(612) 895-2210
Juris Doctor (J.D.) in Law | University of Minnesota Law School
Minnesota Law Review
Wagner Labor Law Moot Court
Research Assistant, Professor Philip Frickey
Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science | Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison
Distinction in the Major:
Economics
Economics Honor Society
Political Science Honor Society
Bar | Illinois | November 1993 | Minnesota | October 1994 | California | March 2000 | Maryland | October 2007
Minnesota Rule 114 Neutral Roster | Civil Facilitative/Hybrid | Civil Adjudicative/Evaluative
Special Achievement Award, Department of Justice, 2012
Performance Award, Department of Justice, 2010
Performance Award, Department of Justice, 2009
Special Achievement Award, Department of Justice, 2008
Special Achievement Award, Department of Justice, 2001
Sustained Superior Performance Award, Department of the Treasury, 1997
Credit Counseling and Debtor Education: New Rules, New Responsibilities https://www.justice.gov/archives/ust/blog/credit-counseling-and-debtor-education-new-rules-new- responsibilities
Prevention from Creditors’ Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information https://www.justice.gov/usdoj-media/ust/media/475621/dl?inline
Treatment of Unexpired Leases: Post-Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005
Note, Compulsory Arbitration of ADA Claims: Disabling the Disabled https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr/2491/
Minnesota Tax Court | Saint Paul, MN Judge | November 2019 – March 2025
Office of the Minnesota Attorney General | Saint Paul, MN Assistant Attorney General | April 2016 – November 2019
Executive Office For United States Trustees, U.S. Department of Justice | Washington, DC Deputy Assistant Director | March 2008 – April 2016
Shapiro Sher Guinot and Sandler, PC | Baltimore, MD
Partner, Bankruptcy and Insolvency | June 2007 – March 2008
United States Department of Justice | Washington, DC Trial Attorney (Corporate and Financial Litigation) | September 2000 – May 2007
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman | San Francisco, CA Associate Attorney (Corporate Group, Litigation Group) | June 1999 – August 2000
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) | Saint Paul, MN Attorney (Estate and Gift Taxation) | March 1995 – August 1997
Volunteer Judge | MSBA Mock Trial Program | Present
University of Minnesota Law School Mentorship Program | Present
University of Minnesota Law School Judicial Externship Program | 2023-2025
Wendy Tien brings over three decades of experience in complex commercial litigation, bankruptcy, and tax matters. Her distinguished career includes service as a judge on the Minnesota Tax Court, where she presided over cases involving the full spectrum of Minnesota state tax law. Her docket included some of the most complex and high-stakes matters in corporate franchise, sales, estate, individual income, and property taxation. During her tenure, she also formalized the court’s mediation program, establishing a structured process and personally facilitating numerous mediations and settlement conferences as a Rule 114 Qualified Civil Facilitative Neutral.
From 2000 to 2007, Ms. Tien served as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., handling both affirmative and defensive litigation on behalf of the federal government and its agencies. She later served from 2008 to 2016 as Deputy Assistant Director in the DOJ’s Executive Office for United States Trustees, where she managed the nationwide bankruptcy credit counseling and debtor education program. In that role, she conducted compliance reviews and led regulatory enforcement efforts.
From 2016 to 2019, she served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota, representing state agencies in a wide range of tax, bankruptcy, and civil matters, while also managing the Tax Litigation Division.
Ms. Tien has joined PowerHouse Mediation to expand the organization’s reach in complex tax-related dispute resolution. Drawing from her deep experience on the bench, in federal service, and in state litigation, she brings a rare depth of insight and a solutions-oriented approach to mediation and arbitration. Her work will focus on resolving high-stakes tax, commercial, and bankruptcy disputes with the clarity, neutrality, and efficiency that define the PowerHouse approach.
Since 2002, Ms. Tien has served annually on the faculty of the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime at the University of Cambridge, contributing her expertise to a global dialogue on financial crime and regulatory enforcement.
