (2017) (with Susan Morse (Texas))
• Simplexity: Plain Language and the Tax Law, 66 Emory L.J. 189 (2017) (with Joshua Blank (NYU))
• The Case for Categorical Nonenforcement, 69 Tax L. Rev. 73 (2015)

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Dorothy Brown Named Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor At Pepperdine Law School

Dorothy Brown, Professor of Law at Emory Law School, has been named Pepperdine Law School's Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor for Spring 2019.

Dorothy is the nation's leading critical tax scholar examining race, class, and gender implications of tax policy. Last month, she secured a deal with Crown Publishing Group (a subsidiary of Random House) for a book on The Whiteness of Wealth, which will "investigate how American tax policy enriches white families at the expense of black families in many spheres, including housing, education, investing, and marriage." The book will draw on Dorothy's prior work, including:

• Fighting Racism in the Twenty-First Century, 61 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1485 (2004)
• Pensions, Risk, and Race, 61 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1501 (2004)
• Social Security and Marriage in Black and White, 65 Ohio St. L.J. 111 (2004)
• The Tax Treatment of Children: Separate But Unequal, 54 Emory L.J. 757 (2005)
• Race and Class Matters in Tax Policy, 107 Colum. L. Rev. 790 (2007)
• Pensions and Risk Aversion: The Influence of Race, Ethnicity, and Class on Investor Behavior, 11 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 385 (2007)
• Race, Class, and the Obama Tax Plan, 86 Denv. L. Rev. 575 (2009) 
• Shades of the American Dream, 87 Wash. U. L. Rev. 329 (2010)
• Teaching Civil Rights Through The Basic Tax Course, 54 St. Louis L. Rev. 809 (2010)
• Implicit Bias and the Earned Income Tax Credit, in Implicit Racial Bias Across the Law 164-178 (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
• Taxing the Body, in The Global Body Market: Altruism's Limits 148-159 (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
• Tales From A Tax Crit, 10 Pitt. Tax Rev. 47 (2013)
• The 535 Report: A Pathway to Fundamental Tax Reform, 40 Pepp. L. Rev. 1155 (2013)
• Critical Race Theory: Cases, Materials, and Problems (West 3d ed. 2014)

Dorothy is the co-author of a leading federal income tax casebook, Federal Income Taxation: Cases, Problems, and Materials (West 6th ed. 2016). She has won seven teaching awards over the course of her career. 

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Rebecca Kysar Leaves Brooklyn For Fordham

After visiting at Fordham last semester, Rebecca Kysar (Brooklyn) is joining the tenured faculty in the fall.  Rebecca's publications include:

• The State of the Budget Process, 81 Law & Contemp. Probs. __ (2018)
• Reconsidering the Tax Treaty: Introduction, 41 Brook. J. Int’l L. (2016) (with Steven Dean)
• Interpreting Tax Treaties, 101 Iowa L. Rev. 1387 (2016)
• The ‘Shell Bill’ Game: Avoidance and the Origination Clause, 91 Wash. U. L. Rev. 659 (2014)
• Reconciling Congress to Tax Reform, 88 Notre Dame L. Rev. 2121 (2013)
• On the Constitutionality of Tax Treaties, 38 Yale J. Int'l L. 1 (2013)
• Penalty Default Interpretive Canons, 76 Brook. L. Rev. 953 (2011)
• Lasting Legislation, 159 U. Pa. L. Rev. (2011)
• Listening to Congress: Earmark Rules and Statutory Interpretation, 94 Cornell L. Rev. 519 (2009)

 

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Josh Blank Leaves NYU For UC-Irvine

Press Release:

UCI Law is pleased to announce the appointment of renowned tax expert Joshua Blank to its faculty. Blank joins from New York University School of Law, where he currently is a professor of tax law, vice dean for technology-enhanced education, and faculty director of the school’s Graduate Tax Program. He joins UCI Law as a professor of law.

"We are elated to have Josh join our preeminent faculty," said UCI Law Interim Dean L. Song Richardson. "Our innovative curriculum and collegial community continue to attract the brightest minds in legal education. Josh made extraordinary contributions to innumerable areas at NYU Law, and I am excited for the future of UCI Law with him on our team."

