The Taxation Law Group wrapped up 2020 with the 61st Annual Tax Law Institute in December. Chair Ryan Whitaker, an associate with DBL Law, took over the group’s leadership last year and has high hopes for 2021. We caught up with Ryan to learn more about the evolving field of the legal tax professional.
Q: When did you join the Taxation Law Group?
A: I joined [the CBA] as a law student. I became licensed in 2015 and had a meeting with Jeremy Hayden, who used to serve with the Taxation section. I started out as the CLE advisor or secretary and served in that role until 2020. The majority of my practice is purely concentrated on taxation and within taxation, I do tax controversy and tax planning. Tax controversy is any adversarial issues you’re having with the IRS or state or local taxing authority.
Q: What are your goals for members of the Taxation Law Group?
A: We try to better connect tax professionals, specifically tax attorneys in the community. It’s a small bar of attorneys in general, and the tax bar is even smaller, and a lot of people have niche practice areas. It’s nice to connect fellow tax professionals with others who may have specific expertise or handle specific matters that they can assist here in Cincinnati. The tax profession in Cincinnati is evolving — elsewhere, too. You’ll have tax attorneys working at CPA firms, at law firms and in industry. We’re trying to better connect with those non-traditional tax professionals and connect the community better.
Q: Elaborate more on the evolution of the field for a legal tax professional.
A: It’s evolving in the sense that usually when you wanted to be a tax attorney, you went to a law firm, and you practiced as an attorney, and maybe did 50% or less of your time on tax. It’s evolving more towards, you’re a tax professional: you may have a JD, you may have a CPA, you may have both, but the career is no longer limited to just going to a tax firm. You can now have a great tax professional career at an accounting firm or some other service provider, in addition to law firms.
Q: How are you convening members during the pandemic?
A: We meet virtually via Zoom. We plan to meet quarterly in 2021. We also are going to be in front of the UC Law Tax group, educating [them] on what a career in tax looks like. The tax bar is getting older, and we’re having less young folks interested in a career in law, so we think we have a mandate to encourage young law students to consider a career in tax. There’s sort of a stigma that tax is math. It’s not just about numbers, it really is about theory and reading the law and understanding the law, just like any other area of the law. I try to convince them this is a fun and sexy career path, and you should at least take federal income tax in law school to see if you’re interested in it.
Q: What restaurant are you ordering from during the pandemic?
A: I honestly have not been going out to eat all that much during the pandemic, but I have gotten more into grilling. I’ll grill three or four times a week. I’m a big meat-and-potatoes guy, not really into the frills or specialty stuff. I’ll just have a steak or a burger and potato and call it a day. [I use a] charcoal grill – a Weber kettle standard, and that’s the only kind of grill. Any other grill is an outdoor oven.
By CBA Staff
*Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length