DOT Office of Benefits Tax Counsel EB 390
(3 - 4 credit hours)
Professor Kennedy supervises this externship program and thus her pre-approval is required.
PREREQUISITES:
EB 361: Fundamentals I of Retirement Plans;
EB 362: Fundamentals II of Retirement Plans;
Tax 333: Tax Employee Benefits Research;
Must Have completed 10 credit hours in the
LLM program before applying.
The Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits offers a student externship program with the Office of Benefits Tax Counsel, which is part of the Office of Tax Policy within the U.S. Department of Treasury, in its Washington, D.C. location. The Office of Tax Policy assists the Secretary of the Treasury in developing and implementing tax policies and programs; establishing policy criteria for regulations and rulings; and providing economic and legal policy analysis for domestic and international tax policy decisions. The Benefits Tax Counsel in the Office of Benefits Counsel under the Office of Tax Policy directs the activities of attorneys, accountants, and actuaries who develop and review policy, legislation, regulations, and revenue rulings dealing with all aspects of employee benefits taxation and related matter.
In exchange for work assignments with the Office of Benefits Counsel, students will receive law school credit (either 3 or 4 hours). The purpose of this externship is to provide employee benefits students with a blend of theory and practice of law that would assist them in their later practice of law. One of the Employee Benefits Advisory Board members, William F. Sweetnam, Jr., previously served as the Benefits Tax Council until 2005. He put us in contact with Thomas Reeder, who is the current Benefits Tax Counsel. Thomas Reeder is willing to supervise our students during a summer externship.
Details of this Benefits Tax Counsel externship program include:
(1) It is supervised by Professor Kathryn Kennedy, a full-time faculty member (referred to as the program director) in conjunction with Thomas Reeder, Benefits Tax Counsel, Office of Benefits Counsel at the National Office of the U.S. Department of Treasury, in Washington, D.C.
(2) Students in this externship program will receive a copy of the Student Handbook prepared by the school’s Clinical Externship Program and must abide by its requirements. Students are required to keep a journal regarding the types of projects engaged in, to be submitted to the program director at the conclusion of the semester
(3)Students with a quantities undergraduate degree (e.g., accounting, math, finance) are preferred. Students must be in good academic standing in order to apply. The Office of Benefits Counsel requires students to forward a copy of the student’s law school transcript, a writing sample and 3 professional recommendations. Interviews will then be scheduled via phone conference with Mr. Reeder before he selects a qualified extern.
(4) An initial on-site visit was conducted in March 2006. On-going visits will be made on as-need basis; the program director will be in email or phone contact with Mr. Reeder.
(5) The classroom component consists of meeting with the program director weekly or every-other week to update him/her on the student’s progress in the program. Other educational experiences consist of assisting Office of Benefits Counsel’s attorneys on current employee benefits issues and in their preparation of policy, legislative and regulatory advice.
(6) Summaries of the students’ assignments will be placed in the student’s file. At the conclusion of the summer, the student’s Office of Benefits Counsel supervisor will prepare a formal written evaluation (sample copy attached) of the student’s proficiencies and deficiencies in legal skills and general traits, to be placed in the student’s file.
(7) Each extern is assigned to an Office of Benefits Counsel supervising attorney, who is responsible for the extern’s orientation; verification of hours worked; introduction to attorneys, accountants and actuaries in that office; assignment of work; and final evaluating of performance (listing of responsibilities attached).
(8) Formal written evaluation of the student’s performance is made at the end of each summer and forwarded to the program director. Students also must meet with the program director for an exit interview to assess the student’s extern experience. Copies of the student’s formal evaluation and the results of the exit interview are kept in the student’s file.
(9) Students are expected to be afforded a variety of writing experiences (e.g., memorandum, policy guidelines) in their assignments.
(10) Students are required to complete 150 hours per summer for 3-semester hours of school credit, or 200 hours per summer for 4-semester hours of school credit.
(11) The number of students participating in this externship will vary depending on the Office of Benefits Counsel’s need. We expect one student for the summer of 2008.
(12) List of current field placement supervisor with addresses and phone numbers:
Thomas Reeder
Benefits Tax Counsel
Office of Benefits Counsel
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Room 3044
Washington, D.C. 20220
(13) Students selected to participate in this program will work in the Department of Treasury's Office of Tax Policy over the summer months in Washington, DC. The students will assigned to an office of Benefits Counsel supervising attorney, who is responsible for the extern's orientation; introduction to attorneys, accountants and actuaries in that office; assignment of work;; and final evaluation of performance. The education objectives of this externship are to provide students with practical experience in a specialized area of employee benefits law by becoming thoroughly familiar with the legal and policy implications of the Office of Benefits Counsel within the Department of Treasury.
(14) The Program director will keep in phone contact with the applicable Office of Benefits Counsel supervisor on a regular basis during the term of the externship, as well as periodic email/phone meetings with the student during the summer and a final exit interview. At the conclusion of each semester, the program director reports to the Dean and Professor Kandaras (director of the Clinical Education Program) by a written memorandum as to the results of the student’s experience.
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