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Excellent advice about entering clinical academia. For those interested in tax clinical work specifically, I have some additional thoughts (thread): https://twitter.com/SumJudgment/status/1276153401609519105
/2 One question people often have is whether an LLM is necessary. While an LLM is helpful, it is certainly not necessary--there are many great academic tax clinicians who do not have an LLM
/3 Clerking, on the other hand, is still very valuable. When clerking, those intersted in tax work should think about clerking for the U.S. Tax Court, although admittedly many (but not all) judges do want their clerks to have an LLM.
/4 In terms of practice experience, government experience can be incredibly valuable for those interested in doing tax clinical work, particularly IRS Chief Counsel's office or DOJ Tax. This is some of the best controversy training you can get.
/5 Private practice experience in tax controversy work can be more valuable for future academic tax clinicians than perhaps it is in other areas. The procedures you encounter representing paying clients are the same ones you will encounter representing low-income individuals.
/6 Outside of government and private practice, there are also very good opportunities in LITCs associated with legal service organizations, which is probably the closest approximation to doing academic clinical work in terms of the types of cases you will encounter.
/7 Also consider the Christine A. Brunswick Public Service Fellowship through the @ABATaxSection, which is a wonderful way to get LITC experience that could lead to an academic career.
/8 You should become familiar with the National Taxpayer Advocate's Annual Reports to Congress. These provide background on the most pressing issues surrounding tax access to justice and can be a fertile source for ideas for additional academic reseach and writing.
/9 Finally, regularly read @procedurallytax and the work of @Narfnampil , @book_leslie , @mld256 , @ProbascoRobert, @CSSpeidel Nancy Abramowitz, Nina Olson, and Keith Fogg. Also check out https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tax-justice-warriors/id1411592507. I'm also happy to chat with people interested doing this work.
