Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Book Club
-
Borden on Tax-Free Swaps
Bradley T. Borden (Washburn) has published Tax-Free Swaps: Using Section 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges to Preserve Investment Net Worth (DNA Press, 2007). Here are some of many reviews: Erik Jensen (Case Western): "Brad Borden has been referred to as "Mr. 1031"—in fact, I’ve called him that myself—and this book shows why. No one knows more about…
-
Ayres on The Importance of Data in Decision-Making
Ian Ayres (Yale has published an interesting new book, Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers Is the New Way to Think Smart (Bantam, 2007). The book argues that statistical analysis should be used more in corporate decision-making. Ian talks about the book in this interview: (Hat Tip: Ian Ayres, Jim Chen, and Sam Kamin.)
-
Crawford Reviews PLI’s Circular 230 Deskbook
Bridget J. Crawford (Pace) has published Tax Practice in a Circular Revolution: A Review of PLI’s Circular 230 Deskbook, 41 Real Prop., Prob. & Tr. J. 213 (2007). Here is the abstract: This short review essay evaluates the Practicing Law Institute’s Circular 230 Deskbook by Jonathan G. Blattmachr, Mitchell M. Gans and Damien Rios. For…
-
McLure on The Crisis in Tax Administration
Charles E. McLure, Jr. (Hoover Institution, Stanford University) has published Book Review: The Crisis in Tax Administration (Henry J. Aaron & Joel Slemrod, eds.) (Brookings, 2004), 60 Nat’l Tax J. 155 (2007). Here is the abstract: This volume, which might have been subtitled "Complexity and the Cost of Compliance and Administration," contains, besides an introductory…
-
American Taxation, American Slavery
There is an interesting book review of American Taxation, American Slavery (University of Chicago Press, 2006), by Robin L. Einhorn (University of California-Berkeley, Department of History), in the June 28, 2007 New York Review of Books. From the book’s publisher: We are all familiar with the states’ rights arguments of proslavery politicians who wanted to…
-
Taxing Capital Income
The Urban Institute has published Taxing Capital Income, edited by Henry J. Aaron, Leonard E. Burman, and C. Eugene Steuerle: The question of whether to tax income from wealth has sparked debate since our country’s inception. Does taxing capital income ensure the progressivity of our system or merely discourage saving? Would switching our tax code…
-
The Taxation of Ernest Hemingway
Anthony E. Rebollo (Richardson Plowden Carpenter & Robinson, Columbia, SC) has published The Taxation of Ernest Hemingway, 26 The Hemingway Review 22 (Spring 2007)(published by the Hemingway Society and the University of Idaho). Here is the abstract: Taxes played a surprisingly prominent role in the life of Ernest Hemingway—so much so that he personally dealt…
-
Nominate Your Favorite Tax Book for the Coif Award
The AALS is seeking nominations for the prestigious Coif Book Award to be given to the best book published in the field of law in 2005-06. The book must "evidence creative talent of the highest order" and have been published between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2006. Nominations can be sent to Chris Brooks…
-
Foundation Press Publishes Bankruptcy Law Stories
Foundation Press has published Bankruptcy Law Stories, edited by Robert Rasmussen (Dean, USC): Bankruptcy Stories explores the landmark decisions that shape modern bankruptcy law and practice. Alan Schwartz, George Triantis, David Skeel, Barry Adler and other leading scholars critically examine the basic foundations of bankruptcy doctrine from Case v. Los Angeles Lumber to Butner to…
-
Testing Kate
Interesting book on the law school experience: Testing Kate, by Whitney Gaskell: Kate Bennett, 29, is ready to chuck her staid life in Ithaca for law school at pre-Katrina Tulane, but a moving van mishap leaves her unprepared for the first day of the notorious professor Hoffman’s criminal law class. His cringe-inducing close questioning leaves…
-
Studies in the History of Tax Law
John Tiley (Queen’s College, Cambridge) has published Volume 2 of Studies in the History of Tax Law (Hart Publishing, 2007): This work contains the full text of the papers presented at the second Tax Law History Conference in July 2004. The Conference was organised by the Cambridge Law Faculty’s Centre for Tax Law. The papers…
-
Co-Authors Needed for New Pension Treatise
Alvin D. Lurie seeks a co-author for a forthcoming treatise on the federal income taxation of pensions and other "qualified" or nonqualified retirement arrangements. Alvin was the first Asssitant Commissioner of Internal Revenue in charge of Employee Benefits and Exempt Organizations following the enactment of ERISA and is now in private tax pracice with his…
-
Foundation Press Publishes Employment Law Stories
Foundation Press has published Employment Law Stories, edited by Samuel Estreicher (NYU) & Gillian Lester (UC-Berkeley): Employment law is fast emerging as a dominant area of practice and concern. This exciting new Law Stories title provides behind-the-scenes descriptions of the landmark cases — the litigants, the lawyers, the strategy — that helped shape this growing…
