a surfer in front of the malibu pier on a sunny day

Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law

headshot
Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. -Accomplish hours of research in seconds -Instantly draft high-quality communications -Verify answers using a library of trusted tax content. Learn more
  • IRS Hiring Spree Signals Enforcement Shift, Targets Wealthy

    Bloomberg Law, As IRS Hires Again, Private Sector Watches for Enforcement Shift:

    A renewed hiring effort from the IRS in its compliance divisions is signaling to the private sector that it isn’t shying away from enforcement.

    IRS Chief of Compliance Jarod Koopman said last week the IRS is hiring roughly 1,000 workers for the small business and self-employed and large business and international divisions. The agency is also hiring about 175 workers for its crime unit.

    It’s one of the agency’s biggest hiring pushes after it started hiring again this year to fill some of the holes left by the workers who took Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s incentives to leave the government. The IRS lost about a quarter of its then-100,000 workforce last year.

    Bloomberg Law, IRS Plans to Beef Up Auditing Staff for Wealthiest Taxpayers:

    Read more
  • Hottest Law Job: Times do Change

    Sarah Kessler for the NYTimes writes in Dealbook about the rising demand from organizations across many domains for what they are calling “legal engineers.” These are trained professionals (not necessarily lawyers) who have both legal skills and knowledge of contemporary technology. Goal is to permit organizations to maximize use of all sorts of computer services, and in particular artificial intellligence, to make things run smoothly and get an edge on the competition. Good path for those in the burgeoning masters in legal studies programs opened in recent years at many law schools.

  • The IRS Has a $180 Million Ghost-Preparer Problem

    Ghost preparers have long haunted the United States’ tax system. In the mid-1970s, employees at the ten IRS service centers sorted incoming returns into “fats and flats“—thick envelopes stuffed with multiple returns, compared to slim(mer) single-return mailings. Employees then examined the contents of the “odd” deliveries “to see whether the returns were signed by a preparer, and if not, whether the returns were in fact completed by a preparer.” It’s unconfirmed whether employees experienced cold spots or flickering lights while processing these returns.

    Ghost preparers may conceal misreporting and fraud along with their identities. The IRS has highlighted these unscrupulous preparers on its annual “dirty dozen” lists of tax scams; particularly insidious are inflated credit schemes that target lower-income filers. And it’s a volume industry: a recent TIGTA evaluation indicates that, on average, each ghost preparer may be responsible for more than 100 individual returns claiming $1.5 million in total refunds. In 2023 and 2024, TIGTA identified $180 million in refunds requested on returns potentially prepared by ghost preparers.

    So what’s new on this issue? Results on an innovative IRS pilot to identify ghost preparers, a newly introduced bill to protect filers from ghost preparers’ bad acts, and the conclusion of a criminal investigation that gives texture to how ghost preparers operate, all below the fold.

    Read More
  • Best Constitutional Law Faculty in the U.S.

    Microsoft Copilot offered this response to “Best Constitutional Law Faculty in the U.S.”

    “Top constitutional law faculty are concentrated at elite law schools such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and the University of Chicago, with leading scholars like Laurence Tribe, Cass Sunstein, Erwin Chemerinsky, and Akhil Amar.

    Leading Law Schools for Constitutional Law

    According to U.S. News 2026 rankings, the top programs for constitutional law are:

    1. Yale Law School – New Haven, CT
    2. Harvard Law School – Cambridge, MA
    3. Stanford Law School – Stanford, CA
    4. University of Chicago Law School – Chicago, IL
    5. Columbia Law School – New York, NY
    6. New York University School of Law – New York, NY
    7. University of Michigan Law School – Ann Arbor, MI
    8. Georgetown University Law Center – Washington, DC
    9. University of California, Berkeley School of Law – Berkeley, CA US NewsUS News

    CaseBriefly 2025 also highlights these schools for faculty expertise and program depth, with Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Michigan, and Yale among the top five casebriefly.comcasebriefly.com.”

    The Copilot response went on to list leading constitutional law professors.

  • Does AI Increase Systemic Risk for BigLaw “Bank Runs”?

    On October 28, senior partners at storied Wall Street firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges announced their recommendation to dissolve the 95-year-old law firm.

    Some found irony in the announcement, given the firm’s longstanding leadership in bankruptcy practice (including in tax). Some vented about the timing and substance of the communication—and asked what was next for Weil’s 600 associates, incoming class and summer hires. Some commented on the power of the profession’s elite to swap firms and set their (astronomical) compensation packages.

    Few, however, explored what Weil’s collapse might say about the burgeoning role of generative AI in high-end legal practice (one exception). Indeed, some expressly dismissed AI as a cause.

    There’s no evidence that AI directly led to Weil’s downfall. But the bigger question is whether AI increases BigLaw’s risk—systemic risk, in the parlance of 2008—of similar “bank runs” involving partners at large law firms. More, below the fold.

    Read More
  • Halloween at America’s Law Schools, 2026

    From haunted law reviews and faculty costume contests to trick-or-treating, fresh apple cider, and atrocious puns, law schools across the United States celebrated Halloween in 2026. (These are past events; sponsors and organizers are omitted.)

    The takeaway: the library is a hot spot for trick-or-treating! Especially given candy prices these days. A roundup of events with my personal top five, below the fold.

