Unauthorized Practice of Law – Tax Assessment

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Michael Shamrock et al v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Case No.: 16-3811

Officials: POSNER and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Unauthorized Practice of Law – Tax Assessment

After the Commissioner of Internal Revenue assessed tax deficiencies and penalties against Michael Shamrock and his wife Victoria Bigg, the couple filed a pro se petition in the Tax Court for review of the Commissioner’s actions. Though not represented by a lawyer eligible to practice at this time before the Tax Court, the couple was assisted in its Tax Court proceeding by one Grant Niehus, who was and is a lawyer, but at the time was not eligible to practice in Illinois

On the basis of Niehus’s advice, the couple stipulated that only half of the tax relief they sought was appropriate. But discovering that Niehus wasn’t a member of the Illinois bar, they asked the court to set aside the stipulation. The court refused and entered judgment against the couple. They appealed, and we reversed and remanded because Niehus had indeed not been authorized to represent them, and we were concerned that he might not have been competent to advise them. We criticized the Tax Court for enforcing the stipulation without even considering Niehus’s deceit, and vacated the court’s opinion. But on remand (with the couple now represented by a CPA, Sheldon Drobny, who was authorized to practice before the Tax Court), the court after a hearing ruled in a 99-page opinion that the couple had not been prejudiced by Niehus’s ineligibility to practice before it—that the advice he had given them had been valid—and so the court again dismissed the taxpayers’ suit, precipitating this second appeal to us.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.