Tax Law Institute | 1717 N Street NW | Washington, DC 20036 | +1(202) 800-9230
"Unreservedly Recommended"
TAX LAW INSTITUTE Hawaii Program
Remote Student Trial Practice at the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic 501(c)(3)
U.S. Tax Court Non-Attorney Bar Review & Tutorial Services
Taxpayer Services, Advocacy, Education & Pro Bono Legal Representation in Hawaii
Taxpayer Services, Advocacy, Education & Pro Bono Legal Representation in Hawaii
The Tax Law Institute offers the only digital U.S. Tax Court Litigator training program for non-lawyers in the country. Christopher Kelaher M. Sc. Management M.Sc. Taxation, a '23 tax bar candidate, serves as the interim administrator. He holds a master's degree in management from Harvard University as well as a master's degree in taxation. Mr. Kelaher was first designated Program Assistant, a position he held until he became a Teaching Assistant in January 2022. The content of the THINKIFIC application was imputed by Rod Monger who previously served as Interim Director of Tutorial Services. He is an E.A. and teaching specialist in financial accounting. His practice area of interests is in tax fraud and evasion defense. He holds a Ph.D., MBA in Accounting and B.A. in Economics from the University of Houston. Aside from his work on the digital platform, Mr. Monger was also an invaluable assistant during the organizing and funding of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic, that was awarded a grant to operate an IRS low-income tax clinic on the islands in 2021 but is not funded in 2022.
Taxpayer Services, Advocacy, Education & Pro Bono Legal Representation in Hawaii
Taxpayer Services, Advocacy, Education & Pro Bono Legal Representation in Hawaii
Taxpayer Services, Advocacy, Education & Pro Bono Legal Representation in Hawaii
The Tax Law Institute organized the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic aka Hawaii Low Income Tax Clinic (Hawaii LITC) in summer 2020. Located in downtown Honolulu, the Clinic is a "no-fee" low-income tax facility. Generously supported by the Tax Law Institute, the clinic was approved in November 2020. The Clinic opened its doors on May 1, 2021, and is staffed by local residents. TLI Faculty member and clinic co-founder, Janean Kong, E.A. and Hawaii state-certified professional is a graduate of the University of Hawaii Program in Professional Accounting. She serves as the Clinic Director. Ms. Kong manages three volunteers. Terra Malia Foti serves as volunteer Executive Assistant to the Clinic Director Terra is skilled in marketing. Oversight is provided by a Board of Directors composed of two federal tax experts and a tax litigator-CPA. Michael Stuart J.D. MPA serves as IRS-designated Project Director and President of the nonprofit corporation. The Clinic expects to be again funded by the IRS Tax Payer Advocate Service in 2024. Additional offices will provide services on the island of Maui.
Deficiency Pleadings, Branerton, Pre-Trial Practice & Litigation
Taxpayer Services, Advocacy, Education & Pro Bono Legal Representation in Hawaii
Resolution of Civil Tax Controversies, Trial Practice & Taxpayer Representation
Deficiency actions, pleadings, pretrial procedures, and litigation are explained by our IRS-approved CPE provider, Michael Stuart J.D. MPA and former chairperson of the joint litigation training program at the University of Alabama School of Law Graduate Tax Program and Tax Law Institute. He is professor emeritus and teaching specialist for non-attorney bar preparation, litigation and trial practice. Mr. Stuart is approved by The Florida Bar as CLE provider of Federal Tax Law to attorneys and delivers his programming via THINKIFIC, an electronic application linked to TLI's educational platform. He is also the architect of the pro bono legal representation program and co-founder of the TLI- and IRS-funded Hawaii Low Income Federal Tax Clinic in Honolulu. He is also the Lexis Nexis liaison. Mr. Stuart is a former White House tax policy advisor and past visiting scholar of public policy (taxation) appointee at Yale Law School. He was special consultant to Harvard University for banking, auditing and finance. Previously, he spent 20 years on Wall Street where he helped to finance and build $45,000,000 of affordable housing during the height of a national homeless crisis. He is the coordinator of the Student Trial Practice Program at Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic.
Resolution of Civil Tax Controversies, Trial Practice & Taxpayer Representation
Resolution of Civil Tax Controversies, Trial Practice & Taxpayer Representation
Resolution of Civil Tax Controversies, Trial Practice & Taxpayer Representation
Louis L.B. Carpenter CPA CFA USTCP, has been in Federal tax practice as a CPA for almost 30 years. He is also a Certified Financial Planner. Mr. Carpenter is an admitted member of the Tax Court bar and serves as Chief Tax Litigation Counsel and Tax Practice Director. He is co-founder and board member, and pro bono legal representative of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic in Honolulu. Aside from providing litigation services, he is often called upon to express his knowledge of the IRC and caselaw as an expert witness. He trained in U.S. Tax Court litigation and trial practice at TLI where he was named Judicial Merit Scholar. He was degreed with the B.Sc. in Accounting at the University of Miami. He serves as a Senior Lecturer at TLI and as an advisor to the Charitable Giving Program at the Tax Law Institute.
Opinions and Decisions Review, Case Analysis, Motions & Appeal Preparation
Resolution of Civil Tax Controversies, Trial Practice & Taxpayer Representation
Opinions and Decisions Review, Case Analysis, Motions & Appeal Preparation
Now, in full retirement, the Honorable Judge John F. Dean J.D. LL.M. served as the Distinguished Judicial Speaker at the Tax Law Institute from 2014-20. He was appointed Dean of Faculty in 2021. Judge Dean joined the Tax Law Institute upon his retirement from the bench on the U.S. Tax Court, where he sat for twenty years. During his time at TLI, Judge Dean worked to develop the first litigation training and trial practice program for non-lawyers in the United States. As the Distinguished Judicial Speaker Emeritus, Judge Dean does, on occasion, continue to offer insights into federal tax laws and tax court trial practice and litigation. His educational contribution “opened the door” for non-attorneys to hone skills previously held only by tax lawyers. Consequent to his efforts, TLI-trained litigators have achieve some of the best litigation results in the Tax Court. Read his story in January 2021 Attorney at Law Magazine.