-
What Tax Profs Are Reading … Jim Maule
In our latest installment of What Tax Profs Are Reading, Jim Maule (Villanova) shares his thoughts on the 44 (!) books he has read since July 2005 (or at least the ones he remembers). Other Tax Profs are welcome to submit reviews of books (tax or otherwise) here. 1. The Peoples of Philadelphia: A History…
-
The Language of Law School: Learning to “Think Like a Lawyer”
Elizabeth Mertz (Wisconsin) has published The Language of Law School: Learning to "Think Like a Lawyer" (Oxford Univ. Press, 2007): Anyone who has attended law school knows that it invokes an important intellectual transformation, frequently referred to as learning to think like a lawyer. This process, which forces students to think and talk in radically…
-
International Taxation in Canada
Jinyan Li (Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School), Arthur Cockfield (Associate Dean and Professor, Queen’s University Faculty of Law) & Scott Wilkie (Partner, Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, Toronto) have published International Taxation in Canada: Principles and Practices (LexisNexis, 2006): Over time, Canada’s international tax laws have become more and more complicated. This unique book provides an…
-
Shaviro on Taxes, Spending, and the U.S. Government’s March Towards Bankruptcy
Daniel N. Shaviro (NYU) has published Taxes, Spending, and the U.S. Government’s March Towards Bankruptcy (Cambridge University Press, 2006): What’s in a word? Plenty, when it’s a word such as “taxes,” “spending,” or “deficits” that pervades Washington political debate despite lacking coherent economic content. The United States is moving toward a possible catastrophic fiscal collapse.…
-
Carnegie Foundations Calls for More Skills and Ethics Training in Law Schools
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching yesterday released Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, by William M. Sullivan, Anne Colby, Judith Welch Wegner, Lloyd Bond & Lee S. Shulman. The report challenges law schools to provide more skills and ethics training: "The gap between teaching students to think like a lawyer…
-
Freakonomics and the Child Dependent Exemption
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything contains this tax example concerning § 151(e): Consider what happened one spring evening at midnight in 1987: seven million American children suddenly disappeared. The worst kidnapping wave in history? Hardly. It was the night of April 15, and the IRS had just changed a rule. …
-
Christmas Gifts for that Special Tax Person
Tax Stories (Foundation Press, 2003) (ISBN # 1-58778-403-3), by Paul L. Caron (Cincinnati): Introduction: Tax Archaeology, by Paul L. Caron (Cincinnati): Ch. 1: The Story of Glenshaw Glass: Toward a Modern Concept of Gross Income, by Joseph Dodge (Florida State) Ch. 2: The Story of Eisner v. Macomber: The Continuing Role of “Realization” in Tax…
-
Foundation Press Publishes Contracts Stories, Sixteenth Book in Law Stories Series
Foundation Press has published Contracts Stories, edited by Douglas G. Baird (Chicago): In this appealing Stories offering, the editors are joined by other leading contracts scholars in taking the major cases in contract law — from Britton v. Turner to Red Owl to Pro-CD to Baby M — and putting them in their historical and…
-
WaPo Reviews The Best Way to Save for College – A Complete Guide to 529 Plans
The Washington Post has a very favorable review of The Best Way to Save for College – A Complete Guide to 529 Plans (2007 Edition), by Joseph Hurley: This is the one of the best books on 529s, and it’s written by the most knowledgeable person about these plans I know. I mean that. Hurley,…
-
Watson on The Shame of American Legal Education
Alan Watson (Georgia) (the husband of Tax Prof Camilla Watson (Georgia)) has published the second edition of his book, The Shame of American Legal Education (2006): The title tells it all; American legal education is shamefully bad. Casebooks are endemic, especially in the first year, teaching by terror. Abridged cases are presented, shorn of context,…
-
Crawford Reviews PLI’s Circular 230 Deskbook
Bridget J. Crawford (Pace) has posted Tax Practice in a Circular Revolution: A Review of PLI’s Circular 230 Deskbook, 41 Real Prop., Prob. & Tr. J. ___ (2007), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This short review essay evaluates the Practicing Law Institute’s Circular 230 Deskbook by Jonathan G. Blattmachr, Mitchell M. Gans and Damien…
-
Taxation, Economic Prosperity, and Distributive Justice
Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr. & Paul Jeffrey (all of Bowling Green State University) have published Taxation, Economic Prosperity, and Distributive Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2006): What constitutes a just tax system, and what are its moral foundations? Should a society’s tax regime be designed to achieve a just distribution of wealth among…