Tax Attorney

<p>As of now, I plan to go to Baruch (hopefully Macaulay Honors) and major in accounting, get my CPA, work for a top firm then go to law school (hopefully NYU) to become a tax attorney.</p>

<p>I definitely want to major in Accounting. I am in accounting in my high school and I enjoy it. </p>

<p>However, I don't know too much about taxes yet, so I'm not sure if I'd still be interested. In that case I may just stay an accountant or become a business lawyer.</p>

<p>Does this sound like a pretty good plan to become a tax/business lawyer? Would I be able to get into NYU law school being from Baruch College? Can I get a job at a top accounting firm from Baruch?</p>

<p>Also, is there much advanced math (like calculus) involved with taxes?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>I can’t answer your business/law questions, but I think I can safely assume that there isn’t any advanced math involved with taxes. The most you’ll probably be required to take is either Calculus I or a watered down version of calculus, which some schools might call “Business Calculus,” or something of the sort.</p>

<p>Don’t let math stop you.</p>

<p>Personally, I wouldn’t go to law school if I wanted to do taxes. Instead, I would get the EA (enrolled agent) license, and could easily represent clients in courts, as would tax attorneys.
In terms of taxes, EA > CPA, for it allows you to do almost everything that is somehow related to taxes, and you can represent clients in ANY state, unlike with the CPA license. (only one state).
Also, if you want to go to law school eventually, you should consider Columbia University or Cornell, rather than NYU, for NYU is mostly known for its business program. (other than that, Columbia is #1, and Cornell is #2 in NY) BTW, you can definitely get into all of the above schools coming from Baruch–just have good grades, volunteer, and participate in clubs.</p>

<p>Toshtemirov:</p>

<p>I read on here that NYU has the best LLM program in taxation, but Columbia would definitely be an alternate for me.</p>

<p>And do you know if tax attorneys just represent individuals or do they also represent businesses?</p>

<p>Couple things to remember if you want to go to NYU or Columbia, both in the top 6 of the rankings for law schools(note that NYU Law is higher ranked than NYU Stern, regardless of what Toshtemirov thinks).</p>

<p>You will need to get an LSAT of 170 or higher unless you are an underrepresented minority(i.e. African American, Native American, Mexican or Puerto Rican) in which case you can be a little lower. That is difficult for some to achieve. Check out LawSchoolNumbers if you want to look at where you need to be in terms of GPA and LSAT scores in order to get into particular schools. Also remember that all your grades at the college level prior to earning your degree will count towards your “LSAC GPA” which is what is used for law school. So community college GPA counts.</p>

<p>[LSN</a> :: New York University - Admissions Graph](<a href=“Recently Updated J.D. Profiles | Law School Numbers”>Recently Updated J.D. Profiles | Law School Numbers)</p>

<p>That will show you where you need to be in order to get accepted. I’m also considering law school in the long run but I don’t think I’d do it unless I got a scholarship at a top ten school. Law school is a ton of debt for most who go, most lawyers don’t like their jobs, and those that don’t get good law jobs out of school(which is A LOT of them even at great schools) are screwed.</p>

<p>Also the EA is not as respected as the CPA and it sure as hell isn’t equivalent to a JD and law license. Being an EA doesn’t make you the equivalent of a tax lawyer. Maybe it’s good enough if you are representing a used car dealership with 5 employees. That’s about it.</p>

<p>I did exactly the same path as you plan on doing. I want to Baruch and majored in accounting. Got my CPA and then went to law school for tax law. I did quite well after that.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input Taxguy and Jonahrubin</p>

<p>I made the same question to this [Chicago</a> Area Tax Attorneys | IRS Attorney Chicago | Chicago Bankruptcy Attorney](<a href=“http://www.sheehan-law.com%5DChicago”>http://www.sheehan-law.com) and I got my work done very easily.</p>