Current Topics in Tax Seminar

3 units

Drop deadline: 5:00 p.m. on the day after the first class meeting. This seminar will provide students the opportunity to read contemporary scholarship addressing various areas of tax law and to discuss it with the authors/scholars who are producing that scholarship. During approximately half of the class sessions, guest speakers will present works-in-progress to the class and students will have the opportunity to engage critically with such scholarship and participate in a question-and-answer session with the author. For class sessions preceding a guest speaker, students and the instructor will read the works-in-progress (as well as at times background materials) and meet to discuss. Students will be required to write and submit a “reaction paper” to each speakers’ manuscripts, which will be expected to provide original, critical analysis the works-in-progress and not mere summaries of (or opinions about) the work. The instructor will provide students with feedback on their reaction papers before each presentation. Final grades will be based on the instructor’s assessment of the student’s reaction papers plus attendance and participation in the question-and-answer sessions. For this reason, failure to participate on a regular basis may result in a significant reduction in the final grade. This seminar is not graded anonymously because the professor works with students on their writing projects throughout the semester. 3 units.