Any advice for students interested in tax law?

[Opal]

I'm following in RUIQ's footsteps and asking about the area I am currently looking to learn more about: taxation. I'm coming from a business undergrad and my tax classes were the ones which interested me most. I've also worked in the field for a few years now, and wanted to gain a deeper understanding.

I've asked a few (read: 2) alumni I know about their experience with it in law school and responses have varied, so I was hoping I could also hear from those who are currently practicing about their own mileage. I'll be borrowing some of RUIQ's questions here as well, since they were very good.

• What courses did you take in law school that you feel are important?
  • Do you feel like your studies in law school sufficiently prepared you for the work you do?
• Any extra-curriculars or activities you would recommend? 
• What kind of summer student roles are available and what is the timeline like for articling? 
• How competitive is the process, compared to other paths?
  • What options are there aside from biglaw? Does anyone have experience working in other areas such as legislation?
  • Are these routes that you would recommend taking out of law school, or are they typically gated based on years of experience?
• What's a day in the life like, how is work-life balance? 
• And anything unexpected or you wish you knew when starting law school? 

Thank you in advance!

Edited June 10, 2021 by Opal
noticed a typo

[Chambertin]

I'll try to come back to this, but for tax, especially if you're doing planning, you need a good working knowledge of trusts/estates, and a really good understanding of corporate/business law. So take those plus obviously all the tax courses your school has.

I think for tax, there is little opportunity to summer in it. If you're at a full service and you express an interest maybe you'll get to work on a file, maybe a few if you have an accounting background. Same for articling, you could maybe do a tax rotation at a national that has a large tax practice, and I think some of the captive accounting firms have hired articling students recently. Ultimately, there isn't the same grunt work in tax there is in corporate, it's mostly thinking work, so there's just not a lot of due diligence/doc review you can get a summer student to do in tax. 

[Skweemish]

Late to the party on this one, but I can take a stab at it.

To start, I was called to the bar in 2019, so I am still very fresh in my career. I articled at a small litigation boutique in Toronto, and then segued into a role at an accounting firm doing indirect tax (read: gst/hst, qst, rst, pst, excise taxes, import shenanigans, the carbon tax stuff..). 

1. Important courses

Obviously, tax courses are very important. While the actual utility of any individual topic might vary, being able to think about tax intelligibly is incredibly important. I've noticed that having a strong understanding of the why helps reveal the how. If you know how something should work, and what parts of the various taxation statutes are designed to get you there, it is easier to find your answer. For example, I know as a rule that only the consumer is supposed to pay tax at the end of a transaction, everyone else gets to recover it. So if I see a situation where that doesn't appear to be happening, my spidey sense starts tingling and I can begin to unpack it. 

I would say that my studies certainly set me on the right path. I think it is common wisdom to say that law school doesn't teach you how to be a lawyer, it teaches you how to think like one. I agree with this, in particular as it relates to tax.

2. Extra-curriculars

Honestly, I played a lot of D&D in law school so I guess my advice is learn to love learning rules. I frequently joke that all I do is read rules all day every day, even in my "me" time (boardgames, D&D, tabletop wargames)... But really just do stuff you find fun. 

3. Summer Roles and Articling

To be honest I can only think of a small minority of firms that have a strict "we will take a summer student" policy. Thor is probably the most obvious. I didn't summer anywhere, so the validity of my advice should be called into question immediately.

I'm not sure what you mean regarding the timeline for articling, I'm afraid.

4. Competition et al

I think that tax is of a similar level of competitiveness to other fields. While you'll have fewer students trying to do tax than, say, straight litigation, there are also fewer shops who do it. There are quite a few small practices, in particular in Toronto, who take on students or juniors but yeah. The advice I was given is find a weird niche and dig in, so I chose the Excise Tax Act.

5. Work Life Whatevers

So I work at a large, national accounting firm. My hours are 8:30-5:00 most days, and 8:30-4:30 in the summer. I cannot promise that every large, national accounting firm works the same way, but because I'm a specialist among specialists I get a bit more leeway. I've had maybe 3 weekends in my 2 years here where I've had to come in and get something done, and that was purely voluntary. I mean when a cool new problem comes up, you make yourself available, ya know?

6. Misc.

I'm glad I made the relationships with my tax profs that I did. I can say with utmost certainty I would not be in the position I'm in if I hadn't. Just make the most out of your time, and make your interests well known. Tax folks have to look out for one another B)

Edited June 22, 2021 by Skweemish

[VeritasTruthEmet]

Everyone knows everyone else... you'll see.