tAX lAW iNSTITUTE at wASHINGTON dc

 The Honorable Judge John F. Dean J.D. LL.M.

Dean of the Faculty

Dean of the Faculty | Fmr. United States Tax Court Special Trial Judge | Distinguished Judicial Speaker Emeritus  |  Member of the Bar United States Tax Court | Professor Emeritus | Admitted to Practice Supreme Court of the United States | Fmr. Tax Litigator in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel - Domestic & International

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The Distinguished and Honorable John F. Dean sat on the bench for 20 years as Special Trial Judge (STJ) in the U.S. Tax Court. He joined the Tax Law Institute upon his retirement from the Court. He serves as Distinguished Judicial Speaker (Emeritus) for CLE and CPE Programs for attorney and non-attorney members of the U.S. Tax Court Bar. At TLI,, Judge Dean leads occasional discussions in trial practice, litigation, and legal ethics. He is admitted to practice in numerous jurisdictions, including the Supreme Court of the United States, and various district courts He has been in legal practiced since 1974. Judge Dean received his graduate legal education at Georgetown Law Center, where he earned the M. Law Taxation. He earned his J.D. at Catholic University. He was appointed Dean of the Tax Law Institute in 2021 and currently sits as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic. 

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Joni Larson J.D.  LL.M.

Visiting Lecturer for the Tax Bar Admission Program

Admitted to practice in State of Indiana | United States Tax Court

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Joni Larson previously led the course in Tax Evidence based upon evidentiary principles and applications cited in her latest book, the second edition of A Practitioner's Guide to Tax Evidence: A Prime on the Federal Rules of Evidence As Applied by the Tax Court. Professor Larson is also an IRC Scholar as well a master of U.S. Tax Court rules of practice and procedure, skills she perfected while serving as a judicial law clerk for former Tax Court Judge Irene Scott. She has an intimate knowledge of case law, published opinion and of winning litigation strategies. Professor Larson is an active participant in the Substantive Tax Law lectures along with Judge Dean and Lecturer Emeritus, James Chapman, who serves as Director of Federal Tax Research at the Tax Law Institute.

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Robert E. McKenzie E.A. J.D.

Visiting Lecturer for the 2022 Apprenticeship Program

Admitted to practice in State of Illinois | United States Court of Claims | United States Tax Court

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Robert E. McKenzie concentrates his practice in representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service and state agencies. He has lectured extensively on the subject of taxation. He has presented courses before thousands of CPA's, attorneys and enrolled agents nationwide. Robert is recognized as an authority and media source on IRS and tax-related issues, and he continues to be featured in national and international news stories, including appearances on Dateline NBC and ABC's World News Tonight. This includes his analysis, which appeared in various publications, regarding the IRS' efforts to uncover the identities of U.S. citizens with accounts in banks offshore.  Prior to entering private practice, Robert was employed by the Internal Revenue Service, Collection Division, in Chicago, Illinois.

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Frank Agostino J.D.  LL.M.

Visiting Lecturer for the 2022 Apprenticeship Program

Admitted to practice United States Tax Court | District Court of New Jersey | Southern District of New York | Second Circuit Court of Appeals | Third Circuit Court of Appeals

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The invited guest speaker, Frank Agostino, is the founder and president of Agostino & Associates, P.C.  Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Agostino was an attorney with the Internal Revenue Service’s District Counsel in Springfield, Illinois and Newark, New Jersey. He also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, where he prosecuted primarily criminal tax cases.  an adjunct professor, Mr. Agostino taught tax controversy at Seton Hall University W. Paul Stillman School of Business and Rutgers School of Law. He also served as the co-director of the Rutgers Federal Tax Law Clinic. Mr. Agostino is a frequent speaker and author on tax controversy and litigation matters. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure. Mr. Agostino is actively involved with the American Bar Association and the New York County Lawyers’ Association.  Mr. Agostino is also the President of Taxpayers Assistance Corp., which provides tax and legal advice to low income taxpayers in the NY/NJ area. He received his legal education at New York Law School (J.D.) and New York University School of Law (LL.M.).

