Herbert N. Beller (JD ’67) Gives Back, Investing in Future Generations of Tax Lawyers

For Herbert N. Beller (JD ’67), tax law was never just a career; it was a calling that Northwestern Pritzker School of Law helped him find nearly six decades ago. Now, after more than 50 years in practice and 14 years on the Law School’s faculty, he is paying that forward, establishing the Herb Beller Tax Career Scholarship Fund to support students in Northwestern’s JD-Tax LLM Joint Degree Program.

Herb has been a steady supporter of Northwestern Law for more than 50 years, including gifts tied to his Class of 1967, one of the most generous classes in the Law School’s history. The new scholarship fund marks his most significant commitment yet, one aimed at keeping Northwestern’s Tax Program among the very best in the country.

A Mentor Who Opened Doors

Herb’s path to a career in tax law was set early. An accounting major at Northwestern’s undergraduate business school, he had already decided to become a tax lawyer by the time he entered the Law School. That decision was cemented by his relationship with Professor Vance N. Kirby, then Northwestern’s leading tax scholar and a former Tax Legislative Counsel at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Professor Kirby’s corporate tax seminar inspired Herb’s eventual specialization in that area, and he served as Herb’s faculty advisor on a Law Review article and a senior research paper. Along the way, Professor Kirby encouraged Herb to consider a career in Washington, D.C. and helped him land a spot in a new summer internship program at the IRS National Office, one of only seven such positions offered nationally that year.

Professor Kirby’s influence didn’t stop there. He also helped Herb secure a clerkship with Judge Theodore Tannenwald, Jr. of the U.S. Tax Court, a role Herb began immediately after graduation. He went on to build his career in Washington, where he practiced federal tax law for more than 50 years, most recently as a partner and of counsel at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan (now Eversheds Sutherland).

Throughout his career, Herb valued greatly his active involvement in outside professional organizations and activities. He published numerous articles and spoke frequently throughout the country on corporate tax and other tax topics; and taught LLM and JD tax courses for many years as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law. He also served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation; as an appointed member of the IRS Advisory Council; as co-chair of the National Conference of Lawyers and CPAs; and in leadership roles with the American College of Tax Counsel and the Tannenwald Foundation for Excellence in Tax Scholarship.

Coming Home to Teach

Upon reaching his mid-60s, Herb began thinking seriously about a second act. Conversations with Professor Philip Postlewaite, long-time Director of Northwestern’s Tax Program, and then-Dean David Van Zandt led to an offer: a new kind of residential faculty position for practitioners who were recently retired or on the “back nine” of long full-time practice careers. Says Postlewaite, “Herb is a model graduate from our Law School, constantly giving back on our behalf.  Fueled in large part by his Northwestern educational experiences, he rose to prominence in the tax bar and national tax community as a partner in major law firms, and as Chair of the ABA Tax Section.” 

Herb joined Northwestern Law’s faculty in 2009 and went on to teach Tax LLM and JD-level corporate tax courses for 14 years, often carrying a full load of three courses a year, until his retirement as an Emeritus Professor of Practice in 2023. The move had personal resonance, too: after more than 40 years away, Herb and his wife, Jane, returned to the Chicago area, where both were born and raised and their daughters (Angie and Lindsay), and grandchildren (Max, Nate, Tabitha and Nora) all live.

The move was especially meaningful to Herb because it enabled him to teach from some of the same classrooms that he and his father, Roy Beller (JD ’32), sat as Northwestern Law students decades ago. Roy died unexpectedly during Herb’s sophomore year. “We often had talked about my going to law school,” said Herb, “and I deeply regret that he did not live to see me become and develop as a lawyer.”

Herb’s many other family ties to Northwestern include his mother, Pearl Berkson Beller Davis (BS ’38); an uncle, Irving Berkson (BS ’34, JD ’36); his father-in-law, Norman Korff (BS ’36) and mother-in-law Shirley Goldsmith Korff (BS ’38); and several cousins and nephews.

While teaching at Northwestern, Herb twice received the Outstanding Tax LLM Professor Award; continued to publish articles in leading tax journals; hosted visits to the Law School by high-level government tax officials; and assisted students in identifying and pursuing employment opportunities. In 2015 he lectured in China on U.S. corporate taxation; and in 2021 he delivered the prestigious Griswold Lecture before the American College of Tax Counsel, speaking on a topic near and dear to his heart – Tax Lawyers as Teachers: A Precious Commodity.

“Being able to teach at Northwestern, my alma mater and one of the top law schools in the country, has been a true privilege and honor,” Herb said.

Investing in the JD-Tax LLM Joint Degree Program

The Tax Program at the Law School has developed in major ways since Herb’s time as a student during the 1960s, when the curriculum included only a small number of JD-level tax courses. The Tax LLM Program, established by Professor Postlewaite in 2001, and celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year, is consistently ranked among the very best of such programs. It offers more than 30 required and elective courses covering a broad spectrum of basic and specialized tax subject areas and a graduate degree after 9 months of full-time study.

The JD-Tax LLM Joint Degree Program allows students to earn both Northwestern JD and Tax LLM degrees simultaneously by taking an additional semester of concentrated tax coursework. It is especially suited to admitted Northwestern JD students who are already set on a career in tax law, and who desire to kick start that career as expeditiously as possible, armed with a very comprehensive tax education and the valuable credential of two degrees from an elite law school. Herb’s generous gift will provide substantial tuition support to students who wish to pursue this special accelerated path to a career in tax, whether landing in law or accounting firms, government service, in-house positions with corporations or other business entities, non-profit organizations or academia. Scholarship recipients will be selected based on academic performance and various other factors demonstrating a strong commitment to and aptitude for successfully pursing a tax-related career. “Herb gave generously of his time and intellect for 14 years,” said Professor Postlewaite, “and he has again given generously in establishing a scholarship fund for those Northwestern Law students who aspire to becoming a tax professional and choose to participate in the JD-Tax LLM Joint Degree Program.”

Giving Back and Paying Forward

Herb views the Tax Career Scholarship Fund as an appropriate way to express his personal gratitude for the excellent education and scholarship assistance that he received from Northwestern as both an undergraduate and law student, and for the career-shaping opportunity that he had at the Law School to study under and be mentored by Professor Kirby. The specific direction of his gift to support the specially designed, in-depth JD-Tax LLM Joint Degree Program reflects Herb’s strong belief that aspiring tax professionals need high quality, rigorous and practical educational training in order to understand and effectively advise upon the vast array of technical and policy issues that regularly arise under our nation’s complex tax laws. Through its numerous tax course offerings, and excellent residential and adjunct tax faculty, Northwestern is well-equipped to provide this critical educational grounding.

“I am confident,” said Herb, “that the Law School will continue attracting and preparing high-caliber students for productive careers as tax lawyers, and hope that my scholarship support for the JD-Tax LLM Joint Degree Program will help further that objective in meaningful ways for many years to come.”

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Dean Zachary D. Clopton praised Herb’s decades of service to the Tax Program and his continued generosity. “Herb Beller has given Northwestern Pritzker Law two careers’ worth of dedication, first as one of the finest tax practitioners of his generation, and then as a teacher who shaped hundreds of students during his 14 years on our faculty. This gift ensures that his influence will extend to many generations of students who choose careers in tax law in part because Northwestern Pritzker Law gave them the tools and the confidence to do so. I am deeply grateful for Herb’s generosity and for his lifelong commitment to this institution.”