"I am thrilled to join the UCI Law community and look forward to working with its dynamic faculty and administration and teaching its outstanding students," said Blank.

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Texas A&M Names Jack Manhire Assistant Dean And Chief of Staff Of The I-School, And Assistant Vice President For Entrepreneurship And Economic Development

Jack Manhire, former Director of Program Development and Senior Lecturer in Law at the Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, is taking on new roles in College Station as Assistant Dean and Chief of Staff for Texas A&M’s new School of Innovation (“I-School”) and Assistant Vice President of Operations for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

Manhire’s positons prior to entering academe include National Chair of the Executive Education Program for the Treasury Executive Institute, Chief of Legal Analysis for the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility, Director of Technical Analysis & Guidance for the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, and Attorney-Advisor to the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate. Before entering full-time government service, he practiced law privately for over a decade and was Division Chief, Tax Law for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary National Office.

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Nick Mirkay Leaves Creighton For Hawaii

Nicholas A. Mirkay, III (Creighton) has accepted a lateral offer to join the University of Hawaii Law School faculty. Nick's recent publications include:

• Equality or Dysfunction: State Tax Law in a Post-Windsor World, 47 Creighton L. Rev. 261 (2014)
• Globalism, Public Policy, and Tax-Exempt Status: Are U.S. Charities Adrift at Sea?, 91 N.C. L.
• It’s All About Timing: Will Karns Impact the IRS Battles Over Advance Receipts?, 12 Del. L. Rev. 55 (2010)
• Losing Our Religion: Reevaluating the §501(c)(3) Exemption of Religious Organizations That Discriminate, 17 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 715 (2009)
• Is It "Charitable" to Discriminate? The Necessary Transformation of Section 501(c)(3) Into the Gold Standard for Charities, 2007 Wis. L. Rev. 45

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Del Wright Leaves Valparaiso For UMKC

Del Wright (Valparaiso) has accepted a lateral offer to join the University of Missouri Kansas City Law School faculty. Del's recent publications include:

• Bogus Refunds & Bad Penalties: The Feckless and Fixable Refund Penalty System, 48 Akron L. Rev. ___ (2015)
• Improperly Burdened: The Uncertain and Sometimes Unfair Application of Tax Penalties (2015)
• Financial Alchemy: How Tax Shelter Promoters Use Financial Products to Bedevil the IRS (and How the IRS Helps Them), 45 Ariz. St. L.J. 611 (2013)
• Government Winning in the Corporate Tax Shelter Fight, Nat'l Bar Ass'n, The Commercial Law Connection, Vol. 8, Issue 3 (Fall 2011)
• Reaching Beyond Its Grasp: The Latest Setback for Treasury’s Use of Retroactive Regulations to Attack Son-of-BOSS Transactions, BNA Tax Mgmt Real Est. J., Vol. 25, No. 11 (Nov. 2009)

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Keith Fogg Leaves Villanova For Harvard

T. Keith Fogg Named Clinical Professor of Law:

Keith Fogg, an expert in tax law and procedure and director of Harvard Law School’s Federal Tax Clinic at the Legal Services Center, has been named clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School.

For more than 30 years, Fogg worked in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service. He joined the faculty of Villanova Law School, and has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He developed a course for the Georgetown LL.M. program, Federal Taxation of Bankruptcy and Workouts, which he taught there for 15 years as an adjunct. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at William and Mary and University of Richmond law schools and as a visiting professor at University of Arizona.

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David Hasen Leaves Colorado For Florida

David Hasen, Professor of Law at Colorado, has accepted a tenured lateral offer from Florida, beginning in Fall 2017.  Here are David's recent publications:

• A Partnership Mark-to-Market Tax Election, 71 Tax Law. ___ (2018)
• Accretion-Based Progressive Wealth Taxation, 20 Fla. Tax. Rev. ___ (2017)
• Taxation and Innovation: A Sectorial Approach, 2017 U. Ill. L. Rev. ___
• Some Consequences of Governmental Provision of Rival Goods, 34 Va. Tax Rev. 319 (2014)
• The Reinvestment Deduction: A Modest Proposal to Reform the Corporate Tax, 18 Chapman L. Rev. 49 (2014) (symposium)
• CBIT 2.0: A Proposal to Address U.S. Business Taxation, 140 Tax Notes 909 (Aug. 26, 2013)

