Law Commons^™

A Study Of Tax Lawyers Discussing Duties, Michael Hatfield, Michelle Kwon

Articles

This Article reports the first qualitative empirical study of U.S. tax lawyers. We interviewed women lawyers who were tax planning specialists. Though this is the first such study of U.S. tax lawyers, this methodology has been used often to study the professional ethics of other tax practitioners around the world. We had three research questions that we sought to answer through dynamic conversations on topics such as the distinctions between good and bad tax plans and good and bad tax lawyers and also the joys and stresses of tax practice. Our first research question was as to the make-up of …

Janus As A Client: Ethical Obligations When Your Client Plays Two Roles In One Fiduciary Estate, Karen E. Boxx, Philip N. Jones

ACTEC Law Journal

Is it possible for an attorney to have a conflict of interest when the attorney represents a trustee who is also a beneficiary of the trust? Is that situation similar to having two clients? What if the trustee is not only a beneficiary, but also a claimant against the trust? Since the trustee has three roles to play, is that situation similar to an attorney having three clients? The issue presented by these potential conflicts was one of the most vexing for the drafters of the Fifth Edition of the ACTEC Commentaries. The range of possible approaches goes from a …

Cobra Strikes Back: Anatomy Of A Tax Shelter, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Karen Burke

Paul Daugerdas gained notoriety for himself and his erstwhile firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist, as the designer of a tax shelter that uses contingent liabilities to generate artificial tax losses on a grand scale. The basic shelter transaction is surprisingly simple. In essence, it uses offsetting options to inflate the basis of property that is distributed by a partnership and then contributed to and sold by another partnership, resulting in a large tax loss without any corresponding economic loss. In principle, this type of shelter could be replicated indefinitely and generate unlimited tax losses. Mr. Daugerdas is by no means unique. …

Cobra Strikes Back: Anatomy Of A Tax Shelter, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

Paul Daugerdas gained notoriety for himself and his erstwhile firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist, as the designer of a tax shelter that uses contingent liabilities to generate artificial tax losses on a grand scale. The basic shelter transaction is surprisingly simple. In essence, it uses offsetting options to inflate the basis of property that is distributed by a partnership and then contributed to and sold by another partnership, resulting in a large tax loss without any corresponding economic loss. In principle, this type of shelter could be replicated indefinitely and generate unlimited tax losses. Mr. Daugerdas is by no means unique. …

Problems In Tax Ethics, Donald Tobin, Richard Lavoie, Richard Trogolo

Donald B. Tobin

The ethical issues and problems facing tax lawyers and tax professionals have become increasingly complex, and the general rules of professional responsibility do not always provide clear answers to the problems tax professionals face. This book examines the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility, statutory and regulatory rules governing tax practice and uses problems to explore the application of these rules in the tax context. As financial scandals continue and tax transactions become increasingly complex, people studying in this area of law need a text designed to deal with specific problems that arise often in the tax field.

Cobra Strikes Back: Anatomy Of A Tax Shelter, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

UF Law Faculty Publications

Paul Daugerdas gained notoriety for himself and his erstwhile firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist, as the designer of a tax shelter that uses contingent liabilities to generate artificial tax losses on a grand scale. The basic shelter transaction is surprisingly simple. In essence, it uses offsetting options to inflate the basis of property that is distributed by a partnership and then contributed to and sold by another partnership, resulting in a large tax loss without any corresponding economic loss. In principle, this type of shelter could be replicated indefinitely and generate unlimited tax losses. Mr. Daugerdas is by no means unique. …

Legislating Morality: The Duty To The Tax System Reconsidered, Watson

Scholarly Works

Four years ago, I presented a paper at a symposium on professionalism jointly sponsored by the University of Kansas Law School and the Kansas Bar Association. That paper espoused the view (contrary to what appears to be the popular view among tax scholars) that tax lawyers owe no special duty to the "tax system" other than to abide by the law and the applicable standards of professional conduct. During the four-year interim since my last visit to Kansas, however, we have witnessed the deleterious effect of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA '98) on IRS enforcement and …

Enron, Accounting, And Lawyers, Matthew Barrett

Journal Articles

Enron's collapse painfully illustrates the importance of financial accounting to all lawyers. Accounting is often referred to as "the language of business." Virtually every lawyer represents businesses, their owners, or clients with adverse legal interests, such as creditors and customers. Especially after Enron, lawyers cannot competently represent clients if they do not grasp certain basic principles about accounting. This article lists the top ten accounting lessons that any lawyer could learn from the scandal. These lessons include the components of a complete set of financial statements, the choices inherent in generally accepted accounting principles, the distortions possible in pro forma …

Enron, Accounting, And Lawyers, Matthew J. Barrett

Matthew J. Barrett

Living Trusts In The Unauthorized Practice Of Law: A Good Thing Gone Bad, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

An elderly man recently lost his wife and visits the lawyer's office for assistance in the administration of her estate. After the attorney expresses her condolences, she asks if his wife had a will. The client reaches into a brown shopping bag and retrieves a two-and-a-half inch black binder containing several trusts. The elderly gentleman and his deceased wife were told this would eliminate the expensive legal nightmare of probate. Unfortunately, like many others, this couple was victimized by a trust mill.

Tax Lawyers, Ethical Obligations, And The Duty To The System, Watson

Scholarly Works

Perhaps the most elusive area of law is that of legal ethics. While the term itself is easy to define,' the subject all but defies codification because ethics, or morals (the terms are interchangeable), cannot be encapsulated by or in law. This is because law, in general, contains its own standard of validity on which there is usually clear societal consensus. For example, murder, rape, and theft are morally repugnant universally. Hence, punishment for any of these offenses does not impinge upon religious or individual autonomy because there is no ethical freedom to choose whether or not to engage in …