Professor Nicole Appleberry's research and teaching interests focus on the legal issues involved when vulnerable populations are caught up in systems beyond their experience and meaningful control—thus the intersection of tax law with other specialties such as poverty, disability, and domestic violence law, the empowerment of adversaries through mediation, and advancing social justice and developing legal skills through dialogue.

Professor Appleberry was an assistant prosecuting attorney in Livingston County, Michigan, from 1995 to 1999, focusing on juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, and child abuse and neglect. She is currently of counsel at Ferguson, Widmayer & Clark, PC in Ann Arbor, where she specializes in tax-related matters. She is a civil mediator, was chair of the Practice and Procedure Committee of the Taxation Section of the State Bar of Michigan, and served as co-chair of the Taxation Section of the Washtenaw County Bar Association. In 2017, she was nominated for a Golden Apple Award, the only University-wide student-nominated award that recognizes outstanding teaching. 

Related Information

Areas of Interest

Education

  • University of Michigan, BA, with honors, English

  • University of Michigan Law School, JD

  • Wayne State University, LLM, taxation

Recent Courses

Featured Scholarship

  • Tax Law
  • Legal History
"Commentary on Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111(1933)"
Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tax Opinions
  • Tax Law
"Past Due: The Michigan Department of Treasury Needs to Update its Income Exempt from Levy Amounts"
Michigan Tax Lawyer
See All Scholarship

Activities

November 2021

Panelist, Exploring Options for Distressed Taxpayers, for the Michigan Association of CPAs Michigan Tax Conference.

December 2020

Presented, “Best Practices for Virtual Tax Court Representation, Trials, and Settlement Days,” a panel at the LITC Grantee Conference.

September 2019

Presented "Cross-Cultural Lawyering" to the Washtenaw County ACLU Lawyer's Committee

July 2019

Presented "Story Telling and Story Listening: Using Dialogue to Build Lawyering Skills" at the Seventh Biennial Applied Legal Storytelling Conference, Boulder, Colorado

June 2019

Presented a webinar on "IRS Collections Alternatives" at the State Bar of Michigan Pro Bono Referral Panel

June 2019

Presented a half-day training, "Cross-Cultural Lawyering for the Criminal Defense Attorney," at the 2019 Annual Two-Day Criminal Law Training for Washtenaw County sponsored by the Office of the Washtenaw County Public Defender, the Washtenaw County Bar Association–Criminal Law Section, and the Criminal Defense Resource Center of the State Appellate Defender Office

December 2018

Presented a three-hour workshop on the intersection of tax and domestic violence for the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence

June 2018

Presented "IRS Collections Alternatives," a webinar training provided for the State Bar of Michigan tax pro bono referral panel participants