Professor Francine J. Lipman brings to the Boyd School of Law an exceptional record as an accountant, a lawyer, a teacher, and a scholar. After working as a CPA in an international accounting firm and as the Chief Financial Officer for a chain of retail jewelry stores, Professor Lipman turned to the law. She served as the Editor in Chief of the UC Davis Law Review. She was recognized as an outstanding law student and a member of the Order of the Coif.  

She was a tax law review scholar in NYU’s graduate tax law program, where she practiced law with O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Irell & Manella LLP. Professor Lipman joined Chapman University’s School of Business and Economics faculties in 2001 and the School of Law in 2003. Professor Lipman is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the American College of Tax Counsel, the American Bar Foundation, and an editor and former committee chair for the American Bar Association’s Tax Section. She has been a visiting professor at UC Hastings College of Law and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 2016, Governor Brian Sandoval was appointed, and in 2020 Governor Steve Sisolak reappointed Professor Lipman to serve as Nevada Tax Commissioner. The Nevada Tax Commission consists of eight Nevadans with various professional and business backgrounds. 

The Commissioners supervise the overall administration and operations of the Nevada Department of Taxation. Professor Lipman has written extensively on tax and accounting issues for legal journals, including the Wisconsin Law Review, Florida Tax Review, Virginia Tax Review, SMU Law Review, Nevada Law Journal, American University Law Review, Harvard Environmental Law Review, Harvard Latino Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, The Tax Lawyer, The Practical Tax Lawyer, Taxes and Tax Notes. Professor Lipman is a frequent speaker on tax subjects to law and business groups.

Robert Friedman is Senior Counsel at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. Immediately prior to joining ICAP, he served as the Relman Civil Rights Fellow at Relman, Dane & Colfax. Robert previously clerked for Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York as well as practiced as an associate at a law firm in New York City. Robert received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a comments editor on the Law Review, and his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.

Professor Book joined the Villanova Law School the Fall of 2000, where he is a Professor of Law. While at Villanova, Professor Book was Director of the Federal Tax Clinic from 2000-2007, Director of the Graduate Tax Program from 2007-2014 and Director of the Online Graduate Tax Program from 2013-2015. Prior to coming to Villanova, he was an Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the Low Income Tax Clinic at Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, CT.

Donnie Charleston is the Director of Policy & Advocacy for E Pluribus Unum, where he is responsible for developing the organization’s policy agenda and putting it to action, and overseeing public policy research partnerships for the organization. Donnie previously served as Director of State & Local Fiscal Engagement for The Urban Institute. Charleston also has extensive experience in state and local government. A native of North Carolina, Donnie currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Kreg Steven Brown is a research associate in the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population and the Research to Action Lab at the Urban Institute. His work covers projects concerned with racial disparities in economic opportunity. His primary research focuses on employment, examining racial and gender differences in career pathways, barriers in access to work, and gaps in wages and earnings. Previously, he conducted research on segregation and homeownership and access to affordable housing.