Michael Kirsch

Associate Professor of Law

Office Number: 309 Law School
Telephone: 574.631.5582
Fax: 574.631.4197
Email: Michael.S.Kirsch.1@nd.edu
Staff Assistant:
Ann McGuigan Jones

Michael S. Kirsch joined the Law School faculty in the fall of 2001 as an associate professor of law, teaching in the tax area. He received his A.B. summa cum laude in economics from Cornell University in 1985, and was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1988, where he served on the editorial board of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. In 1989, he earned an LL.M. in taxation from New York University. He has been a member of the California Bar since 1988.

Following graduation, Professor Kirsch worked for four years in the tax department of a Los Angeles law firm. He then served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Lapsley W. Hamblen, Jr., of the United States Tax Court in Washington, D.C. Following the two-year clerkship, he served as a staff attorney in the IRS’ Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International). From 1997 through 2001 he worked in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy, where he served as the Associate International Tax Counsel. In that role, he was a member of numerous U.S. delegations to international tax treaty negotiations.

In 2004, the graduating class named Professor Kirsch the Law School’s Distinguished Teacher for the 2003-04 academic year. His areas of academic interest include federal taxation, with an emphasis on international issues.

Professor Kirsch was a Visiting Professor at the Northwestern University School of Law during Fall 2007.

LAW70423, International Taxation

LAW70605, Federal Income Taxation

LAW70607, Estate & Gift Taxation

Faculty Expertise Areas

• Estate and gift taxation
• International taxation
• Tax law and policy

Articles

Evolving International Tax Norms and the Interpretation of U.S. Tax Treaties (work in progress).

Taxing Citizens in a Global Economy, 82 N.Y.U. Law Review 443 (2007).

The Tax Code as Nationality Law, 43 Harvard J. on Legis. 375 (2006).

The Congressional Response to Corporate Inversions: The Tensions Between Symbols and Substance in the Taxation of Multinational Corporations, 24 Virginia Tax Rev. 475 (2005).

Alternative Sanctions and the Federal Tax Law: Symbols, Shaming, and Social Norm Management as a Substitute for Effective Tax Policy, 89 Iowa L. Rev. 863 (2004).

Tax Consequences of Expatriation and Transfers to Foreign Trusts, 28 Notre Dame Tax & Est. Plan. Inst. 32 (2002).