ABA Section of Taxation announces winners of student tax challenge

The American Bar Association Section of Taxation announced the winners of the 14th Annual Law Student Tax Challenge, a contest designed to give students an opportunity to research, write about and present their analyses of a real-life tax planning problem. The competition is open to J.D. and LL.M. law students.

Aaron Miki and Mikkela Sweet of the University of San Francisco School of Law won first place in the J.D. Division. Their coach was Davis Yee. Riley Becker and Mary Beth Dolan of Northwestern University School of Law, coached by Herbert Beller, were first in the LL.M. Division. The teams presented oral arguments before a panel of tax lawyers and tax court judges at the Section of Taxation 2015 Midyear Meeting in Houston.

The Law Student Tax Challenge was developed and is administered by the Section of Taxation Young Lawyers Forum, and is designed to reflect everyday tax issues that might arise for practitioners. The contest features two-person teams that research tax issues, then submit technical memoranda and client letters with their solutions. The teams' written submissions are judged by tax practitioners from around the country. The teams with the best written submissions present their tax planning strategies in the oral round competition. The other awardees include:

J.D. Division:

2nd Place: Christine Fukushima, Tommy Du, University of California, Irvine, School of Law.

3rd Place: Ankur Thakkar, Thomas Vanik, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Best Written Submission: Ankur Thakkar, Thomas Vanik, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

LL.M. Division:

2nd Place: Jessica Cory, Morgan Klinzing, New York University School of Law

Published: Tue, Feb 17, 2015