Transfer Pricing: From Classroom to Boardroom

The Tax Section's Transfer Pricing Committee's Transfer Pricing: From Classroom to Boardroom (“TP C2B”) seeks to provide motivated students of law, economics and finance who are interested in pursuing transfer pricing careers with beyond-the-classroom insight into the real-world practice of transfer pricing by pairing them with corporate transfer pricing leaders. This rare “insider” look into how transfer pricing policies are designed and administered gives our future tax/transfer pricing professional mentees a balanced and informed view of a multinational corporation’s priorities and operations as they begin their career journeys. Corporate mentors have the opportunity to share their wisdom and experience and thereby foster the development and enhancement of the transfer pricing profession. There is no cost to the students or mentors to participate in TP C2B. Willingness to learn and share the complexities of the evolving transfer pricing field is the only pre-requisite.

Contacts: If you have any questions, please email Tom Vidano ([email protected]), Eman Cuyler ([email protected]), or Julien Tremblay-Gravel ([email protected]).

Applications for the 2024-2025 Mentorship class are now closed. The next call for mentors and mentees will open in 2025.

Mentors’ Roles and Responsibilities

• Criteria: Every Mentor must be a full-time member of a corporate tax/transfer pricing team.
• Assignment: Mentors are assigned 1-2 Mentees who are enrolled in full-time degree programs (LLM, MS Taxation or Economics) at reputable universities. Each Mentor/Mentee engagement runs for a minimum of one academic year and a maximum of two academic years.
• Cadence: Mentors should provide their Mentees with meaningful guidance at regular intervals (> 1x month).
• Content: Mentors have complete authority/autonomy as to what meetings and content to share with their Mentee(s). Suggested engagement topics are provided each year. 
• No Obligation: Mentees are not interns; TP C2B is not a formal or informal employment contract between the Mentor’s company and the Mentee or his/her educational institution.
• Oversight: An ABA TP Committee member acts as the Mentor’s program liaison, checking in with the Mentor at least quarterly to ensure that the program is proceeding smoothly.
• Standard of Conduct: Trust, good faith and responsible actions by both parties are expected behaviors.

Mentee Selection and Responsibilities

• Criteria: Every Mentee must be a full-time student enrolled in a full-time degree program (law, LLM, MS Taxation or Economics) and in good academic standing. Mentees must be quick learners, good communicators and possess a high degree of maturity. Students with prior corporate employment are preferred but this is not essential.
• Selection Process: Mentee applications are screened by the ABA TP Committee. Selected applicants are matched with in-house practitioner Mentors, as available. 
  
• Oversight: An ABA TP Committee member acts as the Mentee’s program liaison, checking in with the Mentee mid-year to ensure that the program is proceeding smoothly.
• Standard of Conduct: The program is a valuable asset for Mentees throughout their careers, and selected students will fully understand the responsibility of engaging with a large multinational corporation’s transfer pricing function and maintaining cordiality and confidentiality. Trust, good faith and responsible actions by both parties are expected behaviors.
• Applications for the 2024-2025 Mentorship class are now closed. The next call for mentors and mentees will open in 2025.

Program History

In Fall 2020, the ABA Taxation Section’s Transfer Pricing Committee launched Transfer Pricing: From Classroom to Boardroom. Learn more about the program and see sample frameworks, curriculum, plans, and engagement topics.