Jeffrey M. McFarland
Of Counsel Attorney- Phone
- 904.301.1268
- jmcfarland@drivermcafee.com
Practice areas
Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Securities Law and Technology Law
Mr. McFarland focuses on corporate law (including mergers and acquisitions), venture capital and securities law, and contracts in those areas. He represents clients in business acquisitions, dispositions and mergers, as well as providing ongoing counseling regarding business formation, corporate governance, contract law, technology, and intellectual property rights, and ancillary legal issues. He also counsels clients in obtaining capital through private placements, venture capital investments, and other financing transactions.
Following law school, Mr. McFarland spent eight years as an attorney in the corporate and government finance departments of Foley & Lardner LLP, first as an associate and then as senior counsel. While with Foley & Lardner, Mr. McFarland’s practice included private and public securities issuances, business acquisitions, tax-exempt public finance transactions for local governments and non-profit health care facilities, and day-to-day counseling of businesses regarding corporate governance, contracts, business formation, and technology. After leaving Foley & Lardner, Mr. McFarland spent seven years as a professor of law at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, where he taught Contracts, Business Associations, Business Lawyering, Sales, Secured Transactions, and Mergers and Acquisitions. He served for three years as chair of the curriculum committee at the law school and as faculty advisor to the Florida Coastal Law Review. He also coached several Moot Court teams, including the team that won the national championship at the National Constitutional Law Competition in Chicago. While at Florida Coastal School of Law, Mr. McFarland was awarded the Faculty Vision Award by the student body and the Infilaw System Chairman’s Award by the law school’s Board of Trustees. He has been published in law journals at the University of Florida, University of California-Hastings, Fordham University and DePaul University.
Education
- University of Florida, J.D. with Honors, 1995
- Florida Law Review managing editor
- Order of the Coif
- University of North Florida, B.A. (Communications), 1989
Professional affiliations
- Admitted to the Florida Bar
- American Bar Association
- The Jacksonville Bar Association
recognition
- AV Peer Review Rated by Lexis Nexis | Martindale Hubbell
- Faculty Vision Award (voted on by the Florida Coastal School of Law student body)
- Infilaw System Chairman’s Award (voted on by the Florida Coastal School of Law Board of Trustees)
- Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Corporate Law (2021-2025)
- Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Business Organizations (2022-2025)
- Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Mergers and Acquisitions Law (2023-2025)
Publications and Presentations
- Securing Initial Financing for a Film, Independent Film and the Law Conference, 2011
- Warming Up to Climate Change Risk Disclosure, 14 Fordham Journal of Corporate and Financial Law 281 (2009)
- Good News Investors! You’ve Got A Financial Expert on the Board: The Bad News? It Doesn’t Mean Anything, 2:1 Hastings Business Law Journal 165 (Winter 2006)
- The Effect of Repeal of the Baseball Antitrust Exemption on Franchise Relocations, 8 DePaul Journal of Art & Entertainment law, 263 (1998) (co-authored with Thomas Hurst)
- Corporate Compliance Programs: Protecting the Business from the Rogue Employee, 70 Florida Business Journal, 34 (January 1996) (co-authored with Gardner Davis)
- Note, Florida Corporation Law: Proposed Statutory Relief for Oppressed Minority Shareholders in Florida, 46 Florida Law Review. 149 (1994)
- Comment, Constitutional Law: Penalty Enhancements for Bigoted Beliefs, Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 45 Florida Law Review. 743 (1993)