Professor of Law

Professor Nancy H. Kaufman honed her expertise in international law during her years of practice in Chicago and Washington, D.C. She handled international tax planning for U.S. and foreign-based multinational corporations and advocated in legislative and regulatory matters relating to international tax issues.

In her research, Prof. Kaufman examines the eroding effect of economic globalization on national income tax bases and concludes that a high degree of international tax harmonization will be needed to preserve the world’s income tax systems. Her current research seeks to uncover the obstacles to tax harmonization. More generally, Kaufman studies economic rights and the developing role of multinational enterprises in international law and international efforts to regulate their behavior.

Professor Kaufman received a B.A. in philosophy from the George Washington University and spent nearly a decade working with troubled adolescents as an inpatient psychiatric aide and a recreational therapist before entering law school. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School she intended to go into family practice, but became intrigued with tax and international law. After five years of private practice, she joined SLU LAW in 1989 and was director of the Center for International and Comparative Law from 2000 to 2002.

In addition to her responsibilities at SLU LAW, Professor Kaufman has taught a course on income tax treaties for the past decade at the Institute of International Taxation in Taiwan, which trains tax administrators for developing newly industrialized countries in international tax law.