TaxProf Blog

Ann Murphy (Gonzaga)

• A.B. 1979, Western Illinois
• M.A. 1980, Western Illinois
• J.D. 1985, DePaul

I grew up a stone’s throw from O’Hare Field in Chicago. I lived in the Chicago area for 25 years and attended DePaul University School of Law. I am still a die-hard Cubs and Bears fan. You can’t take Chicago out of the girl, I guess. However, you can take the girl out of the freezing cold weather. I left Chicago when I was 25 and have not been back, except for the occasional visit and Cubs game.

I never dreamed I would teach at a law school.   

Before attending law school, I received a Master’s Degree in Economics, and as my last year of law school approached, I was looking for a career that would encompass both law and economics. I found a perfect fit at District Counsel for the IRS. Tax was one of my favorite classes in law school. I was hired by the IRS in 1985, the year I graduated from DePaul. I began in the San Francisco office and later transferred to the Portland, Oregon office. I worked for the IRS until the summer of 2000, when I began teaching.

I started at the San Francisco office during the heyday of tax shelters, and we had a trial calendar every month. Forget about discovery – it just didn’t happen. I was put on a very large project that began when an attorney named Harry Margolis assisted Nat “King” Cole and other celebrities with sheltering some of their income. The cases were called the “Bahamas Cases,” and I referred to myself as the Bahama Mama! We had hundreds of cases in the office, and they were very old because Harry had been indicted twice (and acquitted twice!). So I actually tried a case with a 1970 docket number, and the opinion came out in 1989 (Estate of Nathaniel Cole v. Commissioner). I loved trial work and tried a number of cases, my favorite being the Chronicle Publishing Company v. Commissioner – a case that surprisingly did not even have a trial (it was fully stipulated), but the opposing counsel was such a decent individual, I simply loved working on the case. Because the cost of living in San Francisco was rather high for an attorney on a government salary, I transferred to the Portland, Oregon office of District Counsel.

After I got accustomed to the rain (hell), I really grew to like Portland. The office of District Counsel was much smaller, and we had far fewer trial calendars. I began doing real discovery for the first time and enjoyed it quite a bit. Then came the monster of all cases, the Hoyt cattle cases. The cases had deficiencies totaling $500,000,000. Walter J. Hoyt had sold cattle and sheep partnership interests to hundreds of investors. Mr. Hoyt is now in federal prison and is due for release in 2018. I probably became more outspoken than I should have been about Mr. Hoyt being under indictment and the fact that the IRS was still asserting civil penalties against the investors. Looking back, I think I had become a bit disenchanted with my job. I began considering a life outside the IRS.

I was very fortunate that our own Jack Bogdanski went on sabbatical. I taught a night tax class at Lewis & Clark and thoroughly enjoyed it. I put my name into the AALS data base, and was fortunate when a professor from Gonzaga called and told me their long-term tax professor (Gary Randall) was retiring. I had taught Economics at Western Illinois University prior to attending law school, and I had taught a number of in-house IRS schools and loved teaching.

I have been at Gonzaga for five years, and it has been wonderful. The highlight has been receiving the “Professor of the Year” award four times. What a thrill. I must admit that I thought a professor’s life would be much more relaxed, but now I’m working as hard as I ever did as a trial attorney! So much for that assumption.

I teach Taxation of Individual Income, Wills and Trusts, Evidence, and every now and then teach a seminar on the Taxation of Tax-Exempt Entities (when enrollment is down and we can fit the class in amongst the big classes). It has been so enjoyable to see graduates go into the tax profession.

I am married to a great guy I met while in San Francisco, and we have two wild Irish boys, ages 11 and 9. To say I am busy would truly be an understatement. My husband Matt is a translator and speaks ten languages. He’s great to travel with, I’ll tell you!

I have done a bit of writing and a number of CLEs. The following is a list of some of my publications:

• Federal Tax Practice and Procedure (LexisNexis) (Contributing & Upkeep Co-Author)
• Spin Control and the High-Profile Client – Should the Attorney-Client Privilege Extend to Communications with Public Relations Consultants?, 55 Syr. L. Rev. 545 (2005)
• Campaign Signs and the Collection Plate – Never the Twain Shall Meet?, 1 Pitt. Tax Rev. 35 (2003)
• The Ten Deadly Sins: A Law With Unintended Consequences, 96 Tax Notes  (Aug. 5, 2002) (with David Higer)
• Cheshire: Putting the Brakes on Innocent Spouse Relief?, 89 Tax Notes (Nov. 6, 2000)

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