Top of their class

Kimberley Brooks, professor of tax law at McGill University, likens what she does to Bruce Springsteen and Muhammad Ali. “It’s all like tax law,” she says with a straight face, gesturing to the posters of the rocker and pugilist on her wall.

Er, what?

“There’s nothing pleasant about the training. It’s hard work. But the payoff is the moment where it all comes together.” To wit: with practice, Ali knocks out Sonny Liston, Springsteen plays Giants Stadium, and Brooks somehow makes Canadian tax law palatable and even exciting for the 60 law students who take her class.

“Very little of what a student learns is actually in the classroom,” says the frenetic Brooks, who practised at the Montreal office of Stikeman Elliott before moving to McGill three years ago. “I acknowledge that. It takes the heat off. I just give them what they need to think outside the classroom.”

Her teaching approach stems from the material. Brooks genuinely loves to talk about a subject that makes everyone else cringe. “I am really into tax law,” she says excitedly. “It’s an endless series of puzzles and it’s your job to solve them.” She left her practice in part to seek out a new challenge—it isn’t obvious, but she used to have a fear of speaking in public—and has since decided that she’ll “teach till I’m dead.”

“It’s like practising law on speed,” she says of teaching. “There’s always an element of teaching and learning when you practise law. It just becomes more explicit when teaching and learning get to the classroom.” Brooks started off a recent class with a discussion about whether celebrity gift bags handed out at the Oscars were taxable (answer: yes, those poor celebs). “You see famous people, but really you should be thinking about taxes,” Brooks said, stabbing the air.

Brooks’s students pick up on her enthusiasm. “She really cares about learning,” says Lexi Pace, a third-year law student. “She really thinks it through. And she’s self-deprecating and funny.”

—Martin Patriquin

The Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education welcomes nominations from colleagues and students for the 2011 awards. For more information go to www.mcmaster.ca/ 3Mteachingfellowships