Tax Clinic
| L02.2563/2564 Professor Mark Allison Open to 3L and 2L students Maximum of 8-10 students |
Spring semester 5 credits* Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation. |
Course Description
Beginning in the spring semester 2010, the clinical program will offer a new Tax Clinic. The clinic will operate as a free clinic for low-income taxpayers in the New York metropolitan area to seek assistance from law students in cases docketed for trial in the U.S. Tax Court and administrative proceedings before the IRS (such as IRS Appeals or Collection Due Process (CDP) hearings).
The seminar component of the clinic, which will meet once a week for two hours, will focus on procedural aspects of tax litigation and controversy, as well as writing skills, client relationships, professional responsibility, and other relevant topics. It is projected that there will be one, perhaps two, class sessions in which students will have an opportunity to talk with either or both a Tax Court judge and IRS counsel to discuss issues relating to the students’ fieldwork.
The fieldwork component of the program will involve students being assigned “S” cases (small tax cases) that are docketed for trial in the U.S. Tax Court as well as other matters before the IRS in various administrative proceedings (such as Appeals or CDP hearings). It is expected that the students will devote at least 10 to 15 hours per week to their cases. The Tax Court cases will be generated by means of informational referrals included by the court when docket notices are sent to pro se taxpayers following the filing of petitions contesting notices of deficiencies. A similar process will be organized with the IRS with respect to administrative proceedings.
Qualifications for Applicants
Students in the clinic are expected to have previously taken Federal Income Taxation.
Application Procedure
Students should submit an application, résumé and transcript on-line via CAMS. If you have questions about the clinic, please contact Professor Mark Allison. If you have questions regarding the application procedure, please contact Susan Hodges.
* 5 credits includes 3 clinical credits and 2 academic seminar credits.