She is the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation at Yale Law School.

[3] Following law school, she served as associate attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell and as Attorney Advisor at the Office of Tax Policy (United States Department of the Treasury).

[3][4] In 1992, Alstott became associate professor at the Columbia Law School, where she taught until 1996.

She was deputy dean for two terms at Yale Law School, during the fall of 2002 and in the years 2004–05.

She then returned as Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation to Yale Law School, where she still works today.