Christine Manolakas
For more than 40 years, Professor Manolakas has taught federal income tax courses at McGeorge School of Law, eventually adding community property law to her repertoire. She has also taught courses at King Hall, University of California at Davis, and tax classes at various locations throughout California for the California CPA Education Foundation. Prior to joining the faculty at McGeorge, Professor Manolakas earned an LLM in Taxation from New York University, and was an attorney in the tax department of a major oil company located in San Francisco.
From 2005 to 2008, Professor Manolakas served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. During that period, she supported and strengthened many of the programs that continue to benefit the students at McGeorge. Professor Manolakas is the Director of the Tax Concentration and the Business Concentration, which allows her to provide students with both academic and professional counseling. As a result of her contributions to the law school, an award was established, the "Manolakas Extraordinary Contribution Award," which is conferred annually on a member of the faculty or administrative staff.
Professor Manolakas is thoroughly committed to her students, and strives to make the difficult material covered in her tax courses accessible to each of them. She has said that a basic understanding of tax law is essential for all students. One of the most difficult aspects of teaching tax law is to remove the students' fear of the subject and help them to appreciate and understand a complex and interesting field of law. Professor Manolakas also teaches Community Property law, which is a very different type of law but equally as challenging. Professor Manolakas has received the Julie Davies Professor of the Year award.
Recently, Professor Manolakas' scholarship examined the federal income taxation of such individuals as gamblers, thieves and their victims, and artists and the acquirers of art. She also published articles on the qualified residence interest deduction, the taxation of natural disasters, and the tax treatment of mixed-use personal residences. For many years, Professor Manolakas' scholarship focused on issues relating to international tax law, the interpretation of tax treaties, and the comparison of the tax laws of the NAFTA countries. She has also published works centered on community property law.
BA, University of Southern California
JD, Loyola University, Los Angeles
LLM (Taxation), New York University
Representative Scholarship and Activities
Christine Manolakas, The Tax Law and Policy of Natural Disasters, 71 Baylor L. Rev. 1 (2019)
Christine Manolakas, Taxation of Gamblers: The House Always Wins, 70 Okla. L.J. 553 (2017)
Christine Manolakas, Qualified Residence Interest Deduction: A Win for Unmarried Co-Owners, 17 Nev. L.J. 201 (2016)
Christine Manolakas, The Taxation of Thieves and their Victims: Everyone Loses but Uncle Sam, 13 Hastings Bus. L.J. (Fall 2016)
Christine Manolakas, Qualified Residence Interest Deduction: A Win for Unmarried Co-Owners, 17 Nev. L.J. (2016)
Christine Manolakas, The Tax Treatment of Natural Disasters: Greater and Equitable Relief is Necessary, 44 Real Estate L.J. 464 (2016)
Christine Manolakas, The Taxation of Artists and the Acquirers of Art: The Many Shades of Grey, 43 AIPLA Q. J. 69 (Winter 2014). (American Intellectual Property Law Association, The George Washington University School of Law)
The Mixed Use of a Personal Residence: Integration of Conflicting Holding Purposes Under I.R.C. Sections 121, 280A, and 1031, 14 Wake Forest J. Bus. & Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2013).
The Exit Tax: A Move in the Right Direction,Wm & Mary Bus. L. Rev. 341 (2012) (with William Dentino).
Tax Discrimination and Trade in Services: Search for a Balance in Canada-U.S. Relations, 40 Geo. J. Int’l L. 3 (2008) (with Catherine Brown).
Tax Barriers to Trade in Services: Myth or Reality in the NAFTA Bloc?, 52 Tax Notes Int’l 323 (2008) (with Catherine Brown).
Tax Discrimination and Trade in Services Between Canada and the United States: Deciphering the Landscape, in Taxation and Valuation of Technology: Theory, Practice, and the Law 179 (with Catherine Brown; James L. Horvath & David W. Chodikoff eds., Irwin Law 2008).
The Presumption of Undue Influence Resurrected: He Said/She Said is Back, 37 McGeorge L. Rev. 33 (2006).
Trade in Technology Within the Free Trade Zone: The Impact of the WTO Agreement, NAFTA, and Tax Treaties on the NAFTA Signatories,21 Nw. J. Int’l L. & Bus. 71 (2006) (with Catherine Brown).
