W. Edward “Ted" Afield

Ted Afield serves as the associate dean for experiential education and director of clinical programs at the College of Law, where he is also the Mark and Evelyn Trammell Clinical Professor and director of the Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.  He joined the faculty after serving as associate professor of law and associate dean for Academic Affairs at Ave Maria School of Law.

Prior to entering the academy, Afield practiced law in Tampa, Florida, with the firms Fowler White Boggs Banker PA (now Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC) and Barnett, Bolt, Kirkwood, Long & McBride (now Gunster) and clerked for Judge Charles R. Wilson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Afield’s research focuses on tax compliance and professional regulation as well as on exploring the intersection of tax law with religion both as a normative compliance issue and as an issue impacting the political participation of tax-exempt religious organizations.  In addition, he has conducted policy research into both state and federal tax issues that impact educational policy, as well as more practice focused doctrinal research into tax procedure for the practicing bar and, in particular, for the community of low-income taxpayer clinics.  Recent publications have appeared in The Tax Lawyer, the Villanova Law Review, the South Carolina Law Review, and the Nevada Law Journal, among others.

Afield is a member of the American College of Tax Counsel and served a three-year term on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council from 2020-2022.  He is also past-chair of the Teaching Methods Section of The Association of American Law Schools.

He holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an articles editor on the Columbia Business Law Review, an LL.M. (taxation) from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, and an A.B. in history, cum laude, from Harvard College, where he was a member of the Harvard Varsity Fencing Team and a tenor in the Harvard University Choir.