The three basic areas of the legal curriculum are:

These areas focus on basic attorney skills, expertise and knowledge required for working in a specific functional area, or specialized skills which relate to a particular area or issue in tax law. For instance, the fundamental skills sets area contains programs in advocacy and oral presentation, courtroom skills, legal and brief writing, and negotiation skills. The core skills area focuses on program areas such as tax litigation, general litigation, criminal tax, disclosure, and general legal services. The third area, specialized skills, focuses on fairly narrow areas, such as bankruptcy, employee plans, and international.

The basic attorney training programs currently provided to newly hired field and National Office attorneys serve a vital role in developing the attorneys' ability to perform at the full working level as early as possible in their careers in the Office of Chief Counsel. These basic programs are:

To ensure that these early training needs are met, and to ensure that training is relevant, effective and efficiently administered, attorneys should be trained in the basic functional area(s) where they will spend a very substantial part of their time. This training should be scheduled within the first 18 months of employment to the extent that courses are available. When an experienced attorney is assigned work in another function and needs the basic training in that area, he/she may be nominated to attend that program.

The basic areas in the Management Curriculum are:

These areas focus on basic management and supervisory skills, continuing management education, and executive and leadership development.

The programs included in the fundamental supervisory skills are primarily an introduction to management and leadership. Overall, new managers are exposed to such topics as evaluating employees, counseling employees, and personnel issues.

The developmental managerial skills area focuses on providing training in areas such as communications, coaching, change, and leadership. These courses are designed to provide managers with on-going training to enhance their skills.

The executive and leadership skills area primarily addresses strategic planning, executive coaching skills, systems thinking, and creating one learning organization. Although many of these seminars and programs are concerned with broad organizational issues, they are also intended to provide continuing leadership development.

The basic areas in the Support Staff Curriculum are:

Basic administrative/technical training is conducted on topics such as:

Office managers and administrative officers receive additional training on basic supervisory and management skills on topics such as evaluating and counseling employees as well as team building and personnel issues.

Training is conducted through a variety of formats including traditional classroom, video, technology-based and on-the-job training.

The identification of training needs should first start with the identification of the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) required for maximum effectiveness in all positions. Once KSAs are identified, a manager should assess what KSAs are required to reach maximum effectiveness. When identifying ways to acquire needed KSAs, it is important to examine both training and non-training approaches.

The Training and Communications Branch, in conjunction with the National Training Advisory Board, annually conducts an assessment of training needs. This assessment, in the form of a survey, is sent directly to all Division Counsel and Associate Chief Counsels in the July/August time frame. The survey is intended to assess the needs for training in various areas for the upcoming fiscal year. All course proposals are based on historical precedent as well as recommendations from various program managers and functional sponsors.

Once the survey is completed, it is then analyzed and presented to both the National Training Advisory Board and the Associate Chief Counsel (Finance & Management). A training plan is then proposed based on identified needs and budget projections. A final training plan is developed during the later part of September each year.

All Chief Counsel Training Programs are evaluated by the students, instructors, and program manager. The purpose of the evaluation is to ensure that the subject matter was effectively delivered, both substantively and in terms of good presentation techniques.

The first level of evaluation is conducted at the conclusion of the program through a Level I evaluation, and is designed to assess the content of the course as well as the individual performance of the instructors.

In addition, a Level II evaluation is conducted three months after the conclusion of a program. The primary purpose of the Level II evaluation is to assess both the student's and manager’s perspectives on how much of what was taught is actually being used on the job.

The Office of Chief Counsel has a long history of using tests in training classes. Hundreds of National Office attorneys have been tested upon completion of CPE courses. With the expanded availability of these courses through Counsel's Distance Learning Program on the IRS Satellite Network, several hundred field attorneys have also taken tests at the conclusion of CPE courses. The testing policy outlined below expands the current Counsel CPE testing policy to other Counsel courses.

When appropriate, all courses more than three days in length will contain a test. The decision about the feasibility of testing will be made jointly by the course developers, the functional sponsors, and the training staff. In some cases, there may be both a pre- and post-course test. This will better measure achievement in the course, given the differing levels of knowledge and experience students bring to a given course.

Programs in which testing would be appropriate include:

Programs in which testing would not be appropriate include:

The term "test" can refer to a variety of methods of evaluating the success of the course and the performance of the students. This may include, but is not limited to, written examination, application of case studies, presentation of written papers, or performance-based exercises such as role plays, mock trials, or practice presentations.

Course instructors are responsible for assessing student performance on any test. Student performance should be assessed against the objectives of the course, i.e., did the student successfully demonstrate achievement of the course objectives?

Training staff members are responsible for assisting course developers with the development of testing components; they are also responsible for assisting instructors with the methodology for assessing student performance.

Results of any test will be used in the following ways:

Course announcements will indicate whether or not a test is required.

All training programs sponsored by the Training and Communications Branch are advertised on the Training Web page of the Chief Counsel Intranet site during the first quarter of the fiscal year. The Web site outlines all the programs that are identified as having the highest priority through the needs assessment, and provides a description and target date for each program. Courses are displayed in a variety of formats including a calendar format that lists training opportunities for each month.