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Lorry Sorgman E.A.  MST  USTCP

Visiting Lecturer for the 2022 Apprenticeship Program

Admitted to practice United States Tax Cout

Lorraine (Lorry) Sorgman, better known as just `Lorry’ has been an Enrolled Agent since1987. Ms Sorgman earned both her BS in Business Administration and her Master of Science in Taxation from Suffolk University. Ms Sorgman is among a handful of Enrolled Agents permitted to practice in the United States Tax Court.  Ms. Sorgman is a Fellow and former President of NTPI’s Graduate Fellows’ Association. She has presented workshops on Real Estate for Real Estate Professionals;; Burden of Proof; and Privilege for Federally Authorized Tax Practitioners (Beast or Burden); Practitioner Penalties; and Collection Alternatives with the IRS; Family Daycare Providers, Record keeping and Taxation; Tax Practice Management in the Electronic Age; Taxpayer Representation; Offer In Compromise; and has successfully defended a case in the United States Tax Court on whether an MBA is a valid deductible employee business expense.  Ms. Sorgman was the 2002 recipient of the Massachusetts Enrolled Agent of the Year, and the 2009 recipient as Mentor of The Year, awarded by the National Association of Enrolled Agents. 

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Louis "L.B." Carpenter CPA USTCP CFA

Senior Lecturer

United States Tax Court Practitioner | Tax Litigation Counsel | Member of the Bar United States Tax Court | Lecturer | Chief Tax Litigation Counsel at USTCL
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Tax Litigation Counsel and Lecturer Louis "L.B." Carpenter has been in Federal Tax Practice as a CPA (Florida) for almost 30 years. He is a Certified Financial Planner. He provides federal tax litigation support to attorneys and is often called upon to express his knowledge of the IRC and published opinions. Consequently, numerous attorneys rely upon him to serve as expert witness. L.B. Carpenter is a contributing speaker to the Tax Court Bar Review. He was named Chief Tax Litigation Counsel and Tax Practice Director at U.S. Tax Court Litigators.org. He confers with judicial counsel, legal academics, and IRC scholars before pleading and joinder of issue. He recently successfully settled a two-million-dollar Federal civil tax controversy in U.S. Tax Court for $450. He was trained in U.S. Tax Court trial practice and litigation at the Tax Law Institute. He was degreed with the B.Sc. in accounting after graduating from the University of Miami.

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Michael Stuart J.D. MPA

Professor Emeritus | Program Director

  IRS Approved CE Provider of Federal Tax Law (IRC) and U.S. Tax Court Litigation | The Florida State Bar Approved CLE Provider of Federal Tax Law |  Fmr. Chair of Teaching Faculty of Joint Program in Taxation and Litigation at the Tax Law Institute and University of Alabama School of Law Graduate Tax Program | Co-Founder and President of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic 

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Michael Stuart is a former tax policy advisor to the White House; past visiting scholar appointee for public policy (taxation) at Yale Law School; and former special consultant (Islamic banking, auditing & finance) to Harvard University. He spent 20 years on Wall Street. He is editor of and principal contributing author to the Guide to Admission and Practice in U.S. Tax Court. From 2014 to 2018, he chaired the Teaching Faculty and coordinated the Joint Program in Taxation and Litigation at the Tax Law Institute and University of Alabama School of Law Graduate Tax Program. His public service endeavor with the Consumer Bankruptcy Unit of the Legal Aid Society included negotiated workouts with the IRS for indigent clients. He earned his Doctor of Law (J.D.), cum laude, at the British-American Law School in partnership with the University of Cambridge program in English Common Law. He was appointed tenured professor of law (Islamic banking laws & finance), and later, academic dean. He was designated visiting lecturer (Islamic banking) at the Southern New England School of Law re-chartered University of Massachusetts School of Law Dartmouth. He is an alumnus of Yale and a founding staff member of the Harvard Islamic Financial Information Program at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. He served briefly at the Trilateral Commission and trained in international business relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is certified in political economy and elementary Mandarin Chinese and holds a master's degree in international relations from Harvard. He manages TLI's charitable giving program and is an officer of the Hawaii LITC Corp. aka the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic.