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Reuven Avi-Yonah Cancels Lateral Move To UC-Irvine, Stays At Michigan

Following up on my previous post, Reuven Avi-Yonah Leaves Michigan For UC-Irvine (Sept. 1, 2016):

Brian Leiter reports (and I have independently confirmed) that Reuven Avi-Yonah has changed his mind and has decided to remain at Michigan and will not be making a lateral move to UC-Irvine.

Hawaii Seeks To Hire A Tax Prof

The University of Hawaii Law School invites applications from entry level and lateral candidates for a tenure-track or tenured tax position beginning in the 2017-18 academic year:

We are seeking applicants with the ability and interest to teach in the area of federal taxation and preferably also trusts and estates. ...

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Florida Names Fred Murray Professor Of Tax Practice

Dean Laura Rosenbury has announced that Fred Murray will join the faculty of the University of Florida Levin College of Law as a full-time Professor of Tax Practice:

Since 2007, Professor Murray has been at Grant Thornton LLP, where he serves as a Managing Director, International Tax Services. In addition, he has taught International Tax as an adjunct Professor of Law in the LL.M. program at the Georgetown University Law Center since 2005. Professor Murray started his career as a tax lawyer at Chamberlain, Hrdlicka in Houston, Texas, where he was a partner, before he left to serve as Special Counsel (Legislation) to the Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service from 1992 to 1996. Professor Murray also has served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as General Counsel and Director of Tax Affairs of the Tax Executives Institute, and as Vice President for Tax Policy at the National Foreign Trade Council.

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Shu-Yi Oei Leaves Tulane For Boston College

Shu-Yi Oei, Hoffman F. Fuller Professor of Tax Law at Tulane, has accepted a lateral offer from Boston College, beginning Fall 2017. Here are Shu-Yi's recent publications:

• Can Sharing be Taxed?, 93 Wash. U. L. Rev. ___ (2016) (with Diane Ring)
• Human Equity? Regulating the New Income Share Agreements, 68 Vand. L. Rev. 681 (2015) (with Diane Ring)
• The New “Human Equity” Transactions, 5 Cal. L. Rev. Circuit 266 (2014) (with Diane Ring)
• Taxing Bankrupts, 55 B.C. L. Rev. 375 (2014)
• The Uneasy Case against Tax Lien Subordination, 11 Pitt. Tax Rev. 241 (2014)
• Who Wins When Uncle Sam Loses? Social Insurance and the Forgiveness of Tax Debts, 46 UC Davis L. Rev. 421 (2012)

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Michael Simkovic Leaves Seton Hall For USC

Michael Simkovic (Seton Hall) has accepted a lateral offer with tenure from USC. His recent articles include:

• Taxes, Subsidies, and Knowledge: A Reply to Professor Oei, 83 U. Chi. L. Rev. Online 1 (2016)
• The Knowledge Tax, 82 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1981 (2015)
• Populist Outrage, Reckless Empirics: A Review of Failing Law Schools, 108 NW. U. L. Rev. Online 176 (2014)
• The Economic Value of a Law Degree, 43 J. Legal Stud. 249 (2014)

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David Gamage Leaves UC-Berkeley For Indiana

David Gamage (UC-Berkeley) has accepted a lateral offer to join the Indiana law faculty in the fall (announcement). After graduating from Stanford in 2000 (B.A. Economics, M.A. Economic and Organizational Sociology), he worked for Bain Capital before earning his J.D. in 2005 from Yale. He was an Emerging Scholars Program Fellow at Texas in 2005-07 and joined the UC-Berkeley law faculty in 2007. He served as Special Counsel and Senior Stanley S. Surrey Fellow in the Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy in 2010-12. His publications include:

