William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence

On Tuesday, March 25 at 12 p.m. the Tax Society will host the renown International Tax academic and lawyer Dr. Dennis Weber.  Dr. Weber will discuss his advisory practice for cross border tax cases, and that of Loyens & Loeff where he is head of the European Direct Tax Law practice, before the European Court of Justice.  Loyens & Loeff is the largest European continental law firm.

“I met Dr. Dennis Weber last year during a Thomas Jefferson Tax Society career service event when he revealed how Holland is often the center of the world of international finance, and how tax law students can take advantage of often overlooked employment opportunities in this area,” explained Tax Society Liaison Mark Hackman.  “I was excited to obtain a generous sponsorship from William Byrnes for the Tax Society to bring Dr. Dennis Weber back to campus to re-engage with our students.” 

“I look forward to returning to Thomas Jefferson, this time to discuss tax cases recently before the ECJ that are impacting the European Union common market,” Dennis Weber iterated.

“Moreover”, he continued, “the OECD BEPS project is on every tax counsel’s mind, and such discussions normally involve The Netherlands because, as a business friendly jurisdiction for fifty years, it has attracted multinational operations, employment and tax revenue using a ‘carrot’ policy.  Other countries are competing for multinationals’ operations, employment and tax revenue with a ‘stick’ policy of imposing high compliance costs to dissuade international activities.  The next five years will be an interesting time as the G20 goes head to head to try to peel away these operations and tax revenue from each other.”

Mark Hackman continued. “We hope to attract the next generation of candidates to learn about Professor Byrnes’ international networking and publication opportunities through his Thomas Jefferson courses.  My tenure with the Tax Society has been rewarding and helped me obtain my position with the San Diego County Tax Collector, and now it’s time to pass this torch.”

 “Dr. Weber and I will continue to explore online possibilities for joint international tax courses for our programs that may bring additional benefits for the undergraduate law degree, based on our discussions in January with the UvA Law Dean Edgar du Perron,” revealed Associate Dean Byrnes.

Dennis Weber affirmed, “Our faculty has been impressed with Professor Byrnes’ lectures and academic interactions with us, and this has led me to return to Thomas Jefferson to continue to develop the relationship.  We have invited him to lecture with our faculty for our Colombian university partnership programs in May.”

“The Tax Society is organizing an April lunch discussion with Dr. Valcir Gassen, who is spending the year at Thomas Jefferson through the support of Brazil’s Ministry of Education CAPES Foundation”, interjected Mr. Hackmann.  “Dr. Gassen will talk with students about Brazil-U.S. trade and investment, and divulge opportunities for Thomas Jefferson law graduates.”

RSVP for the on-campus Tax Society lunch Tuesday, March 25 to Mark Hackman at hackmamm@tjsl.edu

Dr. Dennis Weber is a professor of European Corporate Tax Law and the director of the University of Amsterdam’s Centre for Tax Law.  He is an author of many books, such as Taxation of Companies – Capital Gains on Shares; the EU Treaty Freedoms (IBFD) and CCCTB: Selected Issues (Kluwer).  He heads the European direct tax law practice at Loyens & Loeff and specializes in advising clients in European tax law proceedings for the Dutch courts, the European Court of Justice and foreign courts. He is also a deputy judge in the regional court of appeal of ‘s-Hertogenbosch.