Freeman is chairman of First Foundation Advisors, a national consulting firm with offices in Irvine, California. He provides strategic planning and organizational management advice for business, nonprofit, foundation, and family clients. Freeman’s professional career includes establishing Freeman, Freeman & Smiley, a 50-attorney firm with locations in Los Angeles and Irvine.
He is the author of three books and more than 30 articles and treatises on philanthropy and wealth planning. His new book, which he has co authored with Dr. Lee Hausner, PhD, entitled The Legacy Family … The Definitive Guide to Creating a Successful Multigenerational Family was published by Chairman First Foundation Advisors Macmillan-Pulgrave in fall 2009. He is the co-author with Dr. Hausner of a leading treatise for family foundations, titled A Founder’s Guide to the Family Foundation, published by the Council on Foundations.
Beyond his professional career, Freeman is extraordinarily active in the community. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the University of California, Irvine Foundation. He is past chairman of the board of directors of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, a current member of its executive committee, and director of the University of Southern California Center of Philanthropy and Public Policy. Freeman formerly served on the board of the Foundation for Independent Higher Education and the UCLA Foundation.
From 2005-08, he was recognized by Worth magazine as among the 100 top attorneys in the United States, and, in 1999, he was featured by Bloomberg Financial as one of the nation’s leading estate planning attorneys. He is the founder of National Philanthropy Day, proclaimed by Congress and celebrated throughout the United States since 1986. He is the 2006 recipient of the UCI Medal, the highest honor awarded to a non-academic individual from the University of California, Irvine.
