Gordon Klein cares spectacularly about students' well-being and learning. He is a master of course concepts and explains them in a way that engages students. With helpful anecdotes and examples he simplifies extremely complex tax concepts. He made me feel that I could approach him about anything outside of the classroom and happily advised me on career choices. In this way, he has genuinely altered my career passions and encouraged me to pursue graduate school. He deeply cares about his courses and the effort he puts into lectures is obvious. I wish that I had the opportunity to take more classes outside of my major with him.

I loved going to Professor Klien's classes. I really enjoyed his lectures, and was impressed with his ability to make complicated and at times boring topics clear and interesting. I learned a lot. The key in his class is to know the reader inside out. It also helped me to record his lectures and listen to them while I was preparing for the tests. Both the midterm and the final are challenging but definitely doable. In my opinion, Klein is one of the most knowledgeable and charismatic professors at UCLA. I strongly recommend him. After Litt's boring and useless lectures, Klein's classes are a breath of fresh air.

Prof. Klein is the best professor I've had at UCLA. He's unbelievably knowledgeable about the subject, and he brings in real-world examples to use in class to supplement the lectures. No expensive textbook as the $35 course reader is all you need. He wrote it and it works perfectly with his lectures. I'm going to break this review down into 3 parts: the professor, the class, and the workload/exams.

The Professor
Prof. Klein's the best. Seriously. He works as an expert witness in some of the largest cases in the U.S. (GM Bankruptcy for example). He is a CPA and a J.D. and has many years of teaching and real-world experience. Prof. Klein, as a result of what he does outside of UCLA, is very wealthy (but he never flaunts it, most people have no idea), he continues to teach not because of the money, but simply because he likes it. Why is this important? Because he puts in the effort and it really shows. He has every page of the course reader memorized; his lectures are easy to understand, entertaining, and often very funny; any question you could possibly have about the subject matter he has an answer to and can explain in detail. What more can you ask for than an entertaining, engaging professor that's an expert in his field and has a passion for teaching? Dude's seriously the best. Had him for 127A and basically scheduled my next quarter around being able to take him for 127B. It's my goal to take every class he teaches.

The Class
I took Klein for 127A and 127B. Though 127A isn't a requirement for 127B, I would recommend taking it first, it will make some concepts in 127B easier to understand. The class itself covers C-Corp, S-Corp, and Partnership (LLP, LLC etc) taxation. Though the subject matter may seem dry, Klein's good enough to make it very interesting. The class has very little focus on calculation and concentrates itself almost entirely on conceptual topics. As previously stated, the material in the class comes out of the Course Reader and not the textbook (which you don't need to buy), which means that you're getting a curriculum that doesn't exist anywhere else. This is a big deal because Klein has structured the course not just to teach you how to do tax accounting, but also to learn how to structure things legally to pay the least amount of tax. The structure of this class and the unique material make it worth it in and of itself. By the time you're done, you'll have a great understanding of tax.

The Workload/Exams
This class isn't easy. There is no homework, there are no practice midterms or finals (there are a couple "practice" questions in the Course Reader but they don't really count), there are no discussion sections. The tests are based off of what is covered in class during the lectures. As a result, you can't just study the book and not attend the lectures. Attendance isn't mandatory or tracked in the class, but if you don't go to them, you will fail, guaranteed. That being said, if you attend the lectures and take careful notes, you're pretty much golden for the entire class. As long as you go over them before the exams, you will be prepared. Another thing you should be aware of is that the exams are hard and tricky. They're 20-24 questions long and are mostly multiple choice. He will try to trick you. You've gotta be very careful and go over the exam twice and carefully double check your answers to see if anything slipped under the radar. You'll only do well on the exam if you truly know the materiel and the concepts well. That being said, getting an A on one of his exams feels great. He's not trying to fail the class (just look at the grade dist), he just wants to make sure you know your stuff.

TL;DR: Professor's one of the best at UCLA, take this class. No Textbook required, lectures are amazing, tests are hard.

Terrible class. I hated his teaching structure and did not learn well from it. Would not take it again. His grading scheme is also messed up, as it is worth 20% midterm and 80% final. He also doesn't give partial credit on the exams.

SELLING COURSE READER required for the course! Contact me at johntheghost@g.ucla.edu!

I loved Klein! He is very engaging, and attempts to converse with his students in the minutes before class starts. He is very well knowledged, and can provide examples of the concepts based on cases he has experienced or heard about. Tests are hard, so make sure you understand the essence of all the concepts. Be sure to read the entire question and look out for tricks. Questions will vary from "What is the taxable income" to "What is the tax liability." Multiple Choice and Free Response, but all recorded on a single answer sheet, so you're answer must be exact. I liked studying for this course. Book is definitely not necessary. I only used it for practice problems to review before tests. The Course Reader is cheap and comprehensive. Would recommend this course. Also, Klein is an interesting person, get to know him!

Selling course reader.
Email: coursereaderucla@gmail.com