Eversheds Sutherland Archives

Eversheds Sutherland / Museums and Monuments

Tax Lawyers at the Portrait Gallery

December 9, 2019

The COST conference at the National Portrait Gallery.

State and local tax attorneys from across the country recently came to Washington D.C. for the Council On State Taxation (COST) annual conference. The conference was held at a hotel downtown, but the reception was in Chinatown at the National Portrait Gallery. A group of us went over after the work day, and it was a fun time.

After the COST conference reception, my firm held a client-only private dinner across the street at Dirty Habit in Hotel Monaco. There was a ton of food, but this was my favorite part:

End of Summer

September 3, 2019

It has been a long summer. Here’s the tea:

Work: It is busy, fun and challenging. I cannot believe that I started as an extern exactly two years ago! It is scary how quickly time passed, and how much has happened since I started. I still feel lucky to have been accepted to Georgetown’s tax law LL.M. program and to have started at one of the top law firms for State and Local Tax.

I remain actively involved with the law center and frequently meet with new tax students. It is a privilege to meet the new crop of talent every year, and even help some of them score interviews with us. I also took on three ongoing pro bono projects involving trans rights, death penalty law, and immigration — and I love that I work in a profession where I learn something new every single day.

One project for the fall is increasing my efficiency and building up my billable hours. I am also a board member of the DC LGBT Bar and the Texas Minority Counsel Program, which should keep me pretty booked and bless throughout the rest of the year.

Eversheds Sutherland / LLM / memories / Washington DC

Three minutes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

April 26, 2018

The lines in front of the Supreme Court right before the Wayfair v. South Dakota oral arguments.

It’s shortly after 3 a.m. and I’m walking across D.C. in a black suit carrying two narrow duffle bags.

I am prepared to 1) get mugged, or 2) explain to a police officer that I’m not a hitman, but rather a tax lawyer headed to the Supreme Court.

The duffle bags contain branded folded chairs from my law firm. I am on my way to a hotel to meet an associate lawyer who flew in from one of our other offices.

I make it to the hotel without getting mugged or stopped by a cop.

The associate is outside of the hotel with a woman from a competing law firm in New York. Introductions are made and we then have the most ridiculous time getting a cab – the three taxis in front of the hotel are not interested in driving us only 2 miles to court. They would rather wait for a more lucrative fare to a far flung airport.

We eventually flag a taxi and make it the Supreme Court plaza.

It’s about 4 a.m. and there are already dozens of people camped out in line.

Professional line-standers in front of the Supreme Court.

The lines in front of the Supreme Court before the Wayfair v. South Dakota oral arguments.

The case that attracted this odd mix of tax lawyers, tourists, and professional line-standers is South Dakota v. Wayfair. This is the first major state and local tax (SALT) case to reach the Supreme Court in about 25 years and my SALT professors have been buzzing about the case ever since my first week at Georgetown’s tax LL.M. program.

In August, I never imagined that I would actually be present at such an important Supreme Court oral argument. (The timing at the end of the semester is terrible.) And yet here I am, in the middle of the night among new coworkers.