Legal Reporter I

Based in corporate office, works with limited supervision, often from various locations, to write tax-related news stories by attending scheduled meetings, press conferences, and events. Conducts interviews, research, and fact-checking. Cultivates sources and follows leads to scoop industry competitors. Has a law degree or other advanced degree and generally develops a particular area of technical tax expertise to identify trends and spot the news.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned to meet editorial objectives:

• Attends, writes, and reports on scheduled tax-related federal, state or international events with government speakers, congressional hearings, court decisions, industry press conferences, and other events as assigned with ability to tailor writing style as appropriate.
• Writes and develops news stories and analytical articles for print and electronic publications. Able to grasp and cover complex tax topics frequently under deadline pressure, zeroing in on what matters without dumbing it down. Proactively seeks out story ideas while balancing daily assignments.
• Identifies, tracks, and prioritizes developments in assigned beat to ensure competitive coverage in print and online. Helps team but is independent and motivated.
• Collects information by regularly speaking with top practitioners and government officials, attending industry events, obtaining relevant source material, and researching tips and leads.
• Communicates story ideas, provides updates on writing assignments, and responds promptly to queries during editing process. Attends weekly editorial meetings.
• May be required to travel to cover tax-related events in other cities or countries.
• Adheres to established publication deadlines and style protocols (deadline may vary by publication or by project or article, but is generally 4PM - 5 PM)

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• Solid grounding in legal fundamentals; ability to wade through complicated topics to identify insights valuable to our subscribers
• Strong writing skills with an attention to detail and diligent sourcing essential
• Strong communication skills to effectively interact and develop source relationships with top government officials and their staffs, academics, lobbyists, and tax practitioners
• Ability to write clearly and quickly under daily deadline pressure and work as a team to adjust to changing priorities
• Beat reporting experience a plus
• Must be able to use a laptop to connect to network remotely, follow-up promptly with email inquiries from editors (particularly when working remotely), and transfer stories in a timely manner
• Must be capable of aggressively pursuing all angles of a given story