Certificate in Tax Law

There is a growing demand for attorneys with expertise in the law of taxation. The Tax Law Certificate gives students the change to develop the practical and technical skills needed to build successful tax careers. Our certificate signals to employers that the student not only has a mastery of the basic principles of taxation but also has been exposed to many of the intricacies of tax administration, litigation, and practice. Further, the Tax Law Certificate evidences to LLM admissions committees that the student has the foundation to be successful in a rigor graduate tax program.

Students must complete all requirements for the award of the JD degree and must additionally earn a total of 16 credit hours in tax law-designated courses, obtaining an overall GPA of 3.0 in said courses. The tax law-designated courses consist of: Business Entities, Estate Planning, Income Tax, International Tax, Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, Tax Procedure and Litigation, Taxation of Flow-Through Entities, and Trusts. No more than 6 of the total required 15 credit hours may be obtained from participation in the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.

On December 16, 1946, in response to a lawsuit by an African-American resident seeking to attend law school at a state institution, the Louisiana State Board of Education took “positive steps to establish a Law School for Negroes at Southern University…to be in operation for the 1947-1948 session.”

Plans for the law school were approved by the State Board of Education at its January 10, 1947, meeting. On June 14, 1947, the Board of Liquidation of State Debt appropriated $40,000 for the operation of the school. The Southern University Law School was officially opened in September 1947 to provide legal education for African American students.

Southern University Law Center graduates, beginning with the legendary civil rights attorney, political leader, and educator Jesse N. Stone, Jr., Alvin Basile Jones, Leroy White, Ellyson Fredrick Dyson, and Alex Louis Pitcher of the class of 1950, have spread across the state and nation as trailblazers in the legal profession, securing equal rights for others. To date, the Law Center has more than 2,500 graduates and is one of the nation’s most racially diverse law schools.