Michael Kirsch (Notre Dame)
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A.B. 1985, Cornell
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J.D. 1988, Harvard
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LL.M. (Tax) 1989, NYU
I made my decision to become a tax lawyer in Dodger Stadium. At the time I was a summer associate with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton in Los Angeles, and was being treated to lunch at the stadium’s restaurant.
After lunch, the head of the firm’s tax department announced that the firm was going to send one member of the summer associate class to NYU to earn an LL.M. after law school graduation. I immediately decided that I wanted to be the one. Of course, my decision was based solely on my favorable impression of the tax work I had been exposed to at the firm that summer, as well as my enjoyment of my introductory tax class at school the previous year – it had nothing to do with the prospect of living for a year as a student in New York City on the law firm’s dime.
After NYU I returned to the firm, doing a wide range of tax work, but in the back of my mind I had a desire to address the issues in a more thorough way than I was able to do in practice. As a result, after four years I left private practice to begin an eight-year path to academia. First, I had the good fortune to clerk for Chief Judge Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr., of the Tax Court, who has served as a great mentor for me in the subsequent years. I then spent two years in the IRS Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), before moving to the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy, where I eventually served as Associate International Tax Counsel. In addition to working on legislative and regulatory projects at Treasury, I participated in numerous tax treaty negotiations. Although the structure and details of the two jobs are very different, I think working at Treasury rivals academia as a great experience for a tax attorney with an interest in tax policy. After my eight-year sojourn in Washington, D.C., I eventually reached my destination, joining the Notre Dame Law School faculty in 2001. The journey was worth it, as I greatly enjoy my (relatively) new role. Thus far, my research and publications have focused on the international area, particularly jurisdictional issues.
I also enjoy the teaching aspects of the job. I was fortunate to have been selected professor of the year by the 2004 graduating class (I think I benefited greatly from the low expectations factor – Fed Tax is a required class, and when 3Ls discover that the course is more than filling out forms and adding up numbers, they might project some of their relief onto the professor). In that capacity, during the graduation ceremony I delivered a commencement address, Substance Over Form: Advice on Life from the Internal Revenue Code, which I am certain had a life-altering effect on all the graduates who had to sit through it.
My wife and I have two wonderful children – a 7-year old son and a 4 (almost 5)-year old daughter. In my limited free time, I enjoy running and serving as the webmaster (and a board member) for two local nonprofit organizations.
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