Tax Law Certificate | New England Law
Source: https://www.nesl.edu/academics-and-faculty/certificates-and-concentrations/tax-law
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:11
Tax Law Certificate | New England Law
Tax Law
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Academics and Faculty
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Certificates and Concentrations
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Tax Law
What Do Taxation Lawyers Practicing Tax Law Do?
Everyone is subject to tax law, which means tax lawyers can find work in virtually every employment sector. New England Law’s Tax Law concentration program prepares graduates for careers at accounting firms, law firms, in tax departments, and in government.
Tackle Emerging Issues
Understand the multifaceted arena of Tax Law as you explore its evolving issues, including:
Personal Income Tax
Business Organizations
Taxation of Business Entities
Accounting For Lawyers
Federal tax planning and practice
Family Law
Estate planning
Nonprofit Organizations
Real Estate Transactions
The Center for Business Law
Benefit from our on-campus hub for research, thought leadership, and experiential learning in business law. At the Center, you’ll discover how the legal and business worlds intersect, explore emerging issues, and gain resume-building experience as you learn from and work with some of this field’s foremost minds.
Learn more
Tax Law Concentration Courses
To earn a concentration in Tax Law, choose 10 credits from any of these exciting electives.
Designed to give students a familiarity with accounting and business theory and terminology. Heavy emphasis is placed on planning and analyzing various business transactions from an accounting and legal perspective using financial data and incorporating tax implications. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirement.
Examines the similarities and differences among various types of business organizations (sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies). Important issues studied include organization and formation requirements; roles, responsibilities, and potential liabilities of persons acting on behalf of the business organization and/or owning the business organization; the procedures and most frequent grounds for litigation involving business organizations; corporate social responsibility; and a brief introduction to the law of securities regulation and corporate control.
This capstone course focuses on typical issues lawyers face in representing closely-held and private businesses. These issues track the life cycle of the business from formation through operation and growth and ending with an exit from the business. The approach of the course integrates issues from substantive corporation law, partnership law and limited liability company (LLC) law with federal business income tax and federal securities law issues. Specific issues addressed include: choice of entity; determining governance structure; financing the business; compensating the owners and manager; operating and growing the business; exit strategies including selling the business, merging the business, or going public. Additional topics include practical and ethical issues involving who the lawyer represents, distinguishing legal issues from business issues and alternatives to traditional hourly billing. This course may be offered every other year.
Covers both estate planning for smaller estates and tax-oriented estate planning. After a consideration of planning techniques for the smaller estate, basic concepts of federal estate and gift taxation are introduced through the study of relevant estate and gift tax code sections and regulations. Thereafter, the course considers various problems involved in planning for the preservation and disposition of wealth. Among the tools studied are wills, revocable and irrevocable inter vivos trusts, and various gifting techniques. Careful analysis is given to the impact of estate, gift, and income tax laws on the disposition of property under different types of plans. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirements.
Surveys many legal problems of the family. Students taking this course will learn about the effect of the constitution on reproductive activity and family formation and structure. They also will learn about procedures for family dissolution, custody, and support, regardless of whether there has been a marriage or not. In addition, students will learn about the various ways in which members of families can use contracts to create their own relations and the settings in which the state does not permit self-determination. Finally, the course explores the lawyer’s role in family counseling and litigation. One or more written exercises are sometimes required during the course, in addition to a final examination.
Focuses on three principal areas: real estate sales, conveyancing, and mortgage law. In the area of sales transactions, the course covers such topics as the lawyer’s professional responsibility, duties owed by brokers to sellers and buyers, offers of purchase, purchase and sales agreements, remedies for breach, and closing. In the area of conveyancing, the course covers the requisites and construction of deeds, escrows, surveyor malpractice, recording procedures, liabilities of grantors for defective conditions, title searches, title abstracts, and title insurance. In the mortgage law component, the course covers the defining characteristics and standard provisions of a mortgage, mortgage substitutes, discrimination in lending, lien priorities and subordination of interests, assignments by mortgagees, transfer by mortgagors, foreclosures, redemption, waste, usury, and fixture security interests. The course emphasizes the negotiation and proper drafting of instruments.
This course will examine nonprofit organizations and the sector in which they operate. The course will focus on the legal framework governing the operation of the nonprofit organizations, including issues of choice of form, governing bodies, and regulation of solicitations. The course also will survey the basic federal income and state property tax issues relevant to operation of the nonprofit organization. These issues include qualification for tax exemption, filing requirements, engaging in commercial activities, and the distinction between public charities and private foundations. This course may be offered every other year.
