Course Syllabus
Spring 2015
Instructors: Professor Ronald W. Blasi, Prof. Willard N. Timm, Jr., Mrs. Bonnie Rich,
Special class: Saturday January 10, 2015, 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Faculty Conference Room
Amicus Training: Monday, January 12, 2015, 4:10 p.m – 5:50 pm at the Law Library Computer Lab
Regular classes: Mondays 4:10 p.m. – 5:50 p.m., Room 325-A
Clinic work in Room 150
Office Hours – Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Office Phone: 404-413-9230
Website: www.gsulitc.org
Professor Blasi’s mobile phone number: (404) 314-6183
Professor Blasi’s email address: rblasi@gsu.edu
Professor Blasi’s SKYPE address: ron.blasi
Clinic I Students
Books: The Clinic website is the electronic textbook for this course. The website contains guidance as to all aspects of your activities in the Clinic, including summaries of procedural and substantive tax law with which you will deal.
Attendance, Class Participation, and Makeup Classes: You are expected to devote approximately 9 hours, on average, each week throughout the semester to the Clinic for a total of 126 hours. Time spent in class is applied toward that time commitment. Six of those hours must take place in the Clinic offices during normal business hours. During the first couple of weeks of the term, you will probably have to work more than the average number of hours in order to familiarize yourself with your cases.
Grading Criteria:
1. Professionalism, which includes your interaction with your clients, Internal Revenue Service personnel, fellow students and staff, appropriate dress when necessary;
2. Compliance with statutory and administrative deadlines. Missing a statutory deadline may result in a failing grade in this course. See additional information on Clinic website relating to statutory notices;
3. Quality of service you render to your clients as determined in part by the evaluations you will receive from your clients at the end of the semester and also by the accuracy and thoroughness of written documents and memoranda;
4. Progress on cases especially the submission of at least one memoranda by mid-term and one or more memoranda by the end of the term and finalization of documents for submission to the I.R.S. All memoranda submitted to Professor Blasi should be saved to Word with a name containing you first name followed by an underline and the last name of the client. Thus, if your name is Jim and the client’s last name is Smith, the file should be saved as follows: “Jim_Smith” That also should be the Subject line of the email that contains the file that is sent to Professor Blasi.
5. Proper maintenance of your electronic (Amicus) and paper files;
6. Working the required number of hours;
7. Attending all scheduled meetings with your supervisor, and being prepared for those meetings;
8. Adherence to Clinic administrative and other procedures; and
9. Success in resolving cases including timely closing cases.
If you have any questions or concerns relating to your progress during the term you should discuss them with Professor Blasi as soon as your questions or concerns arise.
Prerequisites: In order to handle the issues commonly encountered in the Clinic, students must have successfully completed Basic Federal Taxation (Law 7095).
Goals and Approach: The principal objective of the Tax Clinic is to provide you with a closely supervised environment in which you learn to exercise professional judgment and develop skills critical to the effective practice of law, including interviewing clients, gathering and verifying facts, preparing documents that will be filed in court or with administrative agencies, etc…. Considerable time will be spent drafting memoranda that are designed to improve your legal writing. Although students in the Clinic work on tax matters, the practice skills that are developed are applicable to all areas of the law.
Extra Material: There are several books designed to help understand I.R.S. procedure. Among them are Saltzman, IRS Practice and Procedure, published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont and Effectively Representing Your Client before the IRS. This is a product of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation Low-Income Taxpayers and Pro Bono Committees.
Clinic I Classes
| January 10, 2015 | Mission of the Clinic |
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| Background of the Clinic | |
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| Focus on Dispute Resolution | |
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| Staff and their functions | |
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| Client Confidentiality/Privileged Communication | |
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| Use of offices | |
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| Grading (See above)/Feedback | |
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| Difference with other law school courses: | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| Relationship with clients | |
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| Collection Alternatives (Overview) | |
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| OIC Rules | |
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| Flow Chart | |
| POA’s | |
| Investigative Tools | |
| Monday, January 12 | Amicus Training/File Maintenance
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| Monday, January 19 | No Class – Martin Luther King Holiday |
| Monday, January 26 | US Tax Court |
| Petition and appeals | |
| Selected tax procedure issues | |
| Monday, February 2 | Innocent Spouse Relief |
| Injured Spouse Relief | |
| Statute of Limitations | |
| Monday, February 9 | Miscellaneous issues |
| Week of March 2nd | Mid-semester reviews all week with Professor |
| Blasi, Professor Timm and Ms. Rich | |
| Monday, April 13 | Transitioning cases |
Clinic II Students
Attendance, Class Participation, and Makeup Classes: You are expected to devote approximately 9 hours, on average, each week throughout the semester to the Clinic for a total of 126 hours. Time spent in class is applied toward that time commitment. Six of those hours must take place in the Clinic offices during normal business hours. During the first couple of weeks of the term, you will probably have to work more than the average number of hours in order to familiarize yourself with your cases.
Grading Criteria:
1. Professionalism, which includes your interaction with your clients, Internal Revenue Service personnel, fellow students and staff, appropriate dress when necessary;
2. Compliance with statutory and administrative deadlines. Missing a statutory deadline may result in a failing grade in this course. See additional information on Clinic website relating to statutory notices;
3. Quality of service you render to your clients as determined in part by the evaluations you will receive from your clients at the end of the semester and also by the accuracy and thoroughness of written documents and memoranda;
4. Progress on cases especially the submission of at least one memoranda by mid-term and one or more memoranda by the end of the term and finalization of documents for submission to the I.R.S. All memoranda submitted to Professor Blasi should be saved to Word with a name containing you first name followed by an underline and the last name of the client. Thus, if your name is Jim and the client’s last name is Smith, the file should be saved as follows: “Jim_Smith” That also should be the Subject line of the email that contains the file that is sent to Professor Blasi.
5. Proper maintenance of your electronic (Amicus) and paper files;
6. Working the required number of hours;
7. Attending all scheduled meetings with your supervisor, and being prepared for those meetings;
8. Adherence to Clinic administrative and other procedures; and
9. Success in resolving cases including timely closing cases.
If you have any questions or concerns relating to your progress during the term you should discuss them with Professor Blasi as soon as your questions or concerns arise.
In addition, as a Clinic II or GRA student, you will be evaluated on the basis of your mentoring Clinic I students. Mentoring requires that you provide as part of your clinical hours assistance to Clinic I students in working and resolving their cases and learning the administrative procedures of the Clinic. You are also required to attend the first part of the first class at 4:10 p.m. on August 18, 2014. When the Clinic I class begins at 4:10 p.m. you will be introduced to the new students and then excused.
Prerequisites: In order to handle the issues commonly encountered in the Clinic, students must have successfully completed Basic Federal Taxation (Law 7095) and Tax Clinic I (7600).
Goals and Approach: The principal objective of the Tax Clinic is to provide you with an environment in which you learn to exercise professional judgment in a supervised setting. You will be confronted with ethical and professionalism issues. You also will develop the essential lawyering skills of interviewing clients, gathering and verifying facts, preparing documents that will be filed in court or with administrative agencies, etc… Considerable time will be spent on tasks that will improve your writing. Although students in the Clinic work on tax matters, the practice skills that are developed are applicable to all areas of the law.
Extra Material: Among them are Saltzman, IRS Practice and Procedure, published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont and Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS. This is a product of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation Low Income Taxpayers and Pro Bono Committees.
