A summa cum laude graduate of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA (BA), a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, and a graduate with a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, Professor McMahon has a strong interest in the development of fiscal issues in American history. A former Samuel I. Golieb fellow, her current research explores the forces that led to changes in tax policy.
Prior to joining the academic world, Professor McMahon spent several years in the tax field. She worked as a tax attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York and at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, also in New York. During graduate school, she worked at Nixon, Peabody LLP in Washington, D.C.
Professor McMahon is currently working on a project exploring tax avoidance and its historical impact on the development of the Internal Revenue Code.
Publications
- To Save State Residents: States’ Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009)
- A Law with a Life of Its Own: The Development of the Federal Income Tax Statutes through World War I, 7 Pitt. Tax Rev. ___ (2009)
- You Pay for What You Get: The U.S. Virgin Islands, 1917-1936, 41 J. Caribbean Hist. 109 (2007)
Articles, Essays & Book Reviews
Presentations
- What Does It All Mean? The Rhetorical Power of the Income Tax in the United States, 1861-1918, 2008 Policy History Conference (May 29-June 1, 2008)
- To Save State Residents: States' Use of the Federal System of Government for Tax Reduction, UCLA Tax History Conference (July 15-16, 2007)
- To Save State Residents: States' Use of the Federal System of Government for Tax Reduction, Legal History Colloquium, New York University School of Law (January 24, 2007)
- You Pay For What You Get: Fitting the U.S. Virgin Islands Within the American Territorial Structure During the Period 1917 through 1936, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Graduate Student Conference, Our Research Matters: New Dialogues on Latin America, the Caribbean and Latino Studies (April 30, 2005)
Courses
- American Legal History
- Business Tax
- Federal Income Tax
- Tax Policy
October 2011
Stephanie’s article, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009), was cited in Martha T. McCluskey, Taxing the Family Work: Aid for Affluent Husband Care, 21 Colum. J. Gender & L. 109 (2011).
September 2011
Stephanie McMahon’s article, An Empirical Study of Innocent Spouse Relief: Do Courts Implement Congress’s Legislative Intent?, will be published early next year in the peer-reviewed Florida Tax Review.
Summer 2011
The Provost has approved Stephanie's promotion to Associate Professor of Law, effective September 1, 2011. Congratulations!
In May, Stephanie presented a work-in-progress titled, “Joint and Several Tax Liability: I Do Not Think That Statute Means What You Think It Means,” to the law faculty as part of the College’s Summer 2011 Faculty Workshop series.
Stephanie’s article, To Have and to Hold and to Shift Between Us: Rethinking Marital Property for Federal Income Tax Return Filings, 11 Nevada L.J. 718 (2011), is now in print.
May 2011
Several of Stephanie’s articles were cited:
To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009), was cited in Dennis J. Ventry, Jr., Saving Seaborn: Ownership Not Marriage as the Basis of Family Taxation, 86 Ind. L.J. 1459 (2011);
The Turbulent Aftermath of Crawford v. Washington: Where Do Child Abuse Victims' Statements Stand?, 33 Hastings Const. L.Q. 361 (2006) was cited in Karl B. Tegland, Wash. Prac., Evidence Law and Practice §§ 702.55, 1300.24 (5th ed. 2011 Supp.); and
The Turbulent Aftermath of Crawford v. Washington: Where Do Child Abuse Victims' Statements Stand?, 33 Hastings Const. L.Q. 361 (2006), was cited in Andrew W. Eichner, Note, Preserving Innocence: Protecting Child Victims in the Post-Crawford Legal System, 38 Am. J. Crim. L. 101 (2010).
April 2011
Stephanie’s article, Political Hot Potato: How Closing Loopholes Can Get Policymakers Cooked, has been accepted for publication in the Notre Dame Journal of Legislation.
Stephanie’s article, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009), was cited in Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation (Clark Boardman Callaghan, 2011 Supp.).
March 2011
Stephanie’s article, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009), was cited in F. Lee Bailey & Kenneth J. Fishman, Handling Narcotic and Drug Cases (Clark Boardman Callaghan, 2011 Supp.).
February 2011
Stephanie’s article, To Have and to Hold and to Shift Between Us: Rethinking Marital Property for Federal Income Tax Return Filings, 10 Nevada L.J. ___ (forthcoming 2010), was cited in Anthony C. Infanti, Decentralizing Family: An Inclusive Proposal For Individual Tax Filing In The United States, 2010 Utah L. Rev. 605.
January 2011
Stephanie’s article, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009), was cited in William H. Byrnes, IV & Jason A. Fiske, Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation (Clark Boardman Callaghan, 2011 Supp.).
October 2010
Stephanie’s article, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009), was cited in Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation (Clark Boardman Callaghan, 2010 Supp.).
Stephanie attended the annual Association of American Law Schools Faculty Recruitment Conference in Washington, D.C.
