Nicole Appleberry, ’94, is the director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic and clinical professor at Michigan Law. Her 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.

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, JD
  • Wayne State University, LLM, taxation

    • Recent Courses

    Featured Scholarship

    "Commentary on Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111(1933)"

    Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tax Opinions
    WWW
    • Tax Law
    • Legal History

    "Past Due: The Michigan Department of Treasury Needs to Update its Income Exempt from Levy Amounts"

    Michigan Tax Lawyer

    WWW
    • Tax Law
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    Activities
    May 2024

    Building Law Student Resilience Through Dialogue, at the Building Resilience Case Studies on Student Interventions & Psychological Insights Conference at University of Pittsburgh School of Law

    October 2023

    Presented Tax Consequences of Debt Forgiveness as part of the Michigan Poverty Law Program Roadshow

    January 2023

    The Low Income Taxpayer and form 1099-K, blog post for Procedurally Taxing

    December 2022

    1099-K Issues, Co-Panelist, IRS Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Grantee Conference, Phoenix, AZ

    October 2022

    State Bar of Michigan Tax Controversy Pro Bono Panel Training

    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