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Washington D.C. Report

Patrick McNelis

Tax Law Specialist, U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service


Mr. McNelis has a M.A. in International Relations as well as his law degree. After passing his bar exam, he joined the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) where he has worked for thirty years. He is presently a Tax Law Specialist responsible for tax exempt and government entities, as well as pension plans. In this interview, my intention was to gain insight into the importance of the judicial system in the government and what is expected of government attorneys. I also was interested in determining what he may see as his personal professional difficulties when facing the legal systems of other countries.

What is your opinion of the huge, disproportional representation of lawyers, as compared to other occupations, in the federal government?

McNelis:I don't know the exact number of lawyers here - almost everyone around me is a lawyer by profession. Most people assume that the IRS is composed of pencil pushing bureaucrats looking only to collect taxes. However, in reality, the core IRS officials are mostly lawyers. I have here the registration book for all federal employees. The IRS alone has over 1,600 lawyers, Customs has 220, and General Administration has over 2,200. Thus, within the Treasury Department, there are 4,083 lawyers. This figure alone is staggering but the Department of Justice, the main branch for our legal system, has 8,171 lawyers. Even the State Department, considered our diplomatic operations, has 4,162 lawyers. I guess it intends to represent our country by legal defense.

Why are there so many lawyers in the U.S. government? This question targets the heart of our judicial system. Federal government employees work for the U.S. Congress, the representatives of the American people. At the beginning of each year, when the new Congress convenes, members are eager to present five to ten legislative bills. At times, there might be over 10,000 legislative bills waiting to be heard. Of course, most of the bills disappear at the committee level. Nevertheless, over hundred bills will have passed the Congress, which then the Treasury Department is in charge of processing. After analyzing the bill, we prepare the detailed legislative rules which would be applied. At the IRS, my job is to disseminate information to the public, answer questions regarding the new legislation, hear and process corporate taxpayer complaints, and, when and if necessary, take them to court to force compliance.

I really don't know a lot about the other Departments, but it is obvious why we need so many lawyers in, for example, the Department of Commerce and the State Department. Since everything begins with the law, in order to serve the people, it is necessary for the bureaucrats to understand the law. To fight against the private sector, which has over one million lawyers, you need hardworking government lawyers. Some of my colleagues start to work at 3:30 in the morning!

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