IRS Practice and Procedural Analysis, Tax Research & the IRC
Resolution of Civil Tax Controversies, Trial Practice & Taxpayer Representation
Opinions and Decisions Review, Case Analysis, Motions & Appeal Preparation
Our Federal tax research is provided by James H. Chapman E.A. M.A. MPA, an expert in tax accountancy, auditing, and fraud detection. He is an IRS Enrolled Agent, National Tax Institute Fellow and co-founder of Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic. He follows Congressional legislative outcomes related to U.S. Treasury Regulations and the Internal Revenue Code from which they are derived. He is one of the longest- serving faculty members at the Tax Law Institute and is active during the 2023 Testing Cycle as Lecturer Emeritus. Mr. Chapman's principal role is that of Chief Tax Accountant for the corporate affiliates. He is also the coordinator of the TLI Professional Practice Program that offers joint training for practice before the IRS and USTC. He earned the M.A. and M.P.A. from Webster College. He is the 2023 FY chairman of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic Board of Directors. He teaches the Gleim course in Foundational Tax during the 2023 Testing Cycle and serves as academic advisor to 2021 non-attorney bar applicants.
Lorry Sorgman E.A., MST and USTCP, 2023 Visiting Lecturer
Judge John F. Dean, Fmr. Special Trial Judge, U.S. Tax Court & Professor Emeritus and Dean
Judge John F. Dean, Fmr. Special Trial Judge, U.S. Tax Court & Professor Emeritus and Dean
Lorraine (Lorry) Sorgman E.A. USTCP, better known as just `Lorry’ has been an Enrolled Agent since1987. Ms Sorgman earned both her BS in Business Administration and her Master of Science in Taxation from Suffolk University. Ms Sorgman is among a handful of Enrolled Agents permitted to practice in the United States Tax Court.
Ms. Sorgman is a Fellow and former President of NTPI’s Graduate Fellows’ Association. She has presented workshops on Real Estate for Real Estate Professionals;; Burden of Proof; and Privilege for Federally Authorized Tax Practitioners (Beast or Burden); Practitioner Penalties; and Collection Alternatives with the IRS; Family Daycare Providers, Record keeping and Taxation; Tax Practice Management in the Electronic Age; Taxpayer Representation; Offer In Compromise; and has successfully defended a case in the United States Tax Court on whether an MBA is a valid deductible employee business expense. Ms. Sorgman was the 2002 recipient of the Massachusetts Enrolled Agent of the Year, and the 2009 recipient as Mentor of The Year, awarded by the National Association of Enrolled Agents.
Judge John F. Dean, Fmr. Special Trial Judge, U.S. Tax Court & Professor Emeritus and Dean
Judge John F. Dean, Fmr. Special Trial Judge, U.S. Tax Court & Professor Emeritus and Dean
Judge John F. Dean, Fmr. Special Trial Judge, U.S. Tax Court & Professor Emeritus and Dean
Now, in full retirement, the Honorable Judge John F. Dean is the Dean Emeritus of Faculty at the Tax Law Institute and Distinguished Judicial Speaker Emeritus. He is a former Special Trial Judge of the U.S. Tax Court. Previously, he served as an attorney in the IRS Office of General Counsel in both the domestic and international sections. He entered legal practice in 1974 as Government counsel. He was appointed to the bench in 1994 by President Clinton. His numerous cases are archived among thousands held by the U.S. Tax Court. He has distinguished himself as the only former U.S. Tax Court Special Trial Judge ever to oversee non-attorney bar preparation and practice in the history of the Court. For the last six years, he served as a judicial educator and speaker at the Tax Law Institute where he prepared federally authorized tax practitioners (FATPs) to pass the difficult Tax Court Non-attorney Examination. His judicial guidance and insight contributed to the skills-set currently held by IRS enrolled agents and CPAs applicants who were subsequently admitted to practice before the Court as United States Tax Court Practitioners aka Tax Litigation Counsels.
L.B. Carpenter CPA & USTCP, Chief Tax Litigator & Tax Practice Director
Judge John F. Dean, Fmr. Special Trial Judge, U.S. Tax Court & Professor Emeritus and Dean
L.B. Carpenter CPA & USTCP, Chief Tax Litigator & Tax Practice Director
The previously scheduled 2021 Guest Speaker, T. Keith Fogg who directs Harvard Law School's Federal Tax Clinic at the Legal Services Center became overwhelmed so L.B. Carpenter CPA USTCP, graciously stepped-in as his replacement for 2021Tax Bar Review. L.B. joined the Tax Law Institute faculty in 2017 after being named Judicial Merit Scholar. He was elected to the board of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic in 2020 and serves as the pro bono legal representative for its taxpayer clients. Last year, he became chief litigator and tax practice director. He was one of the early advisors and advocates for Tax Law Institute's undertaking to establish the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic which opened its doors on May 1, 2021, to serve the taxpayers living on the Hawaiian Islands. That clinic is modeled on the HLS operation in Boston that is run by Professor Fogg. He has operated his own accounting firm for over 30 years. He has handled all sorts of cases before the IRS and has extensive experience with international transactions. We are fortunate to list him as a lecturer.
"U.S. TAX COURT LITIGATOR" SELF-STUDY
Purchase our digital self-study module for the 2025 Tax Bar Exam - Get all four (4) tested subjects and more - Tax Evidence, Legal Ethics, U.S. Tax Court Rules & Substantive Tax Law - $3995