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The South Carolina Bar Foundation Board of Directors is pleased to name David L. Freeman as the thirtieth recipient of the DuRant Distinguished Public Service Award. The SC Bar Foundation Board of Directors conferred this honour on Mr. Freeman at the Bar’s Annual Convention, Friday, January 23, 2009 in Myrtle Beach. Mr. Freeman is a member of the Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham, P.A., headquartered in Greenville with an office in Columbia. A native of Pickens, Mr. Freeman earned his undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina, served as an officer in the United States Navy, enrolled in the post graduate studies program in English literature at Columbia University and then earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1949. A distinguishing mark on his highly accomplished academic record is that after completing his second year of law school, he sat for the South Carolina Bar exam and passed it in his first sitting. After completing law school, Mr. Freeman came home to South Carolina to join the firm of Watkins Vandiver Freeman & Kirven in Anderson. It was not only the beginning of a prestigious legal career, but the beginning of a lifetime of service to his community. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives from Anderson County in 1955, where he served for two years. He was founding member of The Moultrie Square Literary Society, he was elected president of the Anderson Rotary Club in 1960, and he served as chairman of the Anderson County Community Chest (later the United Way). In 1964, he transferred his energies to Greenville when he joined Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham, P.A. in 1964. His dedication to his community is marked by many instances of public service and stewardship – president of the Greenville Symphony Association, chairman of the Professional Division of the United Way, Chairman of the Greenville Arts Festival, to name just a few organizations that benefited from his leadership; his election as president of the largest Rotary Club in South Carolina standing as an example of his universal respect. Perhaps David’s most outstanding contribution to Greenville County and the Upstate of South Carolina occurred in the 1990s with the visualization, fundraising, ground-breaking and completion of the Peace Center for the Performing Arts, for which he continues to serve as a trustee. Mr. Freeman’s contribution to the well-being of his community is matched by his years of service to the legal profession. He was elected president of the South Carolina Bar Association in 1971, following years of quiet and diligent work on the Law School Committee, the Education Committee, the Board of Bar Examiners and the Executive Committee. He also served on the American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Education from 1967-68. He was elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1965 and to the American Law Institute in 1975. He has been selected for listing in The Best Lawyers in America in Corporate and First Amendment law for twenty-five years. In addition, he is a member of Who’s Who In America and was the recipient of the Tree of Life Award by the Jewish National Fund in 1987. He has been and currently is a member of the boards of directors of several business corporations and civic organizations; he is a major benefactor of facilities and operations of The Cooper School, a non-profit elementary school established in 2007 in Charleston. Mr. Freeman is one of very few SC lawyers who are recognized as masters in corporate practice as well as in litigation. He has served as general outside counsel for many SC corporations and was a major contributor to the revision of Title 33 of the SC Code. At the same time, the name of David Freeman appears as counsel in many leading cases in South Carolina Reports, Federal Reporter, and Federal Supplement as well as numerous unreported cases. Known nationwide as a First Amendment expert, he has successfully tried many cases defending the freedom of the press. One of the finest hours in his long and distinguished legal career, however, occurred in the complex field of ERISA law, when he obtained certiorari and then successfully argued on behalf of his client before the United States Supreme Court, resulting in an eight-to-one reversal of the United States Court of Appeals. He is married to Dr. Keller Cushing Freeman, Doctor of Philosophy, author, poet, instructor and a civic leader in her own right; they have four children and four grandchildren. |
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