Best Practices in Tax Litigation, ABA Income Tax Litigation Conference, New Orleans, LA (March 2025)
Civil Recoveries and the Bankruptcy Process: Playing offense and defense, 41st Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (September 2024)
Women in Tax Forum, ABA May Tax Conference, Washington, DC (May 2024)
Equal Protection, Uniformity, and Due Process in Property Tax Appeals, ABA Advanced Property Tax Seminar, New Orleans, LA (March 2024)
Money For Nothing: Subverting the integrity of parallel proceedings in the United States bankruptcy system, 40th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (September 2023)
Virtual Trial and Technology Tips and Processes, ABA Advanced Property Tax Seminar, New Orleans, LA (March 2023)
We Can Be Heroes, Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel Winter Meeting, Nashville, TN (March 2023)
Virtual Hearings and Trials, MSBA Tax Law Section (February 2023)
By popular demand? Courts, political integrity, and public expectations, 39th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (September 2022)
Appeals in the Tax Court, MSBA Public Law Section CLE (March 2022)
Presenting Your Case, Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers (September 2021)
Bankruptcy Basics for State Personnel, Minnesota Office of the Attorney General CLE Series (December2019)
Proceed with caution: Data sharing concerns under the Financial Institution Data Match, 37th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (September 2019)
Civil recoveries and the bankruptcy process: Complexities and challenges, 36th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (September 2018)
Disempowering victims of fraud and abuse: Effects of bankruptcy on civil and criminal enforcement of judgments, 35th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime (September 2017)
Just like Mama used to make: Immigrant foodways and the federal import regulatory scheme, Southern Food and Beverage Institute, 2014 Continuing Legal Education Seminar, New Orleans, LA (October 2014)
Food and cultural identity, Panel discussion, Farm to Table International Symposium, New Orleans, LA (August 2013)
The Taxman and the Farmer: Estate considerations for family farms, Culinaria Continuing Legal Education Symposium, Tulane University/Southern Food and Beverage Museum, New Orleans, LA (August 2013)
To Tell the Truth? First Amendment considerations in food marketing: A post-Citizens United perspective, Food, Drink, and the Law Seminar, Tulane University/Southern Food and Beverage Museum, New Orleans, LA (September 2012)
Decided:
• Humana MarketPoint, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. Tax Ct. 2024)
• E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. Tax Ct. 2024)
• RHTC LLC v. County of Kanabec (Minn. Tax Ct. 2024)
• Dakota Drug, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. Tax Ct. 2023)
• Uline, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. Tax Ct. 2023)
• Estate of Dennis Enestvedt v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. Tax Ct. 2023)
• First Evangelical Christian Church v. County of Redwood (Minn. Tax Ct. 2023)
• Alliance Housing Incorporated and North Penn Supportive Housing LLC v County of Hennepin (Minn. Tax Ct. 2023)
• Endless Summer Farms, LLC v. County of Lake (Minn. Tax Ct. 2022)
• Bloomington Hotel Investors, L.L.C. v. County of Hennepin (Minn. Tax Ct. 2022)
• Rare Aircraft, Ltd. v. County of Rice (Minn. Tax Ct. 2021)
As counsel:
• Ashland, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. 2017)
• General Mills, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. 2019)
• International Business Machines, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. 2019)
• YAM Special Holdings. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. Tax Ct. 2019)
• Sheridan & Lindberg v. Commissioner of Revenue (Minn. Tax Ct. 2020)
• In re Purdue Pharma Corp. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.)
• In re Insys Corp. (Bankr. D. Del.)
• In re ERP Iron Ore, LLC (Bankr. D. Minn.)
• In re Magnetation, Inc. (Bankr. D. Minn.)
• In re Buffets, Inc. (Bankr. W.D. Tex.)
• In re J.A. Jones, Inc. (Bankr. W.D.N.C.)
• In re Fine Air (Bankr. S.D. Fla.)
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