Patrick E. Tolan, Jr.

I have expertise in individual federal income taxes, property, Florida wills, trusts and estates, environmental law, and government contract law (federal).

I joined the WMU-Cooley Law School faculty in 2013, teaching federal taxation, wills, trusts and estates, environmental law, and business organizations at the school’s Tampa Bay, Florida, campus.

Previously, I taught a wide array of subjects for more than 10 years as a tenured professor at Barry University School of Law in Orlando, Florida, and as an Assistant-then Associate Professor in the Department of Law at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. I have also published widely in the fields of federal tax, alternative dispute resolution, environmental law, and government contract law and litigation.

After 21 years of Air Force service, I retired in 2005 from my position as the staff judge advocate at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts where I was the senior legal adviser to the installation commander. As a Judge Advocate (JAG), I had a wide array of legal experiences including both civil and criminal litigation. Highlights of my military career include the successful defense of a $2 billion environmental claim against the Air Force, selection by the Air Force Material Command for the team excellence award, and recognition by the governor of New Mexico with the Green Zia Award for environmental stewardship. I also served as the head of the JAG professional writing program.

Articles (Law Reviews and Law Journals)

• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., After the Disaster:  Lessons Learned About Tax Relief From Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, 85 Miss. L.J. 553 (2016).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Compromising the Safety Net: How Limiting Tax Deductions for High-Income Donors Could Undermine Charitable Organizations, 46 Suffolk U.L. Rev. 329 (2013).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Going-Going-Green: Strategies for Fostering Sustainable New Federal Buildings, 41 Pub. Cont. L.J. 233 (2012).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., It's About Time: Registration and Regulation Will Boost Competence and Accountability of Paid Tax Preparers, 31 Va. Tax Rev. 471 (2012).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Natural Resource Damages Under Cerla: Failures, Lessons Learned, and Alternatives, 38 N.M. L. Rev. 408 (2008).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Homeland Security Challenges of Global Climate Change, 54 Loy. L. Rev. 800 (2008). 
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., The Flurry of Tax Law Changes Following the 2005 Hurricanes -- A Strategy for More Predictable and Equitable Tax Treatment of Victims, 72 Brook. L. Rev. 799 (2007).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Tax and Insurance Consequences of Major Disasters: Weathering the Storm, 31 Nova L. Rev. 487 (2007). 
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Environmental Liability Under Public Law 85-804: Keeping the Ordinary Out of Extraordinary Contractual Relief, 32 Pub. Cont. L.J. 215 (2003).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Risk Allocation for Third-Party Toxic Tort Liability at Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated Facilities (GOCOs), 32 Pub. Cont. L.J. 101 (2002).
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Government Contracting with Small Businesses in the Wake of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, 44 A.F. L. Rev. 75 (1998). 
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., The Role of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Resolving Air Force Contract Disputes, 40 A.F. L. Rev. 89 (1996).

Short Works

• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Time to Change the Casualty Loss Deduction, 36 ABA Tax Times Nov. 2016 at 34.
• Patrick Tolan, Ecocentric Perspectives on Global Warming: Toward an Earth Jurisprudence, 1 Glob. Stud. J. #4 2008 at 39.
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Federal and New York Contracting Preferences for Small Minority and Women-Owned Businesses, 8 Gov't L. & Pol'y J. Fall 2006, at 34.
• Patrick E. Tolan Jr., Floridians' Right to Choose or Refuse vaccines, XXX Barry Child & Family L. J. XXX (2021).