Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic
Syllabus
Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic 7600/7601
Summer Semester 2009
Instructors: Professor Ronald W. Blasi, Mr. Willard N. Timm, Jr., Mrs. Bonnie Rich
Room 653
Mondays 3:40 PM to 5:20 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 10 hours each week (7 hours in the Clinic office during normal business hours and another 3 hours each week working on your cases either in the Clinic or elsewhere). The 10 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. During the first couple of weeks of the term, you will probably have to work more than 7 hours each week in order to quickly engage in your cases.
Structure and Grading: Your grade is based on the following criteria: ethical and professional behavior - which includes your interaction with your clients, Internal Revenue Service personnel, fellow students and Clinic staff, appropriate dress when necessary and adherence to Clinic administrative and other procedures including meeting all time sensitive deadlines; quality of service you render to your clients; accuracy and thoroughness of written documents and memoranda; proper Amicus and hard copy file maintenance, progress of cases; and success in resolving cases including timely closing cases. Class participation, involvement in the clinic, meeting the minimum required clinic hours, special projects or assigned writing projects are also taken into account in determining your grade.
Files will be evaluated on whether they contain appropriate correspondence, adherence to Clinic procedures, substantive accuracy of documents created, comprehensiveness and timeliness of submissions and correspondence.
Quality of services will be evaluated on the professionalism reflected in written work and attitude towards clients, frequency of communication with clients, accuracy of written work, case development/results achieved, and extent of research and investigation. There are several statutory deadlines with which you must comply. Failure to do so may result in a failing grade in this course.
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.
First Class – May 11 (12 – 5:15 P.M.)
- Introductions
- Background on Clinic
- When established, some history (size, number of cases, etc.)
- Community support, Advisory Committee
- Funding, IRS, Foundations, Graduates
- Graduates
- Mission:
- Carnegie Report
- Professional Judgment
- Ethic of Service
- Role in system of justice
- Dispute Resolution
- Success rate
- Relationship with IRS
- Staff and their functions, including GRA's
- Accessibility
- If I knew at the beginning what I know now...
- Access to Clinic and files
- Locker combination
- Need for security
- Use of offices
- Their offices
- Equipment
- Phones
- Standard for grading
- Quality of service
- Adherence to Clinic procedures
- Progress on cases
- Mid-term reviews
- Weekly meetings
- Difference with other law school courses:
- Confidentiality
- Collegiality
- No fixed assignments
- Ingenuity
- Electronic text book
- Web site
- Getting started in files
- POA'S (Powers of Attorney), e-Services
- Investigative Tools
- Model memo, forms, etc
- File system
- Amicus
- Keeping client informed and files documented
- Keeping time
- Interviewing: All of us
- Flow chart
- Intro to substantive areas
- Collection alternatives: OIC, CNC, IA's
- Petition, appeals
- Statute of limitations
- Audit Reconsideration
- Exemptions, Filing Status, Credits
Second Regular Class
- Statute of limitations
Third Regular Class
- Collection Alternatives: OIC, CNC, IA
Fourth Regular Class
- Petition and Appeals
Fifth Regular Class
- Innocent Spouse
Sixth Regular Class
- Managing Professional Relationships
Seventh Regular Class
- Transitioning cases
