ยป Frank J. Doti Tax Law Certificate

chapman tax law studentsThe Chapman University Fowler School of Law is pleased to offer the Frank J. Doti Tax Law Certificate as part of the Juris Doctor program, which gives students a solid foundation in an area of law that impacts both individuals and businesses. Attorneys from many diverse practice areas encounter tax-related issues when representing their clients, and Chapman’s tax law emphasis program is designed to expose students to a variety of tax issues encountered in practice. Graduates who satisfy the tax law emphasis requirements earn a notation on their transcript and receive a certificate upon graduation.

Real-World Experience

Chapman is the only law school in the nation to offer both trial and appellate level tax clinic courses.  In the trial level clinics, students represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service or in the U.S. Tax Court on a pro-bono basis. Students gain valuable client interviewing skills and apply negotiation, advocacy and trial litigation techniques while providing a service to taxpayers who might otherwise lack legal representation. Chapman tax clinic students have served thousands of unrepresented taxpayers, saving them in excess of a million dollars in tax. In the appellate level clinic course, students focus on writing appellate amicus curiae briefs in a novel or complex cases that impact tax law or policy.

Our extensive tax program has allowed law students and graduates to be placed in permanent and summer positions with prestigious law firms, the Internal Revenue Service, and the tax law departments of major accounting firms. Students may also participate in externships with the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice Tax Division and the California State Board of Equalization.


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Learn More

For more information about the Frank J. Doti Tax Law Certificate, please contact:

George Willis
Clinical Professor and Tax Law Clinic Director

Phone:  (714) 628-2535
Fax: (714) 628-2580
Email: gwillis@chapman.edu

Resources

Students have access to an extensive tax law collection in the law library, including tax law case reporters, treatises, and periodicals. A smaller, satellite tax library is also available to students in the tax clinic conference room through the courtesy of PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. Students are also provided with free access to tax specific electronic research tools through the courtesy of RIA and Tax Analysts while at Chapman.

"Many lawyers have told me how disappointed they are that they did not take a basic federal income tax course while in law school. As practitioners, they have experienced the shell shock of not having been exposed to basic federal income tax law when called upon to apply tax law in practices such as family law, commercial law, real estate, and even civil litigation. That is one reason why Chapman Law requires all students to take the course."

-George Willis, Director, Frank Doti Tax Law Certificate Program

Our legal clinics provide pro bono services and real world legal experience for students.

About Frank J. Doti

Professor Frank J. Doti (1943-2021) was the founder of the Fowler School of Law’s Tax Law certificate program and its Tax Law Clinic. He was named Professor of the Year in 2012 and Kennedy Hall’s room 142 was named the Frank Doti Lecture Hall in his honor thanks to a generous gift from one of his former students. An endowment was created to support the Tax Law program and rename it in his honor.