Originally published in Student Lawyer magazine, March 2004 (Vol. 32, No. 7). All rights reserved.

VITA Program: ABA Honors Schools for Tax Preparation Assistance

Kenneth Gorton

If you're seeking inspiration on how to conduct a successful Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, look to two schools: Samford University School of Law in Birmingham, Ala., and Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, Calif. The ABA Law Student Division honored both schools' programs at the 2003 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

VITA is a cooperative effort between the Law Student Division and the Internal Revenue Service to provide help for taxpayers in filling out and filing their returns. Each year, law students and other volunteers set up sites across the country. Last year, more than 1.7 million taxpayers nationwide were helped.

"We're honored that the Law Student Division recognized us this early in the game," says Samford spokesperson James Lewis, whose school received the Outstanding VITA Rookie Site Award. "Our students worked extremely hard. Being a new program, we went full bore in our efforts to encourage student involvement."

Lewis says the high level of student participation in VITA stems from a tradition of public service at Samford and its emphasis on following the ABA's public service guidelines. The ABA encourages law students to become involved in volunteer work early and stay involved throughout their careers as lawyers.

Western State has received the Outstanding Continuing VITA Site award for the past four years. During this time, the school's VITA program has helped more than 500 clients, who collectively obtained $150,000 in refunds. The program focuses on low-income, military, disabled, elderly, and non-English-speaking taxpayers, and offers assistance in 16 languages, including American Sign Language.

For help in setting up a VITA program at your school, visit the Law Student Division's VITA web site at www.abanet.org/lsd/vita/vita.html.