Message from the Chair

Section members are government and private sector attorneys practicing in the area of federal taxation.  The Tax Section encourages participation by members from the IRS, Department of Justice, Congress, Treasury, the judiciary, and the private sector, and past chairs of the section have included both government and private sector attorneys.

Leadership of the Section is comprised of the Section Council, the chair, the chair-elect, the secretary, and the treasurer.  The Council includes the officers of the Section and up to 25 additional active members of the Tax Section.  In addition, the Section provides all of its members opportunities to become active and to take on leadership roles in Section events and activities.  Examples include responsibility for education/programming, young lawyers and women in law events, newsletter/publications and our conferences.

The mission of the Section is to promote the welfare, interests, education, and professional growth and development of members of the Section; to contribute to the formation of federal tax policy through Section events; to promote high standards of professional competence and ethical conduct in the practice of federal tax law; and to provide opportunities for interaction between tax practitioners in public service and the private sector.

Tax Section programs include regular events on tax issues of current interest, the annual Tax Law and Insurance Tax conferences, and the biennial Airlie House conference.  Each program is designed to educate members about recent developments and to promote communication between government and private sector attorneys on important current issues of tax policy and administration.

The Tax Section publishes a section newsletter that includes topical papers, interviews of leading tax practitioners and government officials, and Tax Section news. If you are interested in submitting a paper either to the newsletter or to The Federal Lawyer, please contact our editors, John Bates or Mary Prosser.  In addition, we sponsor a student writing competition. Submissions were due January 6, 2012. The winning paper and runner-up will be published in one of our issues of The Federal Lawyer.

Each year, the Tax Section presents the Liles Award to an individual practitioner whose career has exemplified the highest standards of tax practice and has made significant contributions to federal tax policy and the administration and functioning of our tax system.