    Read More
  • Cooper et al.: A Sin Ban, Not a Sin Tax?

    Crossan Cooper, Katja Seim & Jintaek Song, A Sin Ban, Not a Sin Tax? Consumption and Incidence of SNAP Soda Restrictions, NBER Working Paper No. 35739 (Sep. 2026):

    We study the first statewide SNAP restrictions on sweetened beverages and candy. Restricted spending falls 11 percent; calories and sugar fall 5–8 percent. Substitution is asymmetric: eligible fruit drinks partly offset soda declines, while candy restrictions reduce purchases of eligible snacks. Retailers barely change shelf prices. Losing SNAP’s sales-tax exemption raises tax-inclusive prices only 1.9 percent. Spending declines are larger at retailers with greater SNAP use and remain large online, where checkout stigma is less salient. Nationwide adoption would impose 13 percent of the out-of-pocket burden of an equivalent excise tax, while welfare gains reach roughly $1.1 billion annually.

    Read More
  • Law Schools with Best Halloween Parties

    Happy Halloween! We look forward to the trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood.

    Microsoft Copilot says that “The strongest Halloween party environments for law students are at universities with major campus‑wide Halloween traditions, especially Ohio University, UNC–Chapel Hill, East Carolina University, and UCSB.

    Short answer: If you want a law school where the surrounding university throws legendary Halloween parties, the best fits are UNC School of Law, Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law (near Ohio University’s Athens scene), and Duke Law or Campbell Law (near ECU’s Greenville blowouts). UCSB’s Halloween is huge, but UCSB has no law school.”

    A judge who lives in Santa Barbara told me once that people should steer clear of Isla Vista, the student enclave near the campus, on Halloween.

  • Pigou Returns! Halloween Edition

    It’s Halloween, and the media (and Reddit) are talking candy! Prices are up, and sales are down—for large and extra-large bags. Small bags? Sales are up, in total dollar terms.

    In the age of affordability, consumers may be more discerning, according to Sally Lyons Wyatt, a global executive vice president and food industry adviser for the market research company Circana:

    “People are very intentional and thoughtful about what they want to consume, not just for holidays, but in general. . . . I do believe we will still see softness overall with candy, but I don’t think Halloween is doomed.”

    While candy will bring overall softness, the bigger question is whether any taxes are involved. A grab bag of tariffs, sales tax exemptions, and an interactive quiz, below the fold.

    Read More
  • Notable Law Professors Who Are Also Musicians

    Microsoft Copilot generated this list of

    “Notable Law Professors Who Are Also Musicians

    Several law professors stand out for combining legal scholarship with active musical careers, blending their expertise in law with creative expression in music.

    1. George Bisharat – UC Law San Francisco
    Professor George Bisharat has taught at UC Law SF for over 30 years, covering criminal law, criminal procedure, and law and social anthropology. Outside the classroom, he is widely recognized as “Big Harp George”, a blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. His 2014 debut album Chromaticism earned a “Best New Blues Artist” nomination, and he has been nominated for “Harmonica Player of the Year” by Blues Blast magazine www.uclawsf.eduwww.uclawsf.edu. Bisharat is notable for using the rare chromatic harmonica as his main instrument and for embedding political and social commentary into his songs, such as “Don’t Talk,” which references Miranda rights www.uclawsf.eduwww.uclawsf.edu.

    2. Seán O’Connor – Brooklyn Law School
    Seán O’Connor is the Allen Grubman Chair in Media and Entertainment Law at Brooklyn Law School and an expert in music law, intellectual property, and entertainment policy Brooklyn Law SchoolBrooklyn Law School. Before joining Brooklyn Law, they taught at the University of Washington School of Law for 16 years, leading the Center for Advanced Studies and Research on Intellectual Property. O’Connor is also the founder and executive director of the Music Ecosystems Institute in Washington, D.C. While not a performing artist, their work bridges law and music through research, teaching, and policy leadership Brooklyn Law SchoolBrooklyn Law School.

    3. W. John Thomas – Quinnipiac University
    Professor W. John Thomas is described by NPR as “a history buff, a law professor, an author, a musician, a guitar enthusiast, and a music nerd, all wrapped up in one person” Quinnipiac UniversityQuinnipiac University. He teaches international and health law, has published extensively on topics from music and musical instruments to public health, and has authored books such as Kalamazoo Gals, which explored WWII-era women who built guitars. His work often intersects with music history and culture, and he has been featured in NPR, NBC, and the Oxford Dictionary of Music Quinnipiac UniversityQuinnipiac University.”

    Summary
    If you’re looking for a performing musician-law professor, George Bisharat is a standout for his active blues career and legal scholarship. For music law expertise, Seán O’Connor is a leading academic voice. And for music history and cultural scholarship, W. John Thomas blends legal teaching with deep engagement in music’s cultural and historical contexts.”

    Big Harp George – “It’s Tuesday!” (Official Music Video)

TaxProf Blog delivers timely, insightful coverage of tax law and legal education to inform, connect, and inspire scholars, practitioners, and students.

Ad: BlueJ Better Tax Answers. Blue J's generative AI tax research solution is transforming how tax experts work. Learn more.
Information and rates on advertising on TaxProf Blog