Full-Time Day Program
Vivian Bodey enjoys taxes. No, really.
In fact, the third-year day student likes one of life's only certainties so much
that she has already accepted a position with the IRS, Office of the Chief
Counsel as a tax attorney after she graduates from Southwestern. She is also the
only law student working on a treatise for corporate attorneys through the ABA
Section on Business Law, Committee on Tax, titled, "Taxation of Corporate
Transactions: A Handbook for Business Lawyers." She has authored a chapter and
is creating checklists and diagrams for the publication.
Scholarship is
very important to Bodey, who wants to eventually teach tax law at Southwestern.
She already has two articles being published: one on Fast Food Products
Liability for Trinity Law Review and another on Interspousal Contracts
for Southwestern University Law Review, where she currently serves as an
associate editor. She has also contributed a few articles for a Forensic
Evidence book.
Born in Budapest,
Hungary, Bodey came to the United States with her family when she was 5 years
old and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. The daughter of a cancer researcher
father and psychologist mother, Bodey attended Reseda High School's Medical
Magnet program and majored in economics at Whittier College. "I knew since I was
a little girl that I wanted to be a lawyer," she said. "I watched Perry Mason
and said, 'That's what I want to do.' But my mom panicked because she thought I
meant that I wanted to be an actress. She was relieved to find out that I wanted
to be in the courtroom."
Southwestern was an easy choice for Bodey as she
sought to stay in Los Angeles. "I wanted diversity, an urban setting and an
opportunity to interact one-on-one with faculty, which I knew I would get at
Southwestern," she said. "I love the student body and the faculty at
Southwestern. No other schools compare."
And she has parlayed her
affection for Southwestern, tax law and scholarship into a bevy of
extracurricular work, including participation in the Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) program, which helps qualifying individuals file tax returns
every Saturday through tax season. During the Fall 2007 semester she externed
for the Hon. Arthur L. Alarcón, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit,
and participated in LLSA's Hoover Toy Drive. She also works part time for local
law and accounting firms. And in her free time she's happy to help students
study, including her brother, Bela, a second-year evening student. In addition
to working for the IRS after graduation, Bodey will likely attend Loyola Law
School part time to earn an LL.M. "Tax law is a guiding light behind any
corporate transaction," she said. "It's very interesting and challenging.
