Dr. Robert H. Freilich is one of the nation's foremost authorities in planning and land use law and a pioneer in sustainable growth management. As a Partner at Freilich & Leitner and longtime legal scholar, he has shaped land use policy and implementation for more than 100 cities, counties, and states across the United States.
His work has guided major public-private and redevelopment projects nationwide, including Battery Park City (New York), South Beach (Miami), the Mall of America (Minneapolis-St. Paul), and the San Diego, Los Angeles, El Toro, and Alameda Base realignments in California. A seasoned litigator, he has argued over 160 land use and property cases, including matters before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Freilich has authored more than 100 scholarly articles and co-written leading legal texts, including Model Subdivision Regulation, The 21st Century Land Development Code, Cases and Materials on Land Use (8th ed., 2026), and From Sprawl to Sustainable Growth (2026). He has served as National Editor of The Urban Lawyer for the American Bar Association and as Chair of the American Planning Association's Planning and Law Division.
He holds degrees from the University of Chicago, Yale Law School, and Columbia University, where he earned advanced degrees in law and planning, including a doctorate in Law and Planning. He has taught as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the London School of Economics, UCLA School of Law, and the University of Miami School of Law, and served as the Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
