Career tips for Tax Law

IE University’s transformational Master of Laws (LL.M.) ensures that you will deepen and broaden your knowledge of law. It is immersive, it will advance your career to new limits and will set you apart from a field of competitors. It offers several specialization tracks, such as International Taxation.

The program is set apart from the other Master of Laws (LL.M.) because of its list of professors at IE Law School, which are experts that have worked in top law firms all over the world and have a solid academic background. We spoke with Giulio Allevato, professor of Tax Law, who is also an international tax lawyer. He offered some insights and advice in the tax law field.

An ever-changing career in tax law

The combination of globalization and unprecedented technological advances has created a new need for international tax lawyers. Giulio Allevato echoed this and said, “As a result of the change in the way of doing cross-border business, countries have engaged in strong tax competition between each other, in order to attract businesses and new investments.”

Allevato has dedicated his professional and academic career to international tax law and its role in the global economy. He started out in Milan, where he where he graduated in Law at Bocconi University and started his professional career specializing in international tax law. The path he went on eventually led him to study at the University of Michigan Law School, where he earned his International Tax LL.M. 

It was after this that he paved the way for his research in international tax law, eventually returning to Milan to obtain a PhD in International Law & Economics at his alma mater, Bocconi University. After a post-doc experinece at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the WU University in Vienna, he became a professor at Bocconi University Business School (SDA Bocconi), and continued practicing international tax law. His passion and twofold academic and professional background have inspired students to specialize in this unique, challenging and rapidly changing field of law.

National governments and legislatures are constantly updating their tax laws and regulations to attract new business and, at the same time, contrast opportunistic tax behaviors.

During the past decade, we have also witnessed a significant policy effort of the international community to reform, through a multilateral approach, the international tax legal framework, to make it more resistant to international tax avoidance and aggresive tax competition by certain jurisdictions. That’s why Allevato feels that, “the importance of international tax specialist will continue to increase, due to their role in designing business structures that can enable the corporate top management to minimize the tax risks and, at the same time, maximize the many tax opportunities offered by various jurisdictions all around the world.”

Being ahead of the competition

What is unique about the Master in Laws (LL.M.) are the specialization tracks it offers, as well as the hands-on approach to teaching and learning.

As Allevato stated, “complementing a traditional theoretical approach with a case-based and Socratic teaching method strongly helps students understand how the legal system concretely works and, therefore, be more prepared for the labor market.”

The profile of a successful lawyer means that you have to know the law, but also be able to practice it. With Allevato’s experience, students in the Master in Laws (LL.M.) program are in good hands. As he states, “We should never forget that most of our students aim at practicing a legal profession, and, therefore, we should do anything we can to properly prepare them to enter this job market.”

The International Taxation specialization track provides a laser focus to a branch of law whose importance in today’s global society is self-evident.

If you want more career advice, IE Talent & Careers is there for you to speak about your future career goals and ensure the best path to take to achieve them.