Melissa Wiley wrote an article for Bloomberg Tax titled “Preparing Tax Returns in Remote Alaska Showed Pro Bono’s Value.”
The article recounts Melissa's experience traveling to rural Alaska to provide pro bono assistance to residents of remote villages with filing their tax returns. As part of a six-person team chosen by the ABA Tax Section, with the Alaska Business Development Center organizing the trip, Melissa met up with her colleagues in Anchorage in late February 2026. Half the team headed to Alaska’s northern slope, while Melissa and two others set off for western Alaska, where they helped prepare more than 150 tax returns across small Yupik villages.
Melissa describes how the trip was a significant departure from typical mainland business travel. The Alaska trip included a six-person flight with a difficult landing on an ice-covered airstrip and traveling across a frozen river. The team spent their nights in sleeping bags on the floors of local schools due to a lack of nearby lodging, with their first night spent at a church in Bethel after their flight was grounded due to dangerous weather conditions. With a goal of reaching Goodnews Bay (Mamterat in Yupik), a tiny village with a population of only 258, the severe weather caused some detours on the journey. Overcome by the generosity of the locals, Melissa and the ABA Tax Section team were determined to stay on course, so more time could be devoted to helping clients with their taxes instead of waiting out the weather.
Upon setting up a makeshift office at the local tribal office in Napaskiak, a Yupik village of just 509 people, Melissa and her teammates worked long days as they built rapport with the villagers. Many of the villagers detailed their financial struggles to the team, hoping to see relief from the Earned Income Tax Credit and/or Child Tax Credit to get them through the prolonged winters in western Alaska. Melissa's clients emphasized that their tax refunds were critical lifelines, enabling them to provide for their families and afford repairs following a tsunami that struck the region in 2025.
Even though many rural Alaskans in the remote western part of the state receive dividends from the Alaska Permanent Fund and tribal governments, a majority of the region’s residents live far below the poverty line. Yupik villagers often rely on hunting, fishing, and subsistence farming for food. Even with few material resources, the Yupik people showed Melissa and the other ABA Tax Section volunteers abundant generosity, including food, shelter, and transportation.
Melissa stresses that pro bono work is not only crucial for aiding underserved communities and meeting them where they are, but also a key part of a lawyer’s professional development. There is a deeply human element to taxation that goes far beyond the numbers on a form: real people are behind the numbers, whose daily lives and material realities cannot be easily quantified on a 1040. Pro bono engagements can provide unique cultural experiences that create more empathetic practitioners committed to learning and growth.
You can read the complete account of Melissa’s pro bono work in western Alaska by reading the full article here.
About Melissa
With more than 20 years of experience in tax law, Melissa has represented a diverse range of clients, from large corporations to high-net-worth individuals, in complex disputes with federal and state taxing authorities. Known for her calm, empathetic style, Melissa excels at distilling intricate tax issues into clear, actionable insights — helping her clients efficiently resolve disputes and focus on what matters most in their businesses and lives.