Michael J. Desmond

B.A., dean's academic honors, University of California, Santa Barbara; J.D., magna cum laude, Catholic University.  Professor Desmond is Partner in the Tax and Employee Benefits group at Bingham McCutchen LLP, where his practice concentrates on federal tax controversies, administrative dispute resolution and tax policy counseling.  He served as Tax Legislative Counsel in the U.S. Department of Treasury from 2005 to 2008.  As Tax Legislative Counsel, Professor Desmond supervised a staff of lawyers and accountants that developed administrative guidance and provided the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) with legal advice and analysis on a broad range of issues relating to the domestic federal tax law.  He also served as a spokesperson for the Treasury Department before the Congressional tax-writing committees, testifying before Congress on a number of occasions on a wide range of federal tax issues.  Professor Desmond previously served as a trial attorney in the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.