Hi Allison, I have a set of questions to get to know you better and to learn about your unique experiences as a woman in tax law. Our intention is to give other lawyers and law students insight into potential career choices in tax law and words of advice on how to build a successful tax practice. Let’s get started.
Can you describe your career progression in tax law, including why you chose tax law or did it choose you?
I think it’s fair to say that tax chose me. While in undergrad, I somewhat serendipitously got a summer job in the BC Property Tax office. This eventually led to a full-time job, where I stayed for about 10 years, before I decided to go to law school. At that time, I remember thinking – this is my chance to try something completely different, but by then, I guess I already had the bug. I took a tax class because I thought I should, only to realize that I really love the puzzle. There’s rarely an easy answer in tax. You have to consider the problem from different angles, look for clues in different places, and pull in all types of law before you will find your answer. It really was the thing that lit me up.
I secured articles with a national law firm with a strong tax practice, but deferred a year to clerk at the Tax Court. Both experiences were amazing and exposed me to different aspects of a tax career. When I went to law school there was so much emphasis on big law firm recruitment, that I didn’t even consider any other options. What I learned over the next few years was that the big firm world wasn’t for me. When an opportunity arose to join a Big Four affiliated law firm, I jumped at it. It had the small firm culture within a big firm context, which was exactly what I needed. Now, I get to do interesting work with exceptional people, every single day. I honestly couldn’t have asked for more.
How did you choose where to practice tax law (private practice, public, which firm, etc.) after being a tax court clerk?
I had already secured my articles and deferred them so I could clerk at the Tax Court, so my choice was already made. However, if there was a way I could’ve kept clerking after my year was up, I would’ve done it in a heartbeat!
Can you elaborate on the focus of your tax law practice? (i.e., tax planning or litigation? Corporate tax or personal tax? International or domestic? Private equity, public company, or owner manager? Little bit of everything? etc.) If you had a pie chart, how would you apportion the slices of that pie (e.g., 50% tax litigation, 20% dispute resolution matters with CRA, 30% private enterprise tax planning)?
When you put it that way, my practice is mostly litigation, but I really consider myself a problem solver, and I try to do most of that without needing to go to court (maybe 70% dispute resolution, 15% litigation and 15% planning). My job isn’t about the fight, but rather finding ways to connect with the CRA so I can resolve my clients’ tax disputes collaboratively. As they say, you catch more flies with honey.
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