Brandeis Spotlight: Professor Goldburn P. Maynard Jr.

Goldburn P. Maynard Jr. teaches courses on taxation, gratuitous transfers and elder law. His research focuses on issues of wealth distribution and inequality, tax policy and America’s aging population.

What’s the best career advice you ever received?

“Two pieces. One of them I didn’t think was great advice at the time. I actually was kind of peeved that I got this advice. We were complaining about not having the option to work a public interest job due to our debt load, and our dean, who could sometimes sound a bit callous, said something to the effect of, ‘Your career  encompasses a much longer time span than you imagine. Stop thinking about the first five years of your career. Think of the longer term of your career.’ At the time, I didn’t care for the advice, but in later years, I realized that that actually was true.

“The second piece of advice is much more recent, and it is academic career advice. It was from one of my mentors, and it was given to me at the beginning of my academic career.

“I was coming up with ideas for my first major article. I’d come up with some idea for a dry tax procedure article. After my mentor read it, she looked at me and said, ‘Well, if you want to write this kind of thing, why don’t you work elsewhere and at least make a lot of money because I know that this is not what you love and what you’re passionate about. You shouldn’t just write something to publish it.’

“I just scrapped that idea altogether, and what I ended up doing couldn’t have been more different. “

How has law school changed since you were a student?

“I don’t like to generalize because it’s not as if I’m teaching at the law school I attended. The comparison is not completely apt.

“If I was to talk more generally, I think law school is at least moving in the direction of being more pedagogically aware of what it is that students need.

“I also think from the perspective of students, given that they’ve grown up in a period of time where they have the Internet, their approach is different. I think professors find themselves having to change their style and delivery to accommodate these changes. The amount of information available in today’s society can easily overwhelm the individual law student. We often help them decide what’s helpful and reputable.”

What was your first job?

“I remember interning at the company that my dad worked at. It was some kind of small clearinghouse company that had partially been started by the Lehman Brothers. I interned in one of their departments for the summer.”

What’s your favorite spot on campus?

“That is yet to be determined. Now that I’ll be here this summer, I’ll have more of an opportunity. I’ve been really busy trying to juggle my first-year professor responsibilities.”

How do you stay motivated?

“A crucial factor is that I love learning. That is the beginning of everything. From the time I was really young, I was fascinated by picking up new concepts. That still continues.

“I love teaching and I love my students. I’m excited each time I’m in the classroom.

“On the scholarship end of things, more and more it’s just, ‘Oh my goodness, I feel like this article needs to be written. It’s not out there and no one has written about this. I need to write about this.’

“Finally, I care about the school, so are there things that I can do to improve the school given that I’m here for the long term? It feels like something that I’m invested in.”

Why Brandeis?

“That process is strange in the sense that it’s not as if you’re applying to go to law school so you’re not picking and choosing in the same way. It’s much more difficult.

“A lot of stars had to align. I did several interviews. This one just went really well. If we compare it to a series of dates, both parties were extremely happy about how it went. It just really clicked.”