Individual programs are announced on the Web site six to eight weeks prior to the program and an e-mail notification of the announcement is sent to all employees. The course announcement contains a general description of the program, the target audience, dates, and location of the training.

Registration for all training programs is done on-line through the Training web site. Manager’s approval is required. The employee and manager receive confirmation via e-mail of their registration (request to take the training). The registrants’ names are provided to the training contacts and final selections for attendance are made by the business unit.

Employees not selected for the training are notified by the business unit. Selected employees are notified by the Training Office through written reporting instructions. The reporting instructions contain administrative information regarding the program, an agenda, and participant roster.

Any specific concerns regarding a program, as well as any changes in the participant roster should be directed to the program manager.

The process of determining the developmental needs of employees includes:

It is important for managers to differentiate between the needs of new employees and experienced employees. The new employee and the experienced employee have different training needs and require different levels of supervisory controls.

With the new employee, the focus should be on orienting the employee to the Office of Chief Counsel, including the mission of the Office, the relationship with Treasury, IRS, Department of Justice, and the U.S. Tax Court, the organizational structure of the Office (including who's who), and office procedures. In addition to new employee orientation sessions, it is important to provide every opportunity for success for new employees and to develop the skills required in the employee's KSAs. These training opportunities can include the following:

For the experienced employee, the training emphasis should be on developing advanced and specialized skills as well as career advancement. It is also important that experienced employees be encouraged to develop independence and autonomy. In addition to the advanced training programs offered by the Training and Communications Branch, opportunities for researching and presenting in-house seminars on topics of special interest to the office and acting assignments should be considered as enhancement opportunities.

There are a variety of training opportunities available to employees of the Office of Chief Counsel. This information is outlined under CCDM 30.4.3.1.2, Types of Training.

It is the manager's responsibility to ensure that not only do employees receive training in order to effectively perform their job assignment, but also that the proper employees attend particular training programs. CASE (Counsel Automated Systems Environment), reviewing employee caseloads, and new work assignments can all be used to determine which employee(s) to send to training. CASE is particularly useful in determining how much time an employee is spending on the subject matter of available training programs.

It is important for the manager to discuss expectations before the employee attends a training program. This would include any new job assignments or responsibilities that the employee would receive after the training.

The manager should meet with the employee after training to discuss the experience and raise any questions or concerns regarding the training. At this time the manager should provide any evaluative information and reinforce any remaining expectations.

Responsibility for approving and processing the SF 182 has been re-delegated from the Associate Chief Counsel (Finance and Management) to each Division Counsel and Associate Chief Counsel, to give them complete control over Out-Service training funds included in their sub-financial plans. In this regard, Division Counsel and Associate Chief Counsel are authorized to approve all Out-Service training and to sign as the Training Officer in Block 29a on the SF 182.

Out-Service training should only be approved if comparable training is not available through courses offered by the Chief Counsel's Office or through IRS to which employees may be sent.

Out-Service training must be related to the current duties of the employee.

Out-Service training should not be approved for the sole purpose of obtaining a degree (i.e., the training should also be work-related) and, where academic degree training is obtained, must otherwise comply with 5 U.S.C. § 4107.

Detailed instructions can be obtained on the Training and Communications Web site.

Each SF 182 must be accompanied by a narrative justification for attendance at the course, the brochure announcing the course (or a duplicate of the brochure for each attendee) and a completed enrollment form for each person attending (these forms are normally found in the brochure announcing the program). Originating offices should retain a copy of this material.

Upon the receipt of a request for Out-Service training in the Division Counsel or Associate Chief Counsel Office, the SF 182 should be reviewed for completeness and accuracy. The exact method for tracking receipt, approval, and processing of the form will be left to the discretion of each Division Counsel or Associate Chief Counsel. After approval by the Division Counsel or Associate Chief Counsel, the form must be approved by the designated Training Officer. The Training Officer can be the Division Counsel or Associate Chief Counsel or their designee. This authority cannot be re-delegated below the Area Counsel or Deputy Associate Chief Counsel. After approval by the authorizing official, the request must be entered into the Requisition Tracking System (RTS).

Each Division Counsel or Associate Chief Counsel is responsible for ensuring that the approval process is completed before any employee attends Out-Service training. If the approval process has not been completed, the employee's attendance at the training represents an unauthorized procurement action for which the individual employee will be liable.

Employees are cautioned that the mere forwarding of the requisite training paperwork by mail or by interoffice messenger service to the approving office does not assure that such documentation has in fact been received or processed. Employees should not report to a training course on the assumption that their request has been approved until notified of such fact, nor should they assume that they have in fact been enrolled in the course unless the procedures specified in the subparagraph, below, have been met.

While employees should not make plans to attend training courses until they have been officially notified of the approval, such notification does NOT indicate that they have been enrolled in the course by the course sponsor. In the process of approving a training request, the course sponsor is not approached until the designated officials have approved the request and the request have been entered and approved in the Requisition Tracking System (RTS). At that point, the necessary paperwork is forwarded to the course sponsor or registration is faxed or phoned in to enroll the nominee. If a nominee has not heard from the course sponsor within two days of the course, he/she should contact the approving official so that steps can be taken to verify the enrollment. It is particularly important to follow this procedure where out-of-town travel is involved.