In February, the Temple Tax & Bankruptcy Law Society presented a “Careers in Tax Panel.” Four Temple Law graduates who currently work in the field of tax law came to the law school to share their experiences as practicing tax attorneys and to offer advice on students looking to do the same.
The panelists included: Andreas N. Andrews, associate at Morgan Lewis; Chloe Mullen-Wilson, associate at Timoney Knox; Georgios Tsoflias, associate at Reed Smith; and Rachel Sellers, senior associate at KPMG. All four panelists discussed their professional paths, which ultimately arrived at a career in tax.
Andreas filled his course schedule with many tax classes during his tenure at Temple Law. After graduating with his J.D., he obtained an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. Afterwards, he clerked for Judge Kathleen Kerrigan of the U.S. Tax Court in Washington, D.C., which Andreas noted was an invaluable opportunity. From there, Andreas joined an international law firm and the M&A group of PwC’s Washington National Tax Practice. After moving back to Philadelphia, Andreas eventually joined Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP. At Morgan Lewis, his day-to-day as an M&A tax attorney consists largely of reviewing various deal documents, and writing tax memoranda and opinions. Andreas emphasized that being a tax attorney is all about nuance, with every day raising another issue, and becoming a successful tax lawyer involves building a skillset to tackle each of those nuances as they arise.
Chloe serves the tax field more actively on the litigation side. At Timoney Knox, she works as an attorney in the Wills, Trusts and Estates Department, focusing on Orphan’s Court litigation, probate administration, and estate planning, which involves evaluating the tax implications upon inheritance or the unfortunate passing of her clients. Prior to joining Timoney Knox, Chloe worked at a boutique trusts and estates firm. During law school, Chloe did two non-tax related clerkships, and interned at the City of Philadelphia Tax Department; all of these experiences influenced her interest in probate matters, and in the litigation aspect of legal practice.
George works for Reed Smith’s State Tax Group in Philadelphia and New York, focusing his practice on tax controversy and unclaimed property. During law school, George spent a summer working for PwC’s Washington National Tax Practice. From this experience, and his pursuit of a Certificate in Trial Advocacy and Litigation at Temple, he recognized that he was more interested in tax litigation rather than the transactional tax space. Prior to arriving at Reed Smith, George clerked for Judge Cary Douglas Pugh of the U.S. Tax Court.
Rachel did not enter law school thinking she would practice tax law, but found her calling after testing the waters of the field. Prior to joining KPMG, she clerked for Judge Mitchell Goldberg, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. At KPMG, Rachel works in the Mergers & Acquisitions Tax Group. She splits her work between a variety of areas, including: (i) due diligence work, which involves finding tax exposures and protecting clients from those exposures; (ii) general consulting, which includes structuring advice, bankruptcy and distressed company assistance, opinion writing, and legal entity rationalization work; and (iii) project work, such as the calculation of earnings and profits and basis, section 382 analysis, and other tax modelling. Her group is comprised of a mix of attorneys and Certified Public Accountants.
The panelists discussed the type of opportunities that law students interested in tax law should seek for summer internships. They all echoed the same sentiment that students should focus on first building breadth before concerning themselves with drilling down and achieving depth in their knowledge base. In that vein, students should look for opportunities that provide varied and diverse exposures to different areas, both within tax law and in other areas of the law.
The group also emphasized the value of Tax Court clerkships. Many of the panelists advised seeking two-year clerkship opportunities since it can take some time to figure things out during the clerkship. As opposed to working at a law firm with tight turnarounds for every assignment, a clerkship operates at a slower pace, where clerks can take nearly as much time as is needed to arrive at a correct answer. Clerks’ work products generally consists of writing opinions and memoranda for the judge for which they are working. The panel concluded that the primary benefit of a Tax Court clerkship is exposure to the litigation side of tax, whereas most law school courses deal primarily with the transactional side of the field.
Thank you to the panelists for their engagement in providing a rich discussion. Also, thank you to Temple’s Tax & Bankruptcy Law Society for sponsoring the event.
Josh Meyerson (LAW ’24) is a Production Editor for the Temple 10-Q.