New York State Bar Association
Tax Section Conflicts of Interest Policy
(February 2010)

The Executive Committee of the NYSBA Tax Section has adopted the following policy on

conflicts of interest and related matters. The policy is intended to ensure the impartiality of the

Tax Section’s work and the avoidance of any real or perceived conflict of interest, and should be

interpreted in that light.

Participation in the Preparation of Reports

A NYSBA Tax Section member may not participate in the preparation of a report if the member

or the member’s firm (to the member’s knowledge) has been engaged by a client to influence a

government policy relating to an issue directly addressed by the report.1 However, the member

may provide information about market practice, including legal positions taken by taxpayers, to

the members of the Tax Section who are preparing the report. The member should not be listed

as a contributor to the report.

A NYSBA Tax Section member may not participate in the preparation of a report for the purpose

of advocating a result favorable to a client, an employer or the member’s firm (an “interested

party”). A member should disclose to the Chair of the Tax Section any potential conflicts by

reason of responsibilities to interested parties. In determining whether a member has a potential

conflict of interest, the member should consider whether the member’s obligations to interested

parties would impair the member’s ability or willingness to express his or her personal views,

whether the member or the member’s firm is so closely associated in the legal community with

particular interested parties that the member would be perceived as expressing the view of those

interested parties, and whether the member can participate in the preparation of the report in a

manner that comports with the goals of the Tax Section, which are set out below:

The purpose of this Section shall be to bring together for the furtherance of the public interest in

a fair and equitable tax system and for their mutual interest such members of the New York State

Bar Association as are professionally concerned with the development of sound tax policy and

administration; to further the education of the bar and public in tax matters; to disseminate

information relating to taxation; to study the existing tax laws and their administration and

pending tax legislation and regulations and to report thereon to the Association, and when

appropriate, to the Bar, to the public, and to federal, state and municipal authorities; …. to

support, promote and initiate desirable tax reforms, and to oppose changes in the tax laws and

administration which would not be in the public interest; and to study the relationship between

the tax laws of this country and other countries and to make recommendations for the improved

integration of such laws. (Article I, section 2, of the Tax Section By-laws)

Preserving Confidentiality

In order to permit NYSBA Tax Section members to participate in the preparation of reports in a

manner consistent with the goals set forth above, draft reports may not be sent, without clearance

from the Administrative Committee, to people other than (a) Tax Section members who are part

of the working group for the report and (b) Executive Committee members. In particular, drafts

of reports should not be sent to journalists, clients, IRS or Treasury lawyers, or other government

officials. A report cannot be released publicly until it has been approved by the Executive

Committee and revised to reflect the Executive Committee’s decisions to the satisfaction of the

Administrative Committee. A report that has been submitted cannot be amended or

supplemented except with the approval of the Executive Committee.

Similarly, communications between Tax Section members during the preparation of a report may

not be made known to persons other than Tax Section members who are part of the working

group for the report and Executive Committee members.

1 NYSBA policy is that all persons who participate in the drafting of a Tax Section report must be membersof the NYSBA Tax Section. For purposes of this memorandum, the term “report” includes a letter or other similarcomment by the Tax Section on substantive legal issues.