Prof. Dr. Walter Hellerstein is the Distinguished Research Professor and Francis Shackelford Professor of Taxation Emeritus at the University of Georgia School of Law. Widely regarded as the leading academic authority in the US on state taxation, Hellerstein is co-author of the leading treatise on state taxation, State Taxation 3rd ed. (Thomson Reuters 2019 rev.), the leading casebook on state and local taxation, State and Local Taxation, 11th ed. (West Academic, 2019), and Taxing Global Digital Commerce 2nd ed. (Kluwer Law International, 2019). Hellerstein has also written numerous law review and tax journal articles, and his work is regularly cited by the US Supreme Court and by state courts throughout the nation. In addition, Hellerstein serves as an academic advisor to the OECD’s Working Party No. 9 on Consumption Taxes and its Technical Advisory Group. In 2008, Hellerstein was awarded the National Tax Association’s Daniel M. Holland Medal for outstanding lifetime contributions to the study and practice of public finance.

Hellerstein has also practiced extensively in the state tax field and has been involved in numerous state tax cases before the US Supreme Court, having successfully argued on behalf of taxpayers in both Hunt-Wesson, Inc. v. Franchise Tax Bd., 528 U.S. 458 (2000) and Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 504 U.S. 768 (1992).

Hellerstein earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of The University of Chicago Law Review. Following graduation from law school, Hellerstein clerked for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, served in the Honors Program of the Air Force General Counsel's Office, practiced law at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., and taught at the University of Chicago Law School, before joining the faculty at the University of Georgia Law School.