• Tax Cannibalization and Fiscal Federalism in the United States, 111 Nw. U. L. Rev. ___ (2017)
• The Case for Taxing (All of) Labor Income, Consumption, Capital Income, and Wealth, 68 Tax L. Rev. 355 (2015)
• Foreword—King v. Burwell Symposium: Comments on the Commentaries (and on Some Elephants in the Room), 2015 Pepp. L. Rev. 1 (2015)
• Preventing Government Shutdowns: Designing Default Rules for Budgets, 86 U. Colo. L. Rev. 181 (2015)

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Reuven Avi-Yonah Leaves Michigan For UC-Irvine

Press Release, University of California, Irvine School of Law Welcomes New Faculty, Largest First-Year Class in School's History and New LL.M. Program:

University of California, Irvine School of Law has hired four new full-time faculty members, bringing the total number of full-time professors to 48. ... All of these new faculty members are leading scholars and skilled practitioners in their respective areas of expertise. ...

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Professor Avi-Yonah specializes in corporate and international taxation, international law and legal history. His scholarship focuses on defining the underlying principles of an international tax regime and what consequences follow from these principles for the allocation of tax revenues among countries and for the taxation of multinational enterprises. He will join UCI Law in fall 2017 from University of Michigan Law School, where he has been the Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law and Director of the International Tax LL.M. program.

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Marty McMahon Named Director Of Florida Graduate Tax Program; Florida To Hire Three New Tax Faculty

University of Florida Levin College of Law Names Martin J. McMahon as Director of the Graduate Tax Program:

The University of Florida Levin College of Law has announced that Martin J. McMahon, the James J. Freeland Eminent Scholar in Taxation has been appointed to succeed Michael K. Friel as Director of the Graduate Tax Program. Professor Friel stepped down as Director of the Director of the Graduate Tax Program when he retired at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year after serving as the Director for more than 25 years. Emeritus Professor Friel will continue to teach in the Graduate Tax Program as an adjunct professor, as have Lawrence Lokken, Emeritus Hugh Culverhouse Eminent Scholar in Taxation and Emeritus Professors David Hudson and Patricia Dilley. Professor McMahon has been a member of the faculty of the UF Graduate Tax Program since 1997.

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Vic Fleischer—'The Closest Thing The Tax World Has To A Rock Star'—Goes To Washington

Following up on Friday's post, Vic Fleischer Named Co-Chief Tax Counsel For Democrats On Senate Finance Committee:  Bloomberg, Mr. Higher-Tax-on-Carried-Interest Goes to Washington, by Lynnley Browning:

He made his name in academia by criticizing a lucrative tax break for private-equity managers. Now Victor Fleischer is taking his anti-loophole thinking to Washington.

Fleischer will serve as a formal adviser to Democrats on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, a perch from which he says he’ll seek ways to close the so-called “carried interest” loophole -- and to curb other tax benefits.

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Sarah Lawsky Leaves UC-Irvine For Northwestern

Sarah B. Lawsky, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at UC-Irvine, has accepted a lateral offer to join Northwestern's faculty in the fall.  After working as a tax associate in New York City for five years, Sarah joined the George Washington faculty in 2007.  She moved to UC-Irvine in 2010 (and will receive her Ph.D. in philosophy there in 2017).  She visited Northwestern in Fall 2015 (and Virginia in 2009-10).  Her recent publications include:

• Modeling Uncertainty in Tax Law, 65 Stanford L. Rev. 241 (2013)
• The Problem of Line Drawing, 98 Iowa L. Rev. Bulletin 42 (2013)
• How Tax Models Work, 54 B.C. L. Rev. 1657 (2012)
• On the Edge: Declining Marginal Utility and Tax Policy, 95 Minn. L. Rev. 904 (2011)
• The Sum of Its Parts: Reforming Charitable Donations of Partial Interests, 64 Tax L. Rev. 37 (2010)
• Probably? Understanding Tax Law’s Uncertainty, 157 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1017 (2009) (more here)

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Ari David Glogower, NYU VAP, To Join Ohio State Tax Faculty

Ari David Glogower, Acting Assistant Professor of Tax Law at NYU, will join the Ohio State tenure-track tax faculty in August 2016:

Before joining the NYU School of Law faculty, Ari Glogower worked as a tax associate in the New York office of Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP, where he advised on mergers, acquisitions, separations, private equity and joint ventures. Ari also has expertise with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and related taxpayer compliance programs.

