University of Florida law student Justin Axelrod has been appointed by the U.S. Treasury to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, which listens to taxpayer concerns and makes recommendations to the IRS. (Erica Brough/Gainesville Sun)

As Dave Barry once joked, tax time is when “you gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta.”

Despite Barry’s levity, completing tax returns is no joking matter, and the complexity of the tax code leaves most of us using that sharpened pencil to scratch our heads in confusion.

Not so for Justin Axelrod, a third-year law student at the University of Florida Levin College of Law with a love of all things taxation. At 25 years of age, Axelrod is the youngest member ever appointed to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel by the U.S. secretary of treasury. He’s excited by the prospect of committing between 300 and 500 hours of time annually during his three-year appointment, which began in December.

“To be on a committee with these people from all sorts of backgrounds, it’s just humbling,” Axelrod said.

Established in 2002 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel serves as a citizen forum that provides direct feedback to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS uses this feedback to increase its responsiveness to taxpayer needs, to work more effectively for all taxpayers, and to improve services. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel has a real influence on the IRS’s strategic initiatives to improve its policies and programs.

Axelrod sits on the panel’s 13-member Area 3 Committee, which represents the states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. He also serves on the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance issues committee, which partners with the IRS to focus on national initiatives or issues that cut across geographic boundaries. He said he isn’t sure why he was among the 100 people selected to serve nationwide, but believes his enthusiasm for tax and willingness to get his generation involved in tax administration were important factors in the decision.

One of the things Axelrod hopes to initiate during his service on the panel is free taxpayer clinics for families with low-income at the UF College of Law and Florida A&M University College of Law. He thinks it will serve a need in the community and also will give law school students in tax practical, hands-on skills. Currently, there are low-income tax clinics in Florida but none in the vicinity of these colleges.

Another goal of Axelrod’s is to reach a new generation of tax payers. To do this, he started a blog at www.justintimewithjustin.com and established a Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Facebook group. He said young people need to know that taxes affect everyone. He frequently updates his blog and Facebook page with information on tax-related issues and events and seeks to educate people on their rights and responsibilities as tax payers.

“Whether you like it or not, at sometime in your life you are going to have to deal with the IRS,” he said.

Axelrod said he wants people to know that the panel is there for them when they do, and he works hard to respond to each suggestion or comment posted to his blog or Facebook page.

“You’re going to get a voice,” Axelrod said. “It is important for people to be heard. I am your voice and so are the other members on the panel.”

Even Dave Barry might put his pencil away with a sigh of relief.

On April 3, during the ball, the John Marshall Bar Association (JMBA) announced third-year law student Kassie Doyle and Professor Lee-ford Tritt as recipients of the 2009 Student and Professor of the Year, respectively. Each year JMBA selects recipients of both awards through a systematic process.

Doyle said she was completely shocked when her name was called during the ball.

“I honestly didn’t think that I would win. I was just thrilled to be a finalist,” said Doyle, who completed her undergrad at Duke University with a degree in Psychology. “It is a great honor. This school is full of tremendously intelligent people that are dedicated and hard working. To be picked out among all of these students, I am just really flattered.”

Doyle, who is the president of the Law College Council, is the kind of person that loves to get involved. She said though law school is challenging, it is important that students get involved and have fun. Otherwise, she said, students would be doing themselves a disservice.

After graduation, Doyle plans to move to Miami and work at McAlpin Conroy, a small maritime and admiralty firm. She said she instantly knew that the firm was the perfect place for her.

“Some of the interviews I went on felt like they would eat me and spit me out for lunch,” Doyle said. “I didn’t want to go to work scared every day. The environment [at McAlpin Conroy] was so great that when I walked in there I fell in love with it right away.”

Years from now, Doyle hopes to still be at McAplin Conroy. One thing that she doesn’t want to do though is make life all about money. “I don’t care to be the richest attorney around, or the busiest. What I really want is for my clients to be able to say that I helped them and made their lives a little better. I think that is something all attorneys should strive for.”

Professor of the Year, Lee-Ford Tritt, who joined the UF Law Faculty in 2005, said that the award meant a lot to him, especially after a difficult year.

“Florida students are phenomenal,” Tritt said. “They are very respectful, and they cheer you up without knowing it.”

So far, Tritt’s experience with the students has been amazing, he said. Just recently, Tritt suffered a loss, and his students were there to make him feel better.

“I have no idea how they found out or how they knew where I lived, but throughout the evening [after the tragedy] I kept on finding on my front door food and beer, which I thought was funny, he said. “I found it really touching.”

Tritt advices law school students to relax, and said they shouldn’t spend all of their time stressing about grades. Though grades are important, he said, they aren’t always the key to being successful.

“Sit back and try to look at the big picture,” he said. “Law is an amazing thing and in this profession the ‘scrappers’ standout. If you are just resilient and you roll up your sleeves and you work, you will be successful. You might not get that grade you wanted or that job you wanted at first, but the best lawyers in the nation are scrappers. They didn’t go to the best law school; they weren’t number one in their class. They make their name another way.”

Tritt said that his favorite thing about teaching is the interaction with his students and the environment at the University of Florida.

“I have lectured many places, but the Florida students are just a unique entity,” he said.

Tritt said teaching is one of the best decisions that he ever made and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“I don’t think that I could ever give up teaching,” said Tritt. “It is addictive and is just amazing. I don’t know what heroine is like, but I assume it’s similar.”

The ceremony recognized the law school students who have excelled in serving their community. The students who were honored dedicated at least 35 hours in their respective programs.

“We are here today celebrating you,” said Kristen Bryant, assistant director for Career Services and pro bono and community service project coordinator, as she opened the ceremony. “You all have achieved amazing things throughout the course of your law school career, along with the number of hours that you have been able to accumulate.”

Bryant gave the floor to Dean Robert Jerry who congratulated the students on their accomplishments and for the service they provided.

“One of the things, which we want to project about our law school, is that you come to the University of Florida not only to prepare yourself to be a confident and skilled first-rate professional lawyer, but also to be a great citizen and a leader,” he said. “What you are doing, I think, is one of the best examples of the values that we hope all Florida graduates take away from here and make an important part of their careers.”

To give the attendees some prospective on what contributing students have accomplished, in terms of volunteer hours, Bryant shared the amount of hours each graduating class has accumulated. The graduating class of 2011 completed 224 community hours and 706 pro bono hours for a total of 930 volunteer hours. The class of 2010, completed over 1,000 community service hours 5,433 pro bono hours for a total of nearly 6,500 volunteer hours. The class of 2009, completed over 1,000 community service over 8,000 pro bono hours total, for a total volunteer hours of 9,087.

Kathanna Culp was named the Student of the Year for completing the most volunteer hours, over 250.

Culp, the former president of the Association for Public Interest Law, earned the majority of her pro bono hours at ACLU in Atlanta, but also worked at the Center for Children & Families, Three Rivers Legal Services.

Other students honored at the brunch include, Renee Allen, William Bagwell, Heather Bernstein, Lisa Boyd, Alyssa Camper, Patricia Carbone, Tariq Chaudhri, Tabitha Chookolingo, Christine Covington, Timothy Corwin, Sara Dahod, Paul Darby, Megan Davis, Dina El-Salhy, Tobi Epstein, Jennifer Frazier, Cristina Fernandez, Mitchell Goldberg, Amanda Harrell, Han Huang, Jonathan Huth, Alexander Karden , Marcela Lozano, Susan Malove, Elizabeth Manno, Joshua Marks, Angela Marino, Keri McGovern, Hector Melendez Jr., Maxwell Minch, Nicole Mouakar, Martina Nethery, Natalie A. Peters, David Plotke, Troy Pratten, Jee Min Rhee, Belinda Rivera, Michael Roark, Clint Roberson, Kristianna Rodriquez, Lindsay Ruiz Bash, Sahily Serradet, Dena Setzer, Jessica Shapiro, Erin Simendinger ,William Spicola, Brandon Stelck, Scott Stengel, Alejandra Taboada, Stephanie Toledo, Matthew Edward Tiffany, Le Tsang, Debra Valsamis, Michael Vater, Christian Vogel, Jana Wasserman, Patrick Wheeler, Jeffrey Wilson, Cynthia Winter, Kimberley Wright and Mary Zewalk.

Recognizing that diversity extends beyond the black community, the event held at the Matheson Museum, was open to the entire UF Law community.

Dean Jerry welcomed the guests and congratulated BLSA on its leadership. He also noted that not only was progress evident at UF Law, but in the country as evidenced by the election of the first African-American president of the United States Barack Obama. The guest speaker Allison Thompson, the director at Three Rivers Legal Services, also spoke about history. She spoke about her place in history with regard to diversity as one of the first African-American female graduates of UF Law (there were two in the class of 1973).

In celebrating diversity, BLSA recognized 27 individuals, the largest class of black graduates in the history of UF Law: Andrea Adibe, Jayson Alfonso, Ranaldo Allen, Renee Allen, Adrienne Biddings, Sophia Blair, Jonathan Blocker, Agnes Byrd, Meta M. Cooper, Marsha Dixon, Kailey Evans, Anisha Henry, Somara Jacques, Daniel Jean-Baptiste, Shanta Matthews, Simone Nelson, Crystal Talley, Clement C.J. Rabess, Linje Rivers, Jennifer Salu, Sharon Salu, Stephanie Simmonds, Iyandra Smith, Marie Triche, Ryan Waters, Nickisha Webb, and Kimberley Wright.

Because of the historical significance of the celebration, several sponsors contributed to the success of the event. The Law College Council and Student Government contributed financially, Dean Inman and Michelle Ocepek donated portfolios for the graduates, Junior’s catered the food, and the UF Law Bookstore donated door prizes.

For more on the history of diversity at UF Law, please visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/about/diversitybooklet.shtml and click on the link “Knowledge of the Past” for a presentation created by BLSA Class of 2009 graduate Daniel Jean-Baptiste.

• Courtney Gutenschwager
• M. Caroline McCrae
• Kristianna Rodriguez
• Crystal Talley
• Dante Trevisani