With a sharp mind for tax accounting and law, a gift for languages, and a deep interest in technology and cybersecurity, Nathan Leipheimer ’26 is carving out a unique path to law school. An accountancy major with a minor in Spanish (which he completed at a study abroad program in Spain), Nathan is well on his way to earning his Master of Accountancy (MAcc) degree at the end of his senior year, after which he plans to go to law school and eventually build a career in tax law.
Making it Miami
A career in law—with a business focus—has always been Nathan’s goal. A native of Findlay, Ohio, he chose Miami University because of the reputation of the Farmer School of Business. He entered as an economics major, but sought to graduate with a more “concrete” certification. A semester in ACC 221 (Intro to Financial Accounting)—and the potential to earn a CPA upon graduation—solidified his decision to switch to an accounting major. The 3+1 Combined B.S./MAcc Program was also a great incentive, with the ability to earn a master’s degree during his senior year.
Launching into Action
Nathan hit the ground running his first year, joining Miami Business Consulting, a student-run consulting firm. As the co-chief operating officer, he was tasked with finding companies for the business club to work with. “I met with a lot of CEOs,” he shared. This experience landed him an internship with Kay-Twelve the following summer, and he has been working for the company ever since. He recently represented Kay-Twelve during the 2024 RedHawk50 awards ceremony.
Charting a Unique Path
As an intern, Nathan worked in order processing and fulfillment, and has since then transitioned to an IT role, using Python to write programs for data conversion and manipulation, as well setting up and administering Kay-Twelve’s CRM tools. “I work about 15 hours [a week] during the school year,” he said. He learned programming skills mostly on his own—after taking a couple of basic courses as part of the first-year curriculum.
Nathan was also part of the cybersecurity club at Miami and has explored this interest in his free time. “There are these servers that companies set up, and they’re designed for you to VPN into them and then try to find the vulnerability and ‘capture the flag’ …a lot of the time, it helps you understand better how vulnerabilities come up, how to avoid them, how to make sure systems are set up so they don’t have those vulnerabilities,” he explained.
At the time of our interview, Nathan was preparing to take the LSAT. He drew some parallels between the accounting and legal mindsets, explaining that the test requires a lot of logical reasoning—which his tax classes helped to prepare him for. “There’s a lot of rules, and while you don’t need to have them all memorized, you have to understand how they apply to different situations.”
Beyond Ready for the Future
Nathan’s goal is to work at one of the top accounting firms, where he can combine his legal interests and accounting knowledge by advising on the legality of complex tax situations and treatments.
With his multifaceted college experience and the growth he’s sure to experience in his MAcc year, Nathan is well on his way to a bright future. We wish him continued success!
