Jennifer Bird-Pollan joined the Wayne State University Law faculty in 2024, after 14 years at the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law. Having earned her JD from Harvard Law School, her PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University, and her BA in French and Philosophy from Penn State University, Professor Bird-Pollan is a nationally recognized expert in federal tax law, especially regarding matters of distributive justice, wealth transfer taxation, and international tax. Before joining the academy, Bird-Pollan worked in the Tax Department of the law firm of Ropes & Gray in Boston. In addition to the introductory course in Taxation, Professor Bird-Pollan has taught courses in Partnership Tax, Corporate Tax, Tax Policy, Estate & Gift Tax, International Tax, and Law & Literature. Before law school, she taught undergraduate philosophy courses at Vanderbilt University and Harvard College.

Professor Bird-Pollan’s research interests lie at the intersection of tax law and philosophy, with a particular focus on questions of fairness in the tax system. Her research has been published in the Boston College Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review, the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy, and the Wayne Law Review, among other journals. Professor Bird-Pollan received the 2023 University of Kentucky Great Teacher Award, a campus-wide award, as well as the 2017 UK College of Law Duncan Teaching Award. While at UK she served as the Chair of the UK University Senate, and the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Law and served as Director of the Women’s Executive Leadership Development Program (WELD). Bird-Pollan was the 2014-2015 Fulbright Scholar at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and has also taught at Indiana University, Fordham University, and the University of Cