I am delighted to announce that I have accepted a three-year appointment as the Herzog Summer Visiting Professor in Taxation at the University of San Diego School of Law. My family and I have spent five previous summers teaching at USD and have learned first-hand why San Diego is truly "America’s Finest City. But even more enjoyable than the spectacular climate and environment is the opportunity to be associated with one of the country’s leading graduate tax programs. San Diego long has had one of the premier tax faculties in the country and today announced a series of initiatives to further strengthen the tax program, including:

• The impending appointment of U.S. Tax Court Judge David Laro, an annual visitor at USD since 1998, as Director of the Graduate Tax Program once pending legislation dealing with retired judges is resolved in Congress.  (Judge Laro recently hosted the very successful Business Valuation Conference at USD.)
• The continued service of M. Carr Ferguson, Senior Counsel of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City, as Executive Advisor to the Graduate Tax Program.  (Carr recently was honored with the ABA Tax Section’s 2008 Distinguished Service Award.)
• The launch of a new tax workshop series, with papers to be delivered by several of the nation’s leading tax scholars:  Karen Brown (George Washington); Miranda Fleischer (Illinois); Victor Fleischer (Illinois); Robert Peroni (Texas); Dennis Ventry (U.C. Davis); and George Yin (Virginia).