Tax law and big data are growing in alignment. And the Graduate Tax Program at the University of California, Irvine School of Law is looking to push the envelope when it comes to the two forces. It has entered into a partnership with Alteryx, Inc. (NYSE: AYX), a computer software company based in Irvine, revolutionizing business through data science and analytics.
Data science is quickly becoming an integral part of legal tax practice. Data automation tools, big data analytics, machine learning, and other foundations of artificial intelligence-based technologies are already being used in tax compliance, tax planning and tax advisory.
Striving to prepare graduates for the tax practice of tomorrow, the program is launching a tax and data science practicum in cooperation with Alteryx. The UCI/Alteryx Tax Law and Data Analytics Practicum will debut in the spring semester 2020.
Students will train on Alteryx Designer—a data analytics platform already used by many in-house tax departments—and learn to render data-based legal tax advice. Students who successfully complete the practicum will receive Alteryx Designer certification.
Licensing to Alteryx Designer is generously provided by the Alteryx for Good program. Alteryx for Good provides students and educators with a free Alteryx Designer license to help foster learning and further classroom teaching. The practicum is the first of its kind cooperation by Alteryx with a law school.
“Our intention has always been to prepare our graduates for the tax practice that ‘will be’, not only for the tax practice that ‘is’,” said Professor of Law and the Academic Director of the UCI Graduate Tax Program Omri Marian. “Alteryx for Good’s generosity allows us to help our students to become future leaders of the legal tax profession.”
