New York Times:  Little Information Given About Solo Law Practice Run by Sotomayor in ’80s, by Serge F. Kovaleski:

Judge Sotomayor has explained very little about one facet of her legal life: Sotomayor & Associates, the solo law practice she ran out of her Brooklyn apartment for several years in the 1980s.

In her questionnaire, Judge Sotomayor says she was the “owner” of Sotomayor & Associates, which she described as a consulting business she operated on the side from 1983 to 1986. During this period, she also worked, first for the Manhattan district attorney’s office and then as a member of Pavia & Harcourt, a large firm in Manhattan. …

White House communications officials said the judge no longer had copies of the tax returns that listed the income, and any deductions, that she attributed to her outside work.  …

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt … said that Ms. Sotomayor came up with the name when she was filling out her tax returns. “It was necessary to list a name for the practice on her tax returns,” he said.

Tax experts say there was nothing in the law that requires a lawyer, or any other self-employed person, to create a corporate name to report income, or deductions, on the standard form, known as a Schedule C. Just one’s own name will do. But Mr. LaBolt pointed out that the 1983 copy of the form asked the filer to list his or her “business name.” “Significant time was not spent in choosing a name,” he said.

(Hat Tip:  InstaPundit:  "So maybe that on-the-side private law practice was just some sort of a tax dodge. That would make it okay, right?")