Finding True Value

Headshot of Elizabeth Tylawsky

Elizabeth Tylawsky, RWU Law Class of 2008

Juris DoctorAlumni

Liz Tylawsky has now officially risen to the top in two very different, very demanding fields: she’s a successful taxation and business valuation expert with Meyers, Harrison & Pia, LLC, in New Haven, Conn., specializing in “high-net-worth marital dissolution cases” – and she has been crowned World Champion at the Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show. 

Breaking from the pack: Upon completing law school in 2008 – just in time for the Great Recession – Tylawsky wondered, “What can I do to make myself more marketable?” She decided to augment her J.D. with a Master of Science in Accounting and Taxation, summa cum laude, from the University of Hartford. “It made me a lot more marketable than an LL.M. would have.” 

Why tax? “If you’d asked me at the beginning of law school, I would have said, ‘Absolutely not, it sounds so boring.’ But Professor Santoro was awesome – very knowledgeable, lots of experience, great stories. He made the subject very interesting.” 

Star power:Today, Tylawsky finds her work “unbelievably fascinating. We get a lot of very high-profile clients – celebrities, supermodels, hedge-fund types – which is fun. You talk to them on a regular basis and become really close; you get to see their whole lifestyle.” 

Versatile degree: “Though I’m not actually practicing, my law degree is still very useful. We work with attorneys on a daily basis, and being able to communicate on the same level makes everyone’s job easier.” 

Lifelong love of horses: “I’ve been riding and competing since I was six. It’s always been part of my life. I often say that’s the reason I went to school: so I could afford my horses!” 

Back in the saddle:“The type of riding I do is called saddle seat. It’s a much more formal, high-stepping, showy style of riding with fancier horses.” 

Where horses and taxes meet: “Horses are the one business where you can show a profit only two out of seven years, and take a loss for five years. In every other business, you have to show a profit two out of five years.” 

Other interests? “I don’t have time for anything else! All I do is work and ride!”