2018 Toast to Women in Tax

By Adria Price

In 2015, the Taxation Section hosted its first Toast to Women in Tax during its Annual Meeting and California Tax Policy Conference. From that successful inaugural event, the Taxation Section’s 10^th Standing Committee, the Women in Tax, was formed. Fast forward to 2018 and the Women in Tax hosted its 4^th Toast to Women in Tax at the Taxation Section’s Annual Meeting and California Tax Policy Conference in San Jose. Now a well-established and highly anticipated event during the conference, the more-relaxed, informal conversation among some of the field’s top female tax practitioners draws a packed house to listen, learn and enjoy a glass of champagne.

This year’s event was entitled Change and Inspiration—The Results of Helping Others Achieve Their Highest Potential. Judges L. Paige Marvel and Diana L. Leyden of the United States Tax Court, Kimberly Stanley, Professor of Law at Golden Gate University, and Wendy Abkin, Partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP delighted attendees with personal anecdotes, sage advice and sound words of wisdom on how they found inspiration and career development through volunteering and getting involved in all aspects of the profession.

The first questions posed by Wendy were "What got you started? What got you involved? What drove you to be involved?" Dean Stanley kicked off* the discussion with her involvement in bar events. She started her career in Washington D.C. and clerked for the Tax Court and then with the Department of Justice writing appellate briefs. She returned to California to work in private practice focusing on federal tax audits and California tax consequences. She went to a Taxation Section meeting wanting to get involved. As a result of that meeting, she contacted Karen Hawkins wanting to volunteer. The rest, they say, is history and she never looked back. Coming to bar association meetings is a great way to meet new lawyers in addition to learning about the practice of law.