This course covers the Internal Revenue Code provisions applicable to the tax treatment of individual taxpayers. Students also will study tax policy, case law, and the tax doctrines and principles applicable to the determination of an individual’s taxable income. This course provides the basic structure for understanding and interpreting the Internal Revenue Code, and serves as a foundation for upper-level tax and business-related law school courses. Areas of coverage includes: gross income; the tax consequences of property transactions; property acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance; scholarships, prizes, and awards; life insurance and annuities; discharge of indebtedness; personal injury damages; fringe benefits; divorce; and deductions related to a trade or business or profit-seeking activity. When offered as a distance-learning course, there will be required weekly readings from the casebook and online statutory and regulatory sources, regular mini-lectures on prerecorded video accompanied by PowerPoint slides, discussion forums to which students must make posts each week, and weekly quizzes. All course material other than the casebook will be accessible by any computing device through an Internet connection. While most of the course will be asynchronous, opportunities will be presented for synchronous digital chat. In addition to posing questions and providing guidance on the discussion boards and through the video lectures, the professor will be available throughout the course by e-mail, conference call, or live chat. Grading will be based on participation in the forums (including a qualitative component), performance on quizzes, and a final “open-book” examination.
This course covers the federal tax treatment of the four main business entity forms. Students will study and learn the tax provisions and tax principles that provide for double tax treatment of C corporations and single-level tax treatment of S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. Emphasis will be on issues related to the formation, operation, and liquidation of those business entities. This course is intended for students with an interest in a business law practice, for students who have a strong interest in tax law, as well as for students who are interested in specializing in tax law.
This course is designed to give the student a grounding in the general law relating to donative transfers of property interests taking place at death. It covers intestate succession, wills laws, nonprobate transfers, and some trust laws. It is not jurisdiction-specific; instead, it focuses on majority and minority rules and trends in the law. Jurisdictional comparisons often will be made. When offered as a distance learning course, there will be required weekly readings from the casebook, regular mini-lectures on prerecorded video accompanied by PowerPoint slides, discussion forums to which students must make posts each week, and weekly assessments, including quizzes. All course material other than the casebook will be accessible by any computing device through an Internet connection. While most of the course will be asynchronous, opportunities will be presented for synchronous digital chat. In addition to posing questions and providing guidance on the discussion boards and through the video lectures, the professor will be available throughout the course by e-mail, telephone, in-person at New England Law Boston, and/or via Skype. Grading will be based on participation in the forums (including a qualitative component), performance on quizzes, and a final “open-book” examination.
Stories of Success
“Choosing a law school with a part-time program enabled me to pursue my dream of becoming an attorney and provided the flexibility to build my Résumé through full-time internships, clinics, and employment.”
—
Christopher Hughes, Graduate
“I was able to experience what life is really like as counsel for an international corporation.”
—
Katie Milligan, Graduate
“Our graduates stay, grow their careers, and help build our communities. We’re woven into the fabric of New England.”
—
Karyn Polito, Graduate
“There are hundreds of law schools to choose from, but very few of them leave the impression New England Law does on its students.”
—
Czara Venegas, Graduate
Put What You Learn into Practice
Business and Intellectual Property Law Clinic
Understand the practice of business and/or intellectual property law from the inside. In this clinic, you’ll spend up to 15 hours per week in the field, working in a government agency, private law firm, nonprofit organization, a business’s legal department, or another compliance-related position.
Learn more
Business Practice Credit
If you’re interested in business law, consider this option. For an average of five hours each week (or at least 65 hours per semester), you’ll assist attorneys in handling matters in various areas of business law. Your specific duties and hours may vary depending on your placement, which aligns with your career goals.
Learn more
Moot Court/Mock Trial Participation
Sharpen your research, presentation, and litigation skills—and demonstrate those skills to potential employers—as a member of a moot court/mock trial team. Coached by faculty members, these teams compete at such events as the National Tax Moot Court Competition and the Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition in intellectual property law.
Learn more
Summer Fellowship Program
Work alongside practicing attorneys in law firms, corporations, or government agencies after your first year (second year for part‑time students). Receive a $4,500 stipend and make valuable professional connections as you spend eight to 10 weeks gaining experience drafting legal documents, managing case files, conducting research, and attending client meetings and court proceedings.
Learn more
Pro Bono
Working on pro bono projects through our
Center for Business Law
or
Business Law Society
is a rewarding way to build practical legal skills—and discover where your legal passions lie. You’ll serve clients in need, gain valuable hands-on experience, and may earn recognition on your law school transcript. An initiative popular with business students is the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, which provides free tax return preparation assistance to those in need (in conjunction with a national program).
Learn more
Tax Law Advisor
Kent Schenkel
LLM, University of Florida College of Law
JD, Florida State University College of Law
BA, Stetson University
Professor Schenkel grew his career as a solo practitioner in North Carolina, providing legal and tax planning services with a specialty in estate planning and administration.
Learn more
Explore All New England Law Concentrations
Family Law Concentration
A top-ranked law school for family law, our 10-credit concentration covers this specialty’s wide spectrum of issues, including children and the law, domestic violence, law and the elderly, and juvenile law. It gives you ample…
Learn more
International Law Concentration
Prepare to meet our interconnected world’s demand for legal practitioners who specialize in international law as you explore your interest and gain practical experience in human rights law, international business, and global economic regulations.
Learn more
Litigation Concentration
Prepare for this exciting, multifaceted legal specialty that can lead to an exhilarating career. You’ll gain the skills to be an effective criminal or civil litigator equipped to represent clients in state and federal court,…
Learn more
Public Interest Law Concentration
Explore and gain real-world experience in this field’s many facets, including criminal law,environmental law, family law, immigration law, and public international law, while learning and working alongside others who share your purpose and your passion.
Learn more
Small Firm Practice
Whether you’re hoping to get in on the ground floor advising a startup, want to help the family business, or plan to launch your own practice, this 10-credit concentration will prepare you to hit the…
Learn more
Trusts & Estates Law
Help individuals and families plan and administer their estates and represent executors and trustees. You’ll learn to counsel clients in the transfer of their wealth to loved ones, and how to plan for the possibility…
Learn more
See Yourself at New England Law
Think New England Law | Boston is the perfect fit for you but want to find out before you apply?
VISIT CAMPUS
REQUEST INFO
VIEWBOOK
STUDENT LIFE
Tax Law
Home
>
Academics and Faculty
>
Certificates and Concentrations
>
Tax Law
What Do Taxation Lawyers Practicing Tax Law Do?
Everyone is subject to tax law, which means tax lawyers can find work in virtually every employment sector. New England Law’s Tax Law concentration program prepares graduates for careers at accounting firms, law firms, in tax departments, and in government.
Tackle Emerging Issues
Understand the multifaceted arena of Tax Law as you explore its evolving issues, including:
Personal Income Tax
Business Organizations
Taxation of Business Entities
Accounting For Lawyers
Federal tax planning and practice
Family Law
Estate planning
Nonprofit Organizations
Real Estate Transactions
The Center for Business Law
Benefit from our on-campus hub for research, thought leadership, and experiential learning in business law. At the Center, you’ll discover how the legal and business worlds intersect, explore emerging issues, and gain resume-building experience as you learn from and work with some of this field’s foremost minds.
Learn more
Tax Law Concentration Courses
To earn a concentration in Tax Law, choose 10 credits from any of these exciting electives.
Designed to give students a familiarity with accounting and business theory and terminology. Heavy emphasis is placed on planning and analyzing various business transactions from an accounting and legal perspective using financial data and incorporating tax implications. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirement.
Examines the similarities and differences among various types of business organizations (sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies). Important issues studied include organization and formation requirements; roles, responsibilities, and potential liabilities of persons acting on behalf of the business organization and/or owning the business organization; the procedures and most frequent grounds for litigation involving business organizations; corporate social responsibility; and a brief introduction to the law of securities regulation and corporate control.
This capstone course focuses on typical issues lawyers face in representing closely-held and private businesses. These issues track the life cycle of the business from formation through operation and growth and ending with an exit from the business. The approach of the course integrates issues from substantive corporation law, partnership law and limited liability company (LLC) law with federal business income tax and federal securities law issues. Specific issues addressed include: choice of entity; determining governance structure; financing the business; compensating the owners and manager; operating and growing the business; exit strategies including selling the business, merging the business, or going public. Additional topics include practical and ethical issues involving who the lawyer represents, distinguishing legal issues from business issues and alternatives to traditional hourly billing. This course may be offered every other year.
Covers both estate planning for smaller estates and tax-oriented estate planning. After a consideration of planning techniques for the smaller estate, basic concepts of federal estate and gift taxation are introduced through the study of relevant estate and gift tax code sections and regulations. Thereafter, the course considers various problems involved in planning for the preservation and disposition of wealth. Among the tools studied are wills, revocable and irrevocable inter vivos trusts, and various gifting techniques. Careful analysis is given to the impact of estate, gift, and income tax laws on the disposition of property under different types of plans. Please check the most recent course registration information to determine if this course meets the Experiential Education/Professional Skills requirements.
Surveys many legal problems of the family. Students taking this course will learn about the effect of the constitution on reproductive activity and family formation and structure. They also will learn about procedures for family dissolution, custody, and support, regardless of whether there has been a marriage or not. In addition, students will learn about the various ways in which members of families can use contracts to create their own relations and the settings in which the state does not permit self-determination. Finally, the course explores the lawyer’s role in family counseling and litigation. One or more written exercises are sometimes required during the course, in addition to a final examination.
Focuses on three principal areas: real estate sales, conveyancing, and mortgage law. In the area of sales transactions, the course covers such topics as the lawyer’s professional responsibility, duties owed by brokers to sellers and buyers, offers of purchase, purchase and sales agreements, remedies for breach, and closing. In the area of conveyancing, the course covers the requisites and construction of deeds, escrows, surveyor malpractice, recording procedures, liabilities of grantors for defective conditions, title searches, title abstracts, and title insurance. In the mortgage law component, the course covers the defining characteristics and standard provisions of a mortgage, mortgage substitutes, discrimination in lending, lien priorities and subordination of interests, assignments by mortgagees, transfer by mortgagors, foreclosures, redemption, waste, usury, and fixture security interests. The course emphasizes the negotiation and proper drafting of instruments.
This course will examine nonprofit organizations and the sector in which they operate. The course will focus on the legal framework governing the operation of the nonprofit organizations, including issues of choice of form, governing bodies, and regulation of solicitations. The course also will survey the basic federal income and state property tax issues relevant to operation of the nonprofit organization. These issues include qualification for tax exemption, filing requirements, engaging in commercial activities, and the distinction between public charities and private foundations. This course may be offered every other year.
This course covers the Internal Revenue Code provisions applicable to the tax treatment of individual taxpayers. Students also will study tax policy, case law, and the tax doctrines and principles applicable to the determination of an individual’s taxable income. This course provides the basic structure for understanding and interpreting the Internal Revenue Code, and serves as a foundation for upper-level tax and business-related law school courses. Areas of coverage includes: gross income; the tax consequences of property transactions; property acquired by gift, bequest, devise, or inheritance; scholarships, prizes, and awards; life insurance and annuities; discharge of indebtedness; personal injury damages; fringe benefits; divorce; and deductions related to a trade or business or profit-seeking activity. When offered as a distance-learning course, there will be required weekly readings from the casebook and online statutory and regulatory sources, regular mini-lectures on prerecorded video accompanied by PowerPoint slides, discussion forums to which students must make posts each week, and weekly quizzes. All course material other than the casebook will be accessible by any computing device through an Internet connection. While most of the course will be asynchronous, opportunities will be presented for synchronous digital chat. In addition to posing questions and providing guidance on the discussion boards and through the video lectures, the professor will be available throughout the course by e-mail, conference call, or live chat. Grading will be based on participation in the forums (including a qualitative component), performance on quizzes, and a final “open-book” examination.
This course covers the federal tax treatment of the four main business entity forms. Students will study and learn the tax provisions and tax principles that provide for double tax treatment of C corporations and single-level tax treatment of S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. Emphasis will be on issues related to the formation, operation, and liquidation of those business entities. This course is intended for students with an interest in a business law practice, for students who have a strong interest in tax law, as well as for students who are interested in specializing in tax law.
This course is designed to give the student a grounding in the general law relating to donative transfers of property interests taking place at death. It covers intestate succession, wills laws, nonprobate transfers, and some trust laws. It is not jurisdiction-specific; instead, it focuses on majority and minority rules and trends in the law. Jurisdictional comparisons often will be made. When offered as a distance learning course, there will be required weekly readings from the casebook, regular mini-lectures on prerecorded video accompanied by PowerPoint slides, discussion forums to which students must make posts each week, and weekly assessments, including quizzes. All course material other than the casebook will be accessible by any computing device through an Internet connection. While most of the course will be asynchronous, opportunities will be presented for synchronous digital chat. In addition to posing questions and providing guidance on the discussion boards and through the video lectures, the professor will be available throughout the course by e-mail, telephone, in-person at New England Law Boston, and/or via Skype. Grading will be based on participation in the forums (including a qualitative component), performance on quizzes, and a final “open-book” examination.
Stories of Success
“Choosing a law school with a part-time program enabled me to pursue my dream of becoming an attorney and provided the flexibility to build my Résumé through full-time internships, clinics, and employment.”
—
Christopher Hughes, Graduate
“I was able to experience what life is really like as counsel for an international corporation.”
—
Katie Milligan, Graduate
“Our graduates stay, grow their careers, and help build our communities. We’re woven into the fabric of New England.”
—
Karyn Polito, Graduate
“There are hundreds of law schools to choose from, but very few of them leave the impression New England Law does on its students.”
—
Czara Venegas, Graduate
Put What You Learn into Practice
Business and Intellectual Property Law Clinic
Understand the practice of business and/or intellectual property law from the inside. In this clinic, you’ll spend up to 15 hours per week in the field, working in a government agency, private law firm, nonprofit organization, a business’s legal department, or another compliance-related position.
Learn more
Business Practice Credit
If you’re interested in business law, consider this option. For an average of five hours each week (or at least 65 hours per semester), you’ll assist attorneys in handling matters in various areas of business law. Your specific duties and hours may vary depending on your placement, which aligns with your career goals.
Learn more
Moot Court/Mock Trial Participation
Sharpen your research, presentation, and litigation skills—and demonstrate those skills to potential employers—as a member of a moot court/mock trial team. Coached by faculty members, these teams compete at such events as the National Tax Moot Court Competition and the Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition in intellectual property law.
Learn more
Summer Fellowship Program
Work alongside practicing attorneys in law firms, corporations, or government agencies after your first year (second year for part‑time students). Receive a $4,500 stipend and make valuable professional connections as you spend eight to 10 weeks gaining experience drafting legal documents, managing case files, conducting research, and attending client meetings and court proceedings.
Learn more
Pro Bono
Working on pro bono projects through our
Center for Business Law
or
Business Law Society
is a rewarding way to build practical legal skills—and discover where your legal passions lie. You’ll serve clients in need, gain valuable hands-on experience, and may earn recognition on your law school transcript. An initiative popular with business students is the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, which provides free tax return preparation assistance to those in need (in conjunction with a national program).
Learn more
Tax Law Advisor
Kent Schenkel
LLM, University of Florida College of Law
JD, Florida State University College of Law
BA, Stetson University
Professor Schenkel grew his career as a solo practitioner in North Carolina, providing legal and tax planning services with a specialty in estate planning and administration.
Learn more
Explore All New England Law Concentrations
Family Law Concentration
A top-ranked law school for family law, our 10-credit concentration covers this specialty’s wide spectrum of issues, including children and the law, domestic violence, law and the elderly, and juvenile law. It gives you ample…
Learn more
International Law Concentration
Prepare to meet our interconnected world’s demand for legal practitioners who specialize in international law as you explore your interest and gain practical experience in human rights law, international business, and global economic regulations.
Learn more
Litigation Concentration
Prepare for this exciting, multifaceted legal specialty that can lead to an exhilarating career. You’ll gain the skills to be an effective criminal or civil litigator equipped to represent clients in state and federal court,…
Learn more
Public Interest Law Concentration
Explore and gain real-world experience in this field’s many facets, including criminal law,environmental law, family law, immigration law, and public international law, while learning and working alongside others who share your purpose and your passion.
Learn more
Small Firm Practice
Whether you’re hoping to get in on the ground floor advising a startup, want to help the family business, or plan to launch your own practice, this 10-credit concentration will prepare you to hit the…
Learn more
Trusts & Estates Law
Help individuals and families plan and administer their estates and represent executors and trustees. You’ll learn to counsel clients in the transfer of their wealth to loved ones, and how to plan for the possibility…
Learn more
See Yourself at New England Law
Think New England Law | Boston is the perfect fit for you but want to find out before you apply?
VISIT CAMPUS
REQUEST INFO
VIEWBOOK
STUDENT LIFE