Ari received an LL.M. in taxation from NYU School of Law, a J.D. (magna cum laude) from NYU School of Law, and a B.A. (with honors) from Yale University. During law school, Ari was an editor for the Tax Law Review and the NYU Environmental Law Journal. Before law school, Ari taught mathematics in Jackson, Mississippi and founded a tutoring business.

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Schizer Named President Of America’s Voices In Israel

The Jewish Press, Columbia Law School's Former Dean to Head America's Voices in Israel:

America’s Voices in Israel (AVI), founded by Malcolm Hoenlein, has appointed David Schizer, the Dean Emeritus of Columbia Law School, as its new President. AVI organizes week-long missions to the Jewish State, which have been attended by prominent headline-makers, including leading journalists, prime-time media and Hollywood TV stars, as well as religious and political leaders in the Latino and African- American communities. Participants have described these missions as “fascinating” and even “life-changing,” while the Israeli government has also recognized the value of these trips. During the course of AVI’s week-long treks, visitors meet with a wide variety of politicians and academics. They offer a broad range of perspectives, since these missions are non-partisan.

“America’s Voices in Israel plays a vital role in educating prominent Americans about Israel,” Professor Schizer said. “Once they visit this remarkable country, they develop a more informed and sophisticated understanding of the extraordinary promise, as well as the complex challenges, that define life in Israel today. AVI provides new visitors with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am honored to be involved.”

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Ted Afield Leaves Ave Maria To Direct Georgia State's Tax Clinic

W. Edward Afield, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law, has accepted a new position beginning January 2016 as Director of the Philip C. Cook Low Income Taxpayer Clinic and Associate Clinical Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law. Ted's recent scholarship includes:

• A Market for Tax Compliance, 62 Clev. St. L. Rev. 315 (2014)
• Winning the Crowd: Harnessing Taxpayer Choices to Improve Educational Quality, 63 Cath U. L. Rev. 297 (2014)
• Getting Faith Out of the Gutters: Resolving the Debate Over Political Campaign Participation by Religious Organizations Through Fiscal Subsidiarity, 12 Nev. L.J. 83 (2011)

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Former Seton Hall Tax Prof And Dean Named Rutgers AD

Patrick E. Hobbs, Tax Professor and Former Seton Hall Law School Dean (and former Interim Athletic Director at Seton Hall), has been named Athletic Director at Rutgers.  From his faculty page:

He joined the Seton Hall Law faculty in 1990 with a specialty in tax law; he became Associate Dean for Finance in 1995 and was named Dean in 1999. In his 16 years as Dean, Professor Hobbs shepherded the Law School through a series of groundbreaking initiatives that raised Seton Hall Law to unprecedented prominence.

Prior to joining Seton Hall Law, Professor Hobbs he was a tax attorney with the law firm of Shanley & Fisher in Roseland, New Jersey. He received his B.A. in accounting, magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University, his J.D. from the University of North Carolina and his LL.M. (in taxation) from New York University.

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Manoj Viswanathan Joins UC-Hastings Tax Faculty

Press Release:

Viswanathan is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor and will co-teach UC Hastings' Business Tax Practicum for Social Enterprises, scheduled to start next semester. His research focuses on tax policy, economic development, and the regulation of tax-exempt organizations.

Prior to his arrival at UC Hastings, Viswanathan was a clinical teaching fellow and lecturer at Yale Law School, where he co-taught the Community and Economic Development clinic, and worked as a tax associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP's New York City office.

He received his LLM and J.D. from New York University School of Law, and undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ...

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Ed Liva Appointed Director Of Villanova Graduate Tax Program

Ed Liva Appointed Director of the Villanova University Graduate Tax Program:

Villanova University announced the appointment of Ed Liva as Director of its Graduate Tax Program, effective October 1, 2015. Liva joins the program full-time following his retirement from KPMG, where he most recently served as national Real Estate Industry Tax leader, as well as the leader of the Federal Tax Passthrough Services Group and New York Real Estate Tax Practice. He has served as an adjunct professor in Villanova’s Graduate Tax program for more than 20 years, teaching federal taxation of real estate transactions. ...

