Allison Christians (Wisconsin)
- B.A. 1991, Calvin College
- J.D. 1999, Columbia
- LL.M. (Tax) 2003, NYU
I owe my passion for tax law to “Marvelous” Marvin Chirelstein, who was a teacher and mentor to me while I was a student at Columbia. His acerbic wit and lack of patience for the bombastic were treasures in the classroom. His straightforward, pragmatic approach to the tax law, epitomized in the “Little Blue Book,” was an indispensable aid to me, first in learning about tax as a student and now in teaching tax to the next generation. I was shocked by my stage fright on the first day I walked into the classroom to teach federal income taxation. Now, having taught the course a few times, I am less shocked by the stage fright but still anxious that I somehow find a way to reach the students with even a fraction of the impact that Marvin had on me.
erFollowing law school, I practiced in tax first at Debevoise & Plimpton and later at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, spending most of my time climbing the steep learning curve of technical tax practice and pursuing an LLM in tax at NYU in what little time remained in the week. Prior to law school, I had been interested in the relationship between law and legal systems and distribution of wealth and power in society. My experiences at Columbia and in practice demonstrated to me that the next step in my career should be to move beyond immediate problem-solving to systemic analysis.
Looking to become an academic, I was delighted to have the opportunity to join the faculty at Northwestern as a Visiting Assistant Professor in its LLM tax program. The change in salary: enormous. The value of the experience: priceless. My colleagues and mentors at Northwestern jump-started my writing by reading mostly-terrible first drafts, finding the salvageable parts, and setting me in new directions to shape and enhance my scholarship, including giving me the opportunity to travel twice to Africa to investigate first-hand how tax systems operate in developing economies and to begin building an invaluable network of colleagues around the world. My Northwestern colleagues and mentors also jump-started my teaching by giving me the opportunity to teach the foundational tax courses as well as courses in my particular areas of interest, international tax and tax treaties.
Following my two-year experience at Northwestern, I joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin. I again feel so delighted to have landed in such a dynamic and supportive environment. My colleagues and mentors here are enthusiastic about the tax law in action and their support for my teaching, research, and personal well-being has been fantastic. In my first year, I taught federal income taxation and international taxation. This coming academic year, I will add a seminar in tax policy to my repertoire. I am spending the summer working on a number of research projects, including an article on tax aspects of the foreign policy power, a study of the transformative power of tax reform on countries that receive development assistance, and a casebook on international tax that is part of the Graduate Tax Series published by LexisNexis.
There is one pursuit that I enjoyed in my pre-law school days and that seems to have vanished from my life: throwing pots (on a wheel, not at the wall). I try to find time for it here and there, but there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Now if I could just find a connection between ceramics and taxation, it would be the perfect summer.
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