September 2010
Stephanie presented London Calling: Does the U.K’s Experience With Individual Filing Clash with the U.S.’s Expectations?, ___ St. Louis L.J. ____ (forthcoming 2010) at Loyola (L.A.) Law School’s Tax Policy Colloquium on Sept. 13, 2010.
The University’s Faculty Senate Cabinet appointed Stephanie chair of the Research and Scholarship Committee and to the University’s Advisory Council of the Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning.
Stephanie also has been appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court’s Commission on Certification of Attorneys as Specialists.
Stephanie’s article, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009), was cited in William H. Byrnes, IV & Jason A. Fiske, Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation (Callaghan 2010 Supp.).
Summer 2010
Stephanie McMahon presented What Women Want: Joint and Several Tax Liability For Joint Filers on June 11 at Notre Dame at the 5th Annual Junior Tax Scholars' Workshop.
Stephanie’s article, California Women: Using Federal Taxes to Put the “Community” in Community Property, 25 Wis. J.L. Gender & Soc'y 35 (2010), is now in print.
June 2010
Stephanie was featured in the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning’s first Faculty Spotlight, A Few Things are Changing at the College of Law.
May 2010
Stephanie presented Tax Filing in the U.K.: A Guide for the U.S. When Eliminating the Marriage Penalty at Indiana-Bloomington as part of its Tax Policy Colloquium Series and at St. Louis as part of a conference on Critical Issues in International & Comparative Taxation.
April 2010
Two of Stephanie’s papers were accepted for publication:
- California Women: Using Federal Taxes to Put the ‘Community’ in Community Property, in the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society.
- To Have and To Hold: Rethinking Marital Property and Federal Tax Filing, in the Nevada Law Journal.
Stephanie presented Tax Filing in the U.K.: A Guide for the U.S. When Eliminating the Marriage Penalty at Chase. Her paper, To Have and To Hold: Rethinking Marital Property and Federal Tax Filing, was cited in Lily Kahng, One Is the Loneliest Number: The Single Taxpayer in a Joint Return World, 61 Hastings L.J. 651 (2010).
Stephanie began a two year term on UC’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning Advisory Council.
February 2010
Stephanie presented Tax Filing in the U.K.: A Guide for the U.S. When Eliminating the Marriage Penalty at Pittsburgh as part of the College’s Scholar Exchange Program.
November 2009
Stephanie presented:
- California Women: Using Federal Taxes to Put the "Community" in Community Property to the Ohio Legal History Seminar.
- Tax Filing in the U.K.: A Guide for the U.S. When Eliminating the Marriage Penalty at the 2009 Central States Law Schools Association Annual Conference at Capital.
October 2009
Stephanie published To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, 27 Law & Hist. Rev. 585 (2009).
Summer 2009
Stephanie presented To Have and to Hold and to Shift Between Us: Rethinking Marital Property for Federal Income Tax Return Filings as part of the 13th Annual UC Faculty Summer Scholarship Series.
June 2009
Stephanie presented two papers at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting in Denver:
- To Have and to Hold and to Shift between Us: Rethinking Marital Property for Federal Income Tax Return Purposes
- Putting the "Community" in Community Property
May 2009
Stephanie’s article, A Life of its Own: The Rhetorical Power of the Income Tax in the United States through World War I, was accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Pittsburgh Tax Review.
April 2009
Stephanie presented To Have and to Hold and to Shift between Us: Rethinking Marital Property for Federal Income Tax Return Filings at the Critical Tax Conference at Indiana. She served as discussant at Joy Mullane’s (Villanova) presentation, Round and Round: The Cyclical Process of Tax Legislation Regulating Executive Compensation, at the College as part of our Scholar Exchange Program.
March 2009
Stephanie presented To Have and to Hold and to Shift Between Us: Rethinking Marital Property for Federal Income Tax Return Filings at Villanova as part of the UC-Villanova Scholar Exchange Program. (She will host a workshop at the College next month by Joy Mullane (Villanova) on Round and Round: The Cyclical Process of Tax Legislation Regulating Executive Compensation.)
December 2008
Stephanie presented A Life of its Own: The Rhetorical Power of the Income Tax in the United States through World War I at the National Tax Association's 101st Annual Conference in Philadelphia. She posted To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947 on SSRN.
October 2008
Stephanie successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Virginia and will receive her Ph.D. in American History in January. Her paper, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property for Federal Tax Reduction, 1939-1947, was featured on Mary Dudziak's Legal History Blog.
Stephanie was featured in the August 2008 issue of Updates@UCLaw.
Summer 2008
Stephanie McMahon joined the faculty over the summer. Her article, To Save State Residents: States' Use of Community Property and the Federal System of Government for Tax Reduction, 1939-1948, was accepted for publication in the Law and History Review.
Stephanie presented What Does It All Mean? The Rhetorical Power of the Income Tax in the United States, 1861-1918 at the 2008 Policy History Conference in St. Louis. She attended the AALS New Law School Faculty Conference in Washington, D.C.
Please see Faculty News Archives for earlier issues.