On March 24, 2016, the Tax Court announced that Diana L. Leyden has been selected as a Special Trial Judge scheduled to assume her duties in June 2016. Ms. Leyden most recently has been the Taxpayer Advocate in the New York City Department of Finance, but previously spent over 15 years as the Director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She received the American Bar Association Tax Section Janet Spragens Pro Bono Award in 2005 for her work on behalf of low-income taxpayers. Ms. Leyden, who previously clerked at the Tax Court and spent several years in private practice, should be a welcomed addition to the bench. The Tax Court’s press release can be found here.

As previously announced by the Tax Court on February 29, 2016, Judge L. Paige Marvel will begin serving a two-year term as Chief Judge of the Tax Court beginning June 1, 2016. Judge Marvel was appointed to the Court in 1998. Prior to joining the Court, she focused on federal and state tax matters and controversies. As readers of this blog may know, Judge Marvel was the authoring Judge of the Court’s recent fully-reviewed opinion in Altera Corp. v. Commissioner, 145 T.C. No. 3 (July 27, 2015), which struck down cost-sharing regulations under the Administrative Procedure Act. The Tax Court’s press release can be found here.