Kevin Cole - University of San Diego

International Tax Conference Focuses on Cross-Border Commerce
USD School of Law—Procopio International Tax Institute Draws Top Experts from Mexico and the United States
he second annual University
of San Diego School of T Law—Procopio International
Tax Institute Conference, the only
conference dedicated to the latest developments
in the dynamic field of
U.S. and Mexican international tax
law, brought more than 100 tax attorneys
and other tax professionals from
both countries to the USD campus on
February 23 and 24, 2006.
Held at the Joan B. Kroc Institute
for Peace & Justice, the conference
featured keynote speakers; Lic. Julio
Cesar Aguilar Matías, director of tax
policy for the Treasury Department of
Mexico, and Rufus von Thülen
Rhodes, Esq., author of Rhodes & Langer,
U.S. International Taxation and Tax Treaties.
In addition, members of the USD
law faculty, Professor Herbert I.
Lazerow, Adjunct Professor Richard
Shaw and Visiting Professor John
Forry, spoke at the conference. The
tax faculty at the School of Law is
currently the highest rated in the
western United States among law faculties
with graduate tax programs and
is ranked 9th overall in the nation.
Other featured speakers included
Patrick W. Martin, Esq., tax team
orLawyers_Su06 7-CB-CSIf The Evidence Is In: CSI for Lawyers Was a Big Hit
ocusing on evidentiary issues from real-life cases
ranging from battery to mayhem to murder, ex-
F pert speakers in the School of Law’s Investigate Your
Case: CSI for Lawyers program kept an audience of almost
200 riveted for the greater part of a Saturday on January
28, 2006.
Michael Burt, Esq., a certified criminal specialist in private
practice in San Francisco, led off the session with a discussion
of the legal issues involved in fingerprinting, concluding
that more and more federal appellate judges are saying that
fingerprint evidence is unreliable. Burt was followed by
Richard Ernest, an award-winning forensic scientist from
Fort Worth, Texas, who talked about ballistics evidence. Dr.
Harry Bonnell, a forensic pathology consultant based in San
Diego, then focused on autopsies, accompanying his discussion
with numerous autopsy photos.
leader at Procopio; Lic. Alfredo
Gutierrez Ortiz Mena, chief counsel
of the Mexican Tax Administration
Service (SAT); and key tax attorneys
from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
and Treasury Department.
Topics covered included Mexico’s
new tax law reform, with an update of
reforms affecting cross-border transactions;
current developments involving
Mexico’s maquiladoras; complex issues
regarding partnerships with foreign
partners; and current developments in
reorganizing and liquidating U.S. and
Mexican cross-border operations.
Hosted by the School of Law and
Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch
LLP, the conference’s presenting sponsor
was Bank of America, The Private Bank.
The State Bar of California, Taxation
Section, International Tax Committee,
was also a conference sponsor.
The keynote address was given by Professor Edward
Imwinkelried, the Edward L. Barrett, Jr. Professor of Law at
the University of California, Davis. One of the nation’s leading
authorities on scientific evidence and a former law professor
at USD, Professor Imwinkelried in his talk titled The
Importance of Daubert in Frye Jurisdictions, discussed the admissibility
of handwriting evidence.
Afternoon sessions included a discussion of evidence of
child injuries by Janice Jean Ophoven, M.D., a pediatric
forensic pathologist from Woodbury, Minnesota, and a talk
on DNA evidence by Christopher Plourd, Esq., a San Diego
sole practitioner.
The program, moderated by USD law Professor Laura
Berend and San Diego-area attorney Alex Landon, Esq.,
was funded by a grant from Community Defenders, Inc.
and co-sponsored by the San Diego Psych-Law Society.
ADVOCATE USD LAW / 23:1 ❖ 7