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Darryll Jones Named Finalist For Florida A&M Deanship

Following up on my previous post:  Orlando Sentinel, Three Finalists Chosen for Dean at FAMU Law School:

The search for the next Florida A&M University Law School dean has been narrowed down to three finalists, according to the school. They are:

• Angela Felecia Epps, a law professor at University of Arkansas at Little Rock's law school.
• Darryll Jones, the interim dean at the FAMU Law School since July 1. Before that, he was a [tax] law professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the school.
• Willajeanne McLean, the University of Connecticut School of Law's interim dean from 2012-13.

Gregg Polsky Leaves North Carolina For Georgia

Georgia press release:

Georgia Law is pleased to announce that Gregg D. Polsky has agreed to join the law school's faculty in the fall of 2016. Polsky, currently the Willie Person Magnum Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, has also served on the law faculties of the University of Minnesota and Florida State University, and visited at Duke University. Author of a casebook, Polsky has written articles appearing in the Duke Law Journal, the Iowa Law Review and the Virginia Law Review, among others.

A preeminent tax law scholar, he has served as Professor in Residence in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, and he regularly serves as an expert witness on tax matters. His teaching expertise includes tax, private equity and an innovative course on business basics for lawyers. 

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Tax Prof Moves, 2015-16

VAP Hires

• Hayes Holderness (McDermott, Will & Emery, New York) to Illinois
• Clint Wallace (Caplin & Drysdale, New York) to NYU

Entry Level Hires

• Monica Gianni (VAP, Florida) to California State Northridge
• Jacob Goldin (Law Clerk, Judge Posner) to Stanford
• Daniel Hemel (Law Clerk, Justice Kagan) to Chicago
• Goldburn Maynard (VAP, Florida State) to Louisville
• Karen Powell (Montana Tax Appeal Board) to Ohio Northern
• Sloan Speck (VAP, NYU) to Colorado
• Genevieve Tokic (McDermott Will & Emery, Chicago) to Northern Illinois

Lateral Moves

• Tom Brennan (Northwestern) to Harvard
• Lilian Faulhaber (Boston University) to Georgetown
• Brian Galle (Boston College) to Georgetown
• Joni Larson (Western Michigan-Cooley) to Indiana Tech
• Omri Marian (Florida) to UC-Irvine
• Ajay Mehrotra (Indiana-Bloomington) to American Bar Foundation (Director) and Northwestern

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Caron Named Associate Dean For Research And Faculty Development At Pepperdine

Press Release, Paul L. Caron Named Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development:

Paul L. Caron, Professor of Law at Pepperdine School of Law, has been named Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, effective August 1, 2015.

Caron joined the Pepperdine tenured faculty in 2013 after serving as the D & L Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor in the spring semesters in 2010 2013. He previously was Associate Dean of Faculty and Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

In announcing the appointment, Deanell Reece Tacha, Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine, said, "I am delighted that Paul has agreed to serve in this important position. We are fortunate to have someone with Paul’s experience and perspective on the changing role of law faculty during these challenging times in legal education."

Caron said, “I am honored to have the opportunity to serve in this role. Although I have only been here two years, I wholeheartedly embrace Pepperdine’s unique mission in legal education and look forward to working with my wonderful colleagues as we all strive to be better scholars, teachers, and mentors.”

Caron has written over 50 books and scholarly articles, including most recently Federal Wealth Transfer Taxation (Foundation Press, 7th ed. 2015) (with Paul McDaniel & Jim Repetti); Tax Regulation, Transportation Innovation, and the Sharing Economy, 82 U. Chi. L. Rev. Dialogue 69 (2015) (with Jordan Barry); Thomas Piketty and Inequality: Legal Causes and Tax Solutions, 64 Emory L.J. Online 2073 (2015); and California Dreamin’: Tax Scholarship in a Time of Fiscal Crisis, 48 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 405 (2014) (with Joe Bankman).

He is the publisher and editor of Tax Prof Blog, the most popular tax blog on the Internet; and the owner and publisher of the Law Professor Blogs Network of more than 50 blogs in other areas of law edited by law professors around the country.

Caron has been named one of the 100 most influential people in tax and accounting for nine years running by Accounting Today. He was named the sixth most influential person in legal education in 2014 by The National Jurist.

