Professor Kathryn Kennedy of The John Marshall Law School, a nationally recognized expert in employee benefits, was one of 44 academics to share her insights with staff members of the United States Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 5 and 6, 2012, at a roundtable discussion on tax reform.

Kennedy was invited to the program by the majority and minority staffs of the Finance Committee. She directs the country’s only LL.M. degree in employee benefits for attorneys, and M.S. degree in employee benefits for the non-attorney.

During the two-day roundtable meetings, Kennedy was a panelist for the session on deferred compensation. Finance Committee members scheduled sessions on six specific areas of tax reform—individual income tax; deferred compensation and tax-exempt organizations; estate and gift tax; energy and environmental taxes; business taxation; and international taxation. The confidential, ‘off the record’ nature of the sessions gave the panelists the ability to have frank and...