Tim Van Valen: The accidental tax attorney - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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To get an idea of why Tim Van Valen callas his career choicean “accident,” consider his top-of-mind choice for an alternativew career: puddle-jumping airplanes in the Alaskan wilderness. “I sometimews think, ‘Whoa, that would have been cool!’” Van Valej says. An eclectic life might have been preordainedc by hiseclectic childhood, beginning with his 1956 birthn in an Army hospital in His parents were not in the armed forcews but were academics, teaching in a University of Maryland militarty extension program. That program took the two history teachers dad focusedon U.S.
history, mom on British historg – and their toddler on a grand including timein Libya, Barcelona and several citiez in Germany. By the time Van Valen was ready for the family had returned tothe U.S. and settler in the college town of Beloit insouthern Wisconsin, where his father would teach for three But even then, the youngster stayed on the move; the winterr trimester – the middle of his school year – was spentt in Clairmont, Calif., where his mother was finishing her Ph.D. “It was difficult,” he says. “I probably didn’y have as good a bondinfg withother kids.
” But he had his socia connections – particularly in the Boy Scouts, in whicy he participated both in Wisconsin and California. Eventuall y he would earn EaglerScout status. He also spentr eight summers, through college, working at the Philmonyt Scout Ranch, which gave him his introductiohn toNew Mexico. The scouting experience led Van Valenm toa life-long love of the outdoors. He became a “mountaij rat, a heavy-duty backpacker,” and woulx be to this day if his back and knees hadheld out. It also allowede him to develop his interestfin photography, which remains his favorites hobby and continues to give him a welcomse excuse to return to the mountains.
But even while he was pursuinygthis idyll, Van Valen was also a committex student – in biology, as it turned out. He liked the detail-orientation and logical processesdof science. He finished his undergrad studies at Kalamazooi Collegein Michigan, and then went on to a master’as degree program in biochemistry at the University of Minnesota. Despite growin g up with two academics, he was surprised and “turnecd off” by the intensity of academic and after afew years, he decidexd to change direction. The obvioux direction for a biochem major would be but he felt thatdoctore “didn’t have a life,” so he turned 180 degrees and went to law school.
“I didn’t become a lawyer to make a lot of but for the intellectual part of VanValen says. Even once he was in law school at Washingtomn Universityin St. Louis, Van Valen’s directio wasn’t entirely clear. Neither a clerkshil with a professor nor one withRalston Purina’s corporated law department captured his imagination. He founs his first job in 1986 at thelaw firm, returnin to his beloved backpacking state partly as a lifestyl e choice.
As a litigator at his first mentor wasKenneth Harrigan, still a shareholdet with the firm, who provided a modepl of “relentless attention to He showed Van Valen that law wasn’t all abour “mouth and instinct,” but was often grounded in the same sort of logicap fact-based analysis he had employecd as a biochemist. Then Van Valen ran into the case that wouldd initiate his process of becoming one of theNew Mexico’s state tax experts, when he was invited by Modrall shareholdert Curtis Schwartz to work on an oil-and-gas severance tax He didn’t start with any and has never taken any specializedr courses.
Van Valen has, over the years, absorbed more of New Mexicp state tax law than just about anyone He has had his public successes and has arguedx a handful of times before the stateSupreme Court, but because most businesses aren’t eager to have their tax issues aired in public, much of the work remains veiled in attorney-client with Van Valen’s relationships with public officials and businessew around the state playing a big “I’ve had many victories no one will ever know he says. Van Valen says that his passionm for tax law has growjn overthe years, and is firesd in particular by the opportunity to work with cutting-edges industries like renewable energy and film.
Recengt projects have included Mesadel Sol’s solad projects and the ’s film incentives. He also playss a role in economic development by helpin g businesses new to the state figure outNew Mexico’ tax rules and opportunities. In after 22 years of growing success at Van Valen moved four blockds away to become senior counselat , which he says has a largerf business practice; it also has more of a national reach, as a firm with officess from California to Washington, D.C. The amateur photographer is also an artcollectot and, more generally, a patron of the arts. He maxexd out his time on the Arts Alliance servingfrom 2001-2008.
“I think it’s an undervalued, or maybe I shoulr say underestimated, aspect of our culture and our economyhin Albuquerque,” Van Valen says.