Caron succeeds Robert J. Pushaw, who has served as Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development since 2013. Dean Tacha said, "I am enormously grateful for all of Bob’s work over the past two years in assisting faculty in their scholarly pursuits. Bob has done a wonderful job managing our support for faculty development, including travel, summer research grants, and faculty colloquia. I am delighted that Bob has agreed to continue mentoring our faculty on an informal basis."

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Jack Manhire Leaves IRS To Join Texas A&M Law School

Texas A&M Press Release, Jack Manhire Leaves IRS, Treasury to Join Texas A&M Law:

John T. (“Jack”) Manhire, Jr., former Chief of Legal Analysis for the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility and National Program Chair, Executive Education for the U.S. Treasury Executive Institute, has accepted a position as Director of Program Development at Texas A&M University School of Law.

Some of his prior positions include Director of Technical Analysis & Guidance (Policy and Procedure) for the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, and Attorney-Advisor (Tax) to the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate. Before entering full-time government service, he practiced law privately for over a decade, primarily in the field of federal tax controversies, and was Division Chief, Tax Law for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary National Office.

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Diana Leyden Leaves UConn To Be NYC Taxpayer Advocate

From the Hartford Courant:

Thumbs up to Diana Leyden, founder and director of the UConn School of Law tax clinic. Since 1999, she has run the free legal service that helps low-income earners with their tax problems. She is leaving for a newly created position, taxpayer advocate for the New York City Finance Department. In Connecticut, she has trained and supervised many law students (as well as volunteer attorneys) to represent clients in audits and at tax court, and she has helped set up free tax-preparation sites around Hartford so families can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit. She even wrote the book on the topic: Advocating for Low Income Taxpayers: A Clinical Studies Casebook.

Genevieve Tokic (McDermott Will & Emery) Joins Northern Illinois Law School Faculty

Northern Illinois College of Law Press Release:

Genevieve Tokic, an associate from the tax group at McDermott Will & Emery, will teach courses in the areas of tax and international business, where her expertise in international tax planning and cross-border business transactions will well-complement the school's global reach and credentials. Previously, Professor Tokic served as an associate in the U.S. Corporate Finance Group of Norton Rose Fulbright in London, where she focused her practice on securities regulation and mergers and acquisitions. She has taught at the Texas Tech University School of Law and served as a visiting professor at NIU Law in 2011. She holds a masters of law and undergraduate degrees from Northwestern University and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

William Byrnes Leaves Thomas Jefferson For Texas A&M

William H. Byrnes, IV, Associate Dean for Graduate and Distance Education Programs in International Tax and Financial Services at Thomas Jefferson Law School (and co-editor of our International Financial Law Prof Blog), has accepted a position as Executive Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Special Projects at Texas A&M Law School:

William Byrnes is a leading tax and financial crimes expert who has published numerous books and articles. Professor Byrnes pioneered online legal education twenty years ago and created the first online LL.M. offered by an ABA accredited law school. He is formerly an Associate Dean at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on International Legal Exchange. As a tax attorney, he was a Senior Manager, then Associate Director of international tax for Coopers and Lybrand. He brings a unique set of qualifications, having successfully run distance education programs and built an international network that supports them.

Law School Entry-Level Faculty Hiring Down Only 4%

Sarah Lawsky (UC-Irvine), Spring Self-Reported Entry Level Hiring Report 2015:

For a list of the entry level tax hires, see here.

Tax Prof Moves, 2015-16

VAP Hires

• Hayes Holderness (McDermott, Will & Emery, New York) to Illinois
• Clint Wallace (Caplin & Drysdale, New York) to NYU

Entry Level Hires

• Monica Gianni (VAP, Florida) to California State Northridge
• Jacob Goldin (Law Clerk, Judge Posner) to Stanford
• Daniel Hemel (Law Clerk, Justice Kagan) to Chicago
• Goldburn Maynard (VAP, Florida State) to Louisville
• Karen Powell (Montana Tax Appeal Board) to Ohio Northern
• Sloan Speck (VAP, NYU) to Colorado
• Genevieve Tokic (McDermott Will & Emery, Chicago) to Northern Illinois Law

Lateral Moves

• Tom Brennan (Northwestern) to Harvard
• Lilian Faulhaber (Boston University) to Georgetown
• Brian Galle (Boston College) to Georgetown
• Omri Marian (Florida) to UC-Irvine
• Ajay Mehrotra (Indiana-Bloomington) to American Bar Foundation (Director) and Northwestern

Promotions, Tenures, Chairs, and Professorships

• Steve Arsenault (Charlotte) to Professor of Law With Tenure
• Craig Boise (Dean, Cleveland-Marshall) to Baker & Hostetler Chair
• David Herzig (Valparaiso) to Professor of Law With Tenure
• Stephanie Hoffer (Ohio State) to Professor of Law With Tenure
• Benjamin Leff (American) to Professor of Law With Tenure
• John Plecnik (Cleveland-Marshall) to Associate Professor With Tenure
• Susannah Tahk (Wisconsin) to Associate Professor With Tenure
• Robert Wooten (Northwestern) to Professor of Practice

Administrative Appointments

• William Byrnes (Associate Dean, Thomas Jefferson) to Associate Dean, Texas A&M
• Paul Caron (Pepperdine) to Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development
• Brant Hellwig (Washington & Lee) to Dean
• Jack Manhire (IRS) to Director of Program Development, Texas A&Mt

Visits

• Jennifer Bird-Pollan (Kentucky) to Indiana-Bloomington (Fall 2015)
• Danshera Cords (Albany) to Pittsburgh (2015-16)
• Cliff Fleming (BYU) to Vienna University (Oct. 2015), Central European University (May 2016)
• Keith Fogg (Villanova) to Harvard (2015-16)
• David Gamage (UC-Berkeley) to Dule (Fall 2015), Georgetown (Spring 2016)
• Myron Grauer (Capital) to Ohio State (Fall 2015)
• Edward Kleinbard (USC) to Stanford (Fall 2015)
• Sarah Lawsky (UC-Irvine) to Northwestern (Fall 2015)
• Leandra Lederman (Indiana-Bloomington) to Chicago (Fall 2015)
• Charlene Luke (Florida) to Boston College (Spring 2016)
• Gail Richmond (Nova) to Stetson (Fall 2015)
• Tracey Roberts to UC-Hastings (2015-16)
• David Schizer (Columbia) to Harvard (Fall 2015), Yale (2016)

Retirements

• Martin Begleiter (Drake)
• Leon Gabinet (Case Western)
• Myron Grauer (Capital)
• Dan Halperin (Harvard)

For prior years' Tax Prof Moves, see:

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Ajay Mehrotra Named Director of American Bar Foundation

American Bar Foundation Names New Director:

The American Bar Foundation has announced that Ajay K. Mehrotra, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Law at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, has been appointed Director of the American Bar Foundation, effective September 1, 2015. He is also appointed a full Research Professor at the ABF and will become a professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law. Mehrotra succeeds Robert L. Nelson, Director and MacCrate Chair in the Legal Profession and Professor of Sociology and Law at Northwestern University, who will return to full-time research and teaching.

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Tom Brennan Leaves Northwestern For Harvard

Thomas Brennan (Northwestern) has accepted a tenured lateral offer from Harvard, effective July 2015:

Also trained as a mathematician, Brennan focuses his research on the use of finance and economics to analyze and inform tax policy, as well as the use of empirical methods to investigate the effects of tax laws and the strategic behavior of taxpayers. In addition, he analyzes how finance and economics can inform other areas of the law, with a recent focus on regulations designed to limit risk, and he applies mathematical methods to gain insight into the theory of finance.

“Tom is a triple-threat: his detailed knowledge of contemporary finance and tax, his talent for integrating doctrinal and empirical studies, and his teaching each reveal meticulous and rigorous work and imagination,” said Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School. “His rigorous, empirical study of a wide range of subjects – from tax law to judicial decisions – yields important analyses of policy effectiveness and powerful lessons for law students, practitioners, policymakers, and scholars. Plus his generosity and kindness pervade his teaching and his collegiality. We are thrilled to welcome this wonderful alum to our faculty.”

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