Oct. 6, 2007
Ljubomir Nacev
nacev@nku.edu
Chase College of Law
Northern Kentucky University
VITA as a Pro Bono Law School Activity
What is VITA about?
1. Preparing tax returns for low-to-moderate income taxpayers
- helping the poor
- participating in community governance
- VITA as a transactional experiential learning opportunity
2. Pedagogical merits: the learning experience
- transferring the learning experience from VITA to the practice of law
- interview skills
- processing skills
- ethical awareness
- the place of judgment in the practice of law
- tax law
- public law
3. Implementing Public Policy, Public Law and a Public Project
- answering the question: can it be done?
- delivering access to a public good to the low-income community
4. The value of VITA as a pro bono activity for students (and faculty).
The VITA experience thus teaches students about: our regulatory state, the socio-
legal aspects of tax compliance involving low-income taxpayers, the tax policy
issues surrounding tax rules dealing with low income taxpayers, interviewing and
counseling skills, processing skills, analytical skills at play in applying a statutory
structure to nuanced fact patterns (family relationships, for example), and the
need for judgment and professionalism. The experience also introduces the
students, in a grand way, to the general need for and the specific issues in
providing access to justice for low-income taxpayers in situations where anti-
poverty programs are delivered through the tax code (and the tax return).
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5. Professionalism: inculcating the pro bono value
As the ABA has expressed the idea, all lawyers should
aspire to render some legal services without fee or
expectation of fee for the good of the public. See ABA
Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 6.1 (“A lawyer
should aspire to render at least (50) hours of pro bono
publico legal services per year.”) This responsibility to
render pro bono services does set the legal profession apart
from other professions.
How to set up a VITA site
6. Where – the physical site (on or off campus)
7. Who – student volunteers
- recruiting students
- training students (initial and ongoing training)
- training with regard to the process
- training with regard to tax law
- training with regard to the tax soft-ware
8. Who – site managers
- recruiting a site manager (from the faculty; from the community)
- the duties of a site manager
- manage the site
- quality control
- e-file follow up
- training the site manager (with regard to the law and the tax software)
- the manager’s role of partnering with the IRS
9. Partnering with the IRS and the Community
- IRS SPEC as a partner (free e-file software; training; quality control)
- outreach: partnering with the community (for example, United Way)
- asset building initiatives
Vita – from walking in to walking out
1. Fact gathering (intake sheet and interview)
2. Application of tax rules (tax decisions; tax ethics and tax judgment)
3. Input and use of tax software
4. Exit review and Quality review
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