Low-Income Tax Clinic

Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic News

Supreme Court Visit

On April 23, 2007, students taking the course Tax Practice & Procedure and student-practitioners in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic visited the U.S. Supreme Court to hear oral arguments on a tax case, Hinck v. United States. Click here for the oral argument transcript.

The students were joined by chief special trial judge of the U.S. Tax Court and UDC-DCSL Adjunct Professor, the Honorable Peter Panuthos, and the Director of UDC-DCSL's Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, Professor Jacqueline Laínez. (Click on photos to enlarge).

Olender Awards

Students in the clinical program at UDC David A. Clarke School of Law were among those honored at the 2007 Olender Awards. Each year, the Olender Foundation recognizes efforts to counter poverty and violence and to promote opportunity and equal justice. Six UDC-DCSL students received the Earl H. Davis Memorial Prize in recognition of their commitment to upholding the public interest.

At right, from left to right: Nilo Cuervo, Sarah Tomkins, Pamela Eclar Dieguez, and Andre Barnett.

Taxpayer Advocate Service Open House

Students in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic attended an Open House for the District of Columbia Taxpayer Advocate Service, an office dedicated to helping taxpayers solve their problems with the IRS.

Clinic students with Nina Olson

Clinic students with the National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson (fourth from right), and
pro bono attorneys Emebeth Demrew (second from right) and Peter G. Wolfe (right).

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) made remarks during the Open House.

Tax Panel

On November 1, student Andre Barnett, President of the Sports and Entertainment Student Law Association, organized and moderated a well-attended tax panel, "A Career as a Tax Attorney," at the School of Law. The panel featured the tax experts:

Judge John Colvin, Chief Judge of U. S. Tax Court
David Fisher, Chief, Tax/Bankruptcy/Finance, Office of Attorney General
Edward J. Leyden, The Law Office of Edward J. Leyden
Judge Peter J. Panuthos, Chief Special Trial Judge, U.S. Tax Court
Steven M. Rosenthal, Partner, Miller & Chevalier

Tax panelists

Meet the Founding Director

Jacqueline Lainez

Jacqueline Laínez is the founding director of the School of Law's Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) which opened its doors in January 2006. Professor Laínez has specialized in tax law since graduating from law school. She began as an associate writer analyst in the state tax department at CCH Incorporated/Wolters Kluwer. She also worked as a volunteer tax preparer while at CCH. After two years of providing volunteer tax compliance and controversy assistance to low income workers, she joined the Center for Economic Progress as the Midwest Tax Clinic's Assistant Director. The Midwest Tax Clinic and the UDC-DCSL LITC are two of over 150 federally funded tax clinics under the IRS LITC grant program. At the Midwest Tax Clinic she carried her own caseload and managed an average of 30 volunteer attorneys and accountants, handling an average of 300 cases a year. Prior to joining the law faculty, Professor Laínez worked in private practice and simultaneously served as an attorney consultant for the Center for Economic Progress in Chicago.

Since joining the faculty, Professor Laínez has worked with local community organizations including the DC EITC campaign, CARECEN and CentroNía to provide tax outreach services to low income and ESL taxpayers. The LITC is also working with pro bono attorneys in establishing the Ethiopian Outreach Project to advise Ethiopian and African immigrants of their rights and responsibilities under the Internal Revenue Code. Professor Laínez focuses her work and scholarship on the rights of - and the effect of the tax code upon - low income and immigrant workers. Professor Laínez is currently enrolled in the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation program at the Georgetown University Law Center.