Federal Tax Law

The Certificate in Federal Tax Law, awarded to qualified Lewis & Clark students at graduation, recognizes successful curriculum concentration in the field of federal tax law. Students who believe that they will fulfill the requirements as set forth below must complete an application that is available from the Registrar in order to be awarded a Certificate.

Students qualify for a Certificate in Federal Tax Law by satisfying the following requirements: a) Complete Income Taxation I, Corporate Taxation, and Estate and Gift Taxation, and six (6) additional credits in courses approved for the Federal Tax Law Certificate program. A minimum of three (3) of these additional credits must be in approved classroom courses or seminars.

No more than one course or program graded on a credit/no credit basis may be used to meet these credit requirements.

Course credit may be allowed, in the discretion of the Program Director, for one course, of up to three (3) units of credit, taken at another law school. (Questions regarding courses added to or removed from the curriculum from time to time, or the equivalency of any courses taken in other law schools, should be addressed to the Program Director.)

b) Complete one substantial research paper exclusively on one or more topics relating directly to Federal Tax Law. To qualify toward requirements for the Certificate, a paper must satisfy the “A” writing requirement, and be one of the following: (a) a paper written to fulfill course requirements in the Advanced Tax Seminar; (b) a paper written to fulfill course requirements in the Business Planning or Estate Planning Seminars, but only with advance approval of the topic and subsequent review of the paper by the Program Director; c) an externship paper, but only in connection with a Federal Tax Externship; or (d) an Individual Research paper, for a minimum of two semester hours, but only with advance approval of the topic and subsequent review of the paper by the Program Director. Note: Papers not written for graded credit do not satisfy this requirement.

c) Maintain a grade point average of B (3.00) or better in courses taken and selected as qualifying for the Certificate. No course credits transferred from another law school and accepted for use toward the Certificate will be used in computing the grade point average. For students entering the Law School before Fall Term 2005, this requirement shall be applied using the grade of “B-minus (2.70)” in lieu of “B (3.00).”

For a complete list of courses that qualify for the Federal Tax Certificate, see the website.http://www.lclark.edu/dept/lawreg/certificates.html Application form is also found at this website.