TaxProf Blog

Nancy S. Abramowitz (American)

• B.S. 1972, Cornell
• J.D. 1975, Georgetown

I began my career more than thirty years ago as a law clerk to Judge Theodore Tannenwald, Jr. of the U.S. Tax Court. From there I moved on to private practice at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. I practiced tax and employee benefits at the firm and was an associate (1977-82) and a partner 1982-1991). With three children on the home front, I left the firm although I spent a couple of years continuing to work from home on several large continuing matters. My practice experience was diverse: international and domestic; transactional, controversy and legislative work. I also had the opportunity to do benefits work from both management and labor union perspectives. My pro bono time was generally spent training and then volunteering in our local court’s and federal district court’s earliest efforts at court-annexed alternative dispute resolution.

I have been teaching for about 10 years now. I began at AU law school working with Janet Spragens at the school’s low-income taxpayer clinic. I soon began teaching Pensions and Benefits Law and Contracts as well. I have also had the pleasure of teaching Externship Seminars at the school as well as International Economic Law in several of our summer abroad programs.

I truly enjoy every minute of teaching—both clinical and classroom. The law school environment is rich with unlimited opportunities to delve into many different areas of interest. I have spent the past couple of years working with the school’s first year “integrated curriculum” which has first year faculty working together to present supplemental programs crossing strict doctrinal lines.

My children are now out of the nest. The eldest, after a tour of duty teaching high school science with Teach for America, went on to graduate studies in public health and is presently working at the CDC in Atlanta. Number two child is a law student and number three child is a history major in undergraduate school—although she spent the past summer at DC Superior Court working with an advocacy group for victims of domestic violence.

My husband (of almost 33 years) has been in private practice for the long haul, although he has been teaching Bankruptcy Law as an adjunct at Georgetown for the past 12 years or so.

Spare time these days is devoted to volunteer ADR and work on the boards of several nonprofits including the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund for Chamber Music at the Kennedy Center, the ACLU of the national capital area, and coordinating the Academic Advisory Board’s work on the annual law student writing competition sponsored by the Theodore Tannenwald, Jr. Foundation for Excellence in Tax Scholarship.

Postscript:  As you may know, my dear friend and my colleague for the past ten years, Janet Spragens, passed away on February 19 after a long illness. Janet was a beloved (by faculty, staff and students, alike) professor at American University Law School; she was a true trailblazer in the tax clinic movement; she was a valued participant in the tax bar and tax scholarship/policy communities. Most of all, she was a treasured friend with whom one could truly delight in the simplest of life’s pleasures– a good cup of coffee, an afternoon cookie, a well-delivered joke, and a smile that said it all. She will be sorely missed by an army of people from many avenues of life. I know they will join me in cherishing the lessons, the friendship, and the terrific laughs she shared.

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