Profile
Fred F. Harris focuses his practice on structuring and documenting complex business transactions, including those for renewable energy projects, public-private partnerships, taxation, corporate and dispute resolution.
Fred has a .580 lifetime Batting Average.
Concentrations
- Structuring complex corporate and business transactions
- Drafting and reviewing transactional documents
- P3 transactions
- Renewable energy projects
- Tax litigation
- Municipal finance
- Dispute resolution
Capabilities
Experience
- Represented the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association (now Citizens Property Insurance Corporation) establishing, through federal litigation, that it is an entity classified as an integral part of the State of Florida, and not subject to federal income tax and obtained a $250,000,000 refund of previously paid federal income tax.
- Represented the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association establishing it as an entity not subject to federal income tax and obtained a $250,000,000 refund of previously paid federal income tax.
- Represented the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association obtained an IRS private letter ruling holding it to be an entity not subject to federal income tax.
- Represented the Florida Association of Court Clerks (“FACC”) and its wholly owned interstate services company, CiviTek National, Inc., assisted in the structuring of the companies, advised on unrelated business income aspects of software licensing to non-Florida clerks associations, assisted in PPP loan application.
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Corporate Law; Securities / Capital Markets Law; Tax Law; Public Finance law, 2010-2025
- "Lawyer of the Year," Corporate Law, Tallahassee, 2014 and 2022
- Member, Winning Team, "North American Transport Deal of the Year," IJ Global Americas Awards, for the Interstate I-4 expansion in Orlando, 2014
- Team Member, Corporate Board Member magazine and FTI Consulting Inc., one of "America’s Best Corporate Law Firms," 13th Annual Legal Industry Study, 2013
- Listed, Florida Super Lawyers, 2006, 2009
- Recognized, Bond Buyer Red Book, "Bond Counsel"
- Rated, AV Preeminent® 5.0 out of 5.0
- Former Chairman, Tallahassee Friends of the Library Endowment Trust
- Former Board Member, Community Foundation of North Florida
- Member of the Board of Munroe School, Quincy, Florida
- President, Mind, Body & Spirit, Inc.
- Former Vice President and Co-Founder of Truthseekers, Inc.
- Former Chair, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Cancer Center Ride for Hope
- Former Commissioner, Winthrop Park Little League Association
- Former President, Tallahassee Habitat for Humanity
Credentials
Education
- LL.M., Taxation, University of Florida Levin College of Law, 1979
-
J.D., Stetson University College of Law, 1978
- Member, Stetson Law Review and author of an article entitled: "State Taxation of Income Earned Beyond Its Borders: Allocation and Apportionment of Unitary Business Income in Florida."
- B.A., Auburn University, 1975
Admissions
- Florida
- Supreme Court of the United States
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
- U.S. Tax Court