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Clinic II class meetings
Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic 7600 Spring Semester 2012
Instructors: Professor Ronald W. Blasi, Mr. Willard N. Timm, Jr., Mrs. Bonnie Rich,
Room 659 Mondays 4:10 PM to 5:50 PM
Office Hours - Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Office Phone: 404-413-9230
website: www.gsulitc.org
e-mail: rblasi@gsu.edu
Books: The Clinic website is the electronic textbook for this course. The website contains guidance as to all aspects of your activities in he Clinic, including summaries of procedural and substantive tax law that you will be dealing with in the Clinic.
Attendance, Class Participation, and Makeup Classes: Attendance is required. Excessive absences may result in exclusion from the class and/or a failing grade, at the discretion of the instructor. Absence from more than four hours of class will be considered excessive. You are expected to work on your cases approximately 5 hours each week in the Clinic office during normal business hours and another 2 hours each week working on your cases either in the Clinic or elsewhere. The 7 hours you work on your cases are in addition to the time spent in class. During the exam period you are expected to engage in the steps needed to transition your cases. It is not expected that you would work 7 hours each week, but on average that is the number of hours you should work.
Structure and Grading: Your grade is based on the following criteria: (a) professionalism, which includes your interaction with your clients, Internal Revenue Service personnel, fellow students and staff, appropriate dress when necessary, and (b) adherence to Clinic administrative and other procedures including meeting all time sensitive deadlines; (c) quality of service you render to your clients as determined in part by the evaluations you will receive from your clients at the end of the semester; (d) accuracy and thoroughness of written documents and memoranda; (e) progress on your cases, especially the submission of at least one memoranda by mid-term and one or more memoranda by the end of the term to your supervisor and finalization of documents for submission to the I.R.S.; (f) success in resolving cases including timely closing of cases; (g) class participation; (h) meeting the minimum required Clinic hours; (i) proper maintenance of your electronic (Amicus) and paper files; (j) compliance with statutory deadlines. Missing a statutory deadline may result in a failing grade in this course.
If you have any questions concerning your progress during the term in meeting these criteria, you should discuss them with Professor Blasi.
Prerequisites: In order to handle the issues commonly encountered in the Clinic, students must have successfully completed Basic Federal Taxation (Law 7095).
Goals and Approach: The principal objective of the Tax Clinic is to provide you with an environment in which you learn to exercise professional judgment in a supervised setting. You will be confronted with ethical and professionalism issues. You also will develop the essential lawyering skills of interviewing clients, gathering and verifying facts, preparing documents that will be filed in court or with administrative agencies, etc...Considerable time will be spent on tasks that will improve your writing. Although students in the Clinic work on tax matters, the practice skills that are developed are applicable to all areas of the law.
Extra Material: There are several books designed to help understand I.R.S. procedure. Among them is Saltzman, IRS Practice and Procedure, published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont.
1/7/2012
1/9/2012
1/16/2012
1/23/2012
1/30/2012
2/6/2012
2/13/2012
4/16/2012
Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic - Spring Semester 2012
Instructors: Professor Ronald W. Blasi, Mr. Willard N. Timm, Jr., Mrs. Bonnie Rich,
Room 659 Mondays 4:10 PM to 5:50 PM
Office Hours - Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Office Phone: 404-413-9230
website: www.gsulitc.org
e-mail: rblasi @@gsu.edu
Books: The Clinic website is the electronic textbook for this course. The website contains guidance as to all aspects of your activities in the Clinic, including summaries of procedural and substantive tax law that you will be dealing with in the Clinic.
Attendance, Class Participation, and Makeup Classes: Attendance is required. Excessive absences may result in exclusion from the class and/or a failing grade, at the discretion of the instructor. Absence from more than four hours of class will be considered excessive. You are expected to work on your cases approximately 5 hours each week in the Clinic office during normal business hours and another 2 hours each week working on your cases either in the Clinic or elsewhere. The 7 hours you work on your cases are in addition to the time spent in class. During the exam period you are expected to engage in the steps needed to transition your cases. It is not essential that you would work exactly 7 hours each week, but you are expected to work approximately 100 hours in the clinic during the semester.
Structure and Grading: Your grade is based on the extent and quality of your mentoring of Clinic I students. In addition you grade will be based on the following criteria: (a) professionalism, which includes your interaction with your clients, Internal Revenue Service personnel, fellow students and staff, appropriate dress when necessary, and (b) adherence to Clinic administrative and other procedures including meeting all time sensitive deadlines; (c) quality of service you render to your clients as determined in part by the evaluations you will receive from your clients at the end of the semester; (d) accuracy and thoroughness of written documents and memoranda; (e) progress on your cases, especially the submission of at least one memoranda by mid-term and one or more memoranda by the end of the term to your supervisor and finalization of documents for submission to the I.R.S.; (f) success in resolving cases including timely closing of cases; (g) class participation; (h) meeting the minimum required Clinic hours; (i) proper maintenance of your electronic (Amicus) and paper files; (j) compliance with statutory deadlines. Missing a statutory deadline may result in a failing grade in this course; and (k) assistance in mentoring Clinic I students. Mentoring includes assisting the Clinic I student initially reviewing their cases to determine the status of each of them; assisting them in becoming familiar with the administrative and procedural matters in the Tax Clinic and providing a ready access for questions and issues on an on-going basis during regularly scheduled times in the Clinic.
Prerequisites: In order to handle the issues commonly encountered in the Clinic, students must have successfully completed Basic Federal Taxation (Law 7095) and Clinic I (Law 7600) and shown an interest in the Clinic as a Clinic I student.
Goals and Approach: The principal objectives of Tax Clinic II are those that are set forth in the Goals and Approach for Clinic I.
Extra Material: There are several books designed to help understand I.R.S. procedure. Among them is Saltzman, IRS Practice and Procedure, published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont.
Clinic II Classes: GRAs and select Clinic II students are expected to attend the Clinic I class on 1/9/2012 to be introduced to the Clinic I students and to assist with AMICUS training in the Clinic.
