James J. Freeland Eminent Scholar Chair in Federal Taxation

James Freeland

UF law faculty members, students, alumni, colleagues and friends of James J. “Jack” Freeland established the James J. Freeland Graduate Tax Scholarship and James J. Freeland Eminent Scholar Chair in Federal Taxation in his honor. Freeland was a professor for almost 40 years and co-founder of the Graduate Tax Program at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, one of the top-ranked tax law programs in the country.

Freeland earned his B.A. from Duke University in 1950 before attending UF Law, where he received his L.L.B and graduated second in his class. He also was a Graduate Fellow of Yale Law School. Upon graduation he headed to Hugh F. Culverhouse’s Miami law firm, where he specialized in federal tax matters and eventually went on to manage the firm. Freeland returned to UF Law and became a member of the faculty in 1957. Except for a brief stint as a law professor at New York University’s Graduate Tax Program, he served a law professor at UF until he retired in 1995

While at the University of Florida, Freeland coauthored many books and articles, such as the leading treatises Fundamentals of Federal Income Taxation, the most widely adopted tax law casebook in the United States, and Federal Income Taxation of Estates and Beneficiaries.

He received numerous honors, such as the Florida Blue Key Distinguished Faculty Award, the Distinguished Service Professor Award, the John Marshall Bar Association Outstanding Professor Award and the Florida Law Review Outstanding Professor Award. Freeland was also the first recipient of the Outstanding Tax Attorney in the State of Florida award, which is annually presented by the Tax Section of the Florida Bar, and was named an honorary member of Florida Blue Key.

Professor Freeland passed away in 2000 at the age of 73.