International Tax Program for Foreign-Educated Students
Letter from the Director of the International Tax Program
The globalization of trade and investment flows is having a profound effect on the practices and policies of international taxation. To meet the needs of lawyers in an interrelated world, law schools must move beyond traditional programs in international taxation which deal only with the international tax regime of their country. Although these regimes remain important, tax advisors, tax professors, and government tax officials increasingly must operate in a world in which knowledge of unilateral rules is inadequate.
The New York University School of Law has committed itself to legal education for a global economy. An important component of that commitment is the International Tax Program (ITP). Working side by side with colleagues from the United States and other countries, students in the program will study international taxation in a global context. The ITP offers the largest and most varied selection of international tax courses available at any U.S. law school, including basic and advanced courses in U.S. international taxation, tax treaties, international tax policy, tax planning for cross-broader transactions, comparative international tax policy, and advanced corporate international tax problems. Students return to their respective countries equipped intellectually for the practice of law in a rapidly changing economic order.
In addition to their coursework, ITP students are encouraged to participate in various enrichment programs, including the annual Tillinghast Lecture and the International Tax Program Lunch Lecture Series, a group of informal seminars offered by a variety of international tax experts. Speakers for the Lunch Lecture Series in recent years have included tax professors from U.S. and foreign law schools, a judge on the Swiss Federal Court of Appeals for Federal Tax Matters, an official from the Argentine Ministry of Economy, the managing partner of a major European law firm, a transfer pricing economist, a representative from the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission, and officials and former officials from the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
ITP students receive training in the most advanced tax research technologies, including tax research on the Internet. Our talented library staff is fully equipped to handle the research needs of the ITP students and our library contains an extensive collection in international law and taxation, U.S. taxation, and securities and finance law. Interested students have the opportunity to write a substantial paper of publishable quality under my supervision or that of another faculty member. In recent years, our students have had considerable success in publishing their papers.
ITP is limited to a maximum of 25-30 students each year, many of whom begin their studies at NYU after gaining experience in government or private practice. The small size of the ITP allows the international tax faculty to devote individualized attention to each student. At the same time, ITP students take some of their classes with students in the larger Graduate Tax Program, allowing ITP students to make contacts with both fellow ITP students and students in the Graduate Tax Program. In this way, ITP students form enduring personal and professional relationships with both U.S. and non-U.S. lawyers. Finally, I should add that the ITP benefits enormously from our location in New York City, which gives us unparalleled access to top notch practitioners in the international tax area.
H. David Rosenbloom
Director, International Tax Program