Natasha Varyani

Professor Natasha Varyani, a dynamic legal scholar, has joined the faculty at Roger Williams University School of Law.  From 2020 to 2023 she served as an associate professor of law at New England Law | Boston where she led their First-Generation Student Program and co-chaired their Charles Hamilton Houston Enrichment Program.  Previously, Professor Varyani served as the Associate Director of the Academic Enrichment Program and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Law. 

With an impressive background in private practice, specializing in complex tax planning and litigation for nearly a decade, Professor Varyani brings a wealth of practical expertise to her teaching. Throughout her career, Professor Varyani has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting diversity in the legal profession. She has actively engaged with affinity bar associations at both local and national levels, assuming leadership roles to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the legal profession. In addition, she has collaborated closely with various organizations in her community, including the Boston Bar Association and the Boston Public School system, contributing her expertise to help change the face of the legal profession.

Professor Varyani brings an impressive combination of teaching and business experience to RWU Law where she empowers students and fosters belonging with her infectious passion for teaching and social justice. 

BOOKS

Property Supplement (title TBD), (Carolina Academic Press – forthcoming). This scholarly project seeks to support professors and students in 1L Property classrooms in examining the ways in which our laws have created and supported systems and structures that reinforce racial inequality. Chapters will particularly focus on bar tested areas of law and each will conclude with a sample exercise aimed at retaining doctrine and building legal analysis skills.  

Feminist Judgment Series (Property): Coggan v. Coggan.  (Cambridge University Press with Stevie Leahy) Co-Authored chapter containing re-written judicial opinion in a Florida case on the topic of Tenancy in Common and gendered treatment of former spouses. 

ARTICLES 

"Social Justice & Multi-Jurisdictional Tax: A Critical Examination of the Digitization of Commerce, Multi-Jurisdictional Tax & An Opportunity to Correct a Systemic Preference to Protect Wealth", Capital University Law Review, Volume 50, Number 2 (Fall 2022)

"Response to “Identity Capitalists”: Implications for Property, Academia, and Affirmative Action", New England Law Review, Volume 56, Number 2 (Spring 2022). 

"Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard: Affirmative Action, Race Based Policies and Preference Falsification", Boston Bar Association (April 7, 2021)   

"If You’re Planning on Asking a Black Friend or Colleague How to Help with BLM Movement, Don’t!", National Jurist, September 2020. 

"COVID-19 and State Emergency Orders", Massachusetts Bar Association Section Review (July / August 2020)

"Taxing Short Term Rentals May Spoil the Season", Boston Business Journal Viewpoint,  July 19, 2019 Op-Ed. 

"A New Purpose: Shifting Foundations That May Reprioritize the Needs of Corporate Stakeholders and Social Movements", New England Law Review, Volume 54, No. 1 (2019). 

"Being Present: What a Sales Tax Case Demonstrates About Federalism, The Dormant Commerce Clause, and the Direction of Supreme Court Jurisprudence", Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, Volume 28, No. 1 (Winter 2019)

"States Unbound: Examining the Authority of the Multistate Tax Compact in a Modern, Multijurisdictional Economy", Wayne State Law Review Journal of Business (Summer 2018)

"Cognitive Load Theory and Learning the Law: How and Why Minority Students Struggle in Law School", The Learning Curve, Winter 2018. 

"A Contract Among States: Capturing Income of the World’s Multi-Jurisdictional Taxpayers", University of Bologna Law Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, January 2017.

"Taxing Electronic Commerce: The Efforts of Sales and Use Tax to Evolve with Technology", (lead article), Oklahoma City University Law Review, Volume 39, Issue 2 (Summer 2014).

"Understanding Discovery: The Supreme Judicial Court Clarifies the Attorney-Client Privilege and Work-Product Doctrine as Related to Tax Memoranda", Mass Bar Association Section Review, Volume 11, No. 2, 41-42 (2009).  

"Combined Reporting in Massachusetts: A Primer on the Controversy", Mass Bar Association Section Review, Volume 10, No. 3 29-31 (2008).

"Defining Manufacturing Activity in Massachusetts: Recent decisions Clarify the Availability of Sales and Use Tax Exemptions for Entitles Engaged in Manufacturing",  Mass Bar Association Section Review, Volume 10, No. 1, 35-36 (2008).