TaxProf Blog

Stuart Lazar (Thomas Cooley)

• A.B. 1990, Michigan
• J.D. 1992, Michigan
• LL.M. (Tax) 1996, NYU

In my second year of college, as a young economics major, I faced a choice: pursue a bachelor’s in business administration or go to law school. Obviously, I chose the latter route — but with the idea that I wanted to pursue a career in “business” law. A class taken the following year — Tax Accounting — pushed me towards a career in tax law. It was a decision that I would never look back on.

During my time at Michigan, I was fortunate to study tax law with the “Big Three” (a reference here to the Michigan auto industry) — Professors Doug Kahn, Jeff Lehman and Patricia White. From them, I learned not only substantive tax law but about my love for the intricacies of the tax code. I also learned two very important things. First, it is not only the what, but the why, that matters (i.e., policy plays an extremely important role) in shaping substantive law. Second, that a great professor could make learning tax law fun.

Upon graduation from Michigan, I returned home to New York to practice tax law as an associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and to earn my LL.M. in tax. While the hours at Skadden Arps were sometimes numerous, I was enthralled with the cutting edge tax work that the firm did. My practice at Skadden Arps was mainly corporate transactional, and I learned more than I ever thought possible about Sections 355 and 368 of the Code. I also learned one other important lesson from the head of Skadden’s tax deparment, Matthew Rosen: It is not enough just to know the law and how to apply it, but to be a good tax lawyer you need to be able to explain the law to clients in a manner that brings extremely complex tax concepts down to the level of the non-tax professional. It is something that I hope that I accomplish in every class that I teach.

After a little over four years at Skadden Arps, it was time for me to move on. While I loved tax law, I decided that what I really wanted to do with tax was to teach it — not practice it. I was fortunate enough to meet Professor Michael Melton (now deceased), who was at the time the Director of the Graduate Tax Program at the Boston University. Professor Melton offered me a job as an adjunct professor teaching corporate taxation in the LL.M. program at BU, an offer that I immediately accepted. I was also fortunate enough to receive an offer to practice law at Edwards & Angell, a firm with offices in Providence and Boston. Thus, I was off to the Northeast.

My practice at Edwards & Angell was more varied than the practice I had at Skadden Arps. It consisted of tax structuring and transactional work; corporate, partnership, individual and estate and gift tax work; and some international, but mainly domestic, taxation. I learned a great deal about collegiality and the importance of working through tax issues with others from my two partners at the firm, Fred Lombardi and Scott Nebergall. During that time, I taught both Corporate Taxation and Corporate Reorganizations at BU and, for one year, was fortunate to teach as an adjunct at Roger Williams in Bristol, Rhode Island. At Roger Williams, I taught a course in tax policy and one dealing with the taxation of business entities.

The five and one-half years that I taught at BU rival all of my others as the best years of my life. Through numerous conversations with Ern Haddad, the current director of BU’s Graduate Tax Program, I learned a lot about what it means to be a good professor and what it takes to have a great tax program. However, after six years in the Northeast and six wonderful summers in Newport, the teaching bug bit harder. At that point, I was fortunate to receive an offer to teach full-time at Thomas Cooley. So again, with great excitement and a little trepidation, I packed my bags and returned to the Midwest.

At Thomas Cooley, I teach classes at both the law school level and in Cooley’s new Graduate Tax Program, where I function as the Assistant Director. Two things about my experiences here at Cooley stand out: the excitement of working in and growing a new program and the depth of intelligent faculty employed by the school. I currently teach or have taught courses in individual taxation (JD and LL.M.), corporate tax (LL.M.) and business planning (LL.M.). I hope to resume teaching courses on the LL.M. level dealing with corporate reorganizations and tax policy, and to add a course in real estate taxation — which would combine my interest in real estate investing with my love of tax law.

Strange as it may sound, I have recently found that outside of tax law I have an interesting and enjoyable personal life. I am married to a vegan personal chef, and am the father to a couple of wonderful dogs — Nixon (a Shih Tzu with a personality that rivals the former president) and Noah (a Boston Terrier who combines a life of comfort with an active play life). I continue to miss Newport, but remain active as a member of the board of directors of The Newport International Film Festival. This affords me the ability to sneak back to Rhode Island several times a year, as well as indulges my appetite for good film (which was not satiated or dampened by my failed attempts as the owner of two video stores). In addition, I have recently tried my hand at amateur stand up comedy though, I must admit, that while I find a great deal of humor in the Code and Regulations promulgated thereunder, my comedic routines center away from the world of tax. Finally, of potential interest, I have recently rekindled my interest in creative writing and hope to make significant progress this year on a novel that deals, more than tangentially, on the life of a secret agent/tax lawyer/tax professor (no resemblance to myself should be assumed).

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