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James H. Chapman E.A. M.A. MPA

Lecturer Emeritus | Research Director

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Lecturer Emeritus | Director of Federal Tax Research at the Tax Law Institute | Certified Pretrial Tax Litigation Specialist | National Tax Practice Institute Fellow | FY 2021 Chairman of Board of Directors of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic
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IRS Enrolled Agent James H. Chapman is a specialist in tax accountancy, specifically in auditing and fraud detection. A former government analyst, Mr. Chapman has been an IRS Enrolled Agent and NTPI Fellow for almost 15 years. He joined the Tax Law Institute in 2008 as a tax bar applicant and returned as guest lecturer, after which he became a volunteer member of the Teaching Faculty speaking to federal tax accounting matters. He lectured in the non-attorney admissions and tax bar review program for 10 years. During his tenure he established the program certification in pretrial tax litigation aka the Chapman Certification. Mr. Chapman also served as a TLI representative to the 2014 Judicial Conference held by the U.S. Tax Court and hosted by Duke University Law School. Aside from the IRS approval to practice, he holds the M.P.A. and M.A. degrees from Webster College. He is designated as Chief Tax Accountant for TLI and USTCL. He also coordinates and moderates the independent Gleim program in foundational tax, gratis for all tax bar applicants.

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​​​​​​​Janean Kong E.A.

Preceptor | Clinic Director of Hawaii LITC

 Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic Director | Certified in Pretrial Tax Litigation | State of Hawaii Certified Tax Strategist | State of Hawaii Master Tax Tutor | University of Hawaii Certificate in Professional Accountant
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Janean Kong has been approved to practice as an IRS Enrolled Agent for more than 10 years. She joined TLI as a bar applicant in 2014. In 2016 and 2018, she was designated teaching assistant at TLI and litigation assistant at USTCL, respectively. In 2019, after discussions with TLI, she agreed to assist in the development of the Hawaii Federal Tax Clinic and personally opened its doors to the public in May 2020. She presently serves as Clinic Director and oversees the day-to-day operations. She supervises a staff composed of an executive assistant and several volunteers. At weekly conferences, she reports to the project director, chairperson of the BOD and its members. Shortly, she is scheduled to be examined by the Tax Court and, hopefully, she will be "admitted to practice, U.S. Tax Court" in 2022. Then in January, she would be expected to begin her apprenticeship and later, student trial practice under pro bono supervision. As a non-attorney member of the Tax Court bar, Ms. Kong would become Clinical Director-Tax Litigator. She would be expected to take charge of the Hawaii LITC Pro Bono Program, in addition to her current duties. 

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PROGRAM ASSISTANT

Christopher Kelaher CTP  M.A. M.S.

2021-22 Code Section (IRC) Specialist | Administrator for the U.S. Tax Court Litigator Digital Platform and Mock Trial Program

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Christopher Kelaher joined the Tax Law Institute as a bar applicant sponsored by the U.S. Veterans Administration. He completed the admissions and litigation training courses and earned a Certificate of Completion with Distinction. He began training as program assistant in 2021. He was designated interim administrator of the TLI digital platform after its co-creator abruptly resigned to pursue an opportunity with a law firm engaged in Federal tax practice. He holds two master's degrees in taxation and the other in management and is a graduate of Harvard University. He manages a tax practice on the Florida coastline. After expertly managing the pre-exam review for the 2021 Tax Bar Exam, he was given administration of the Mock Trial Program for the 2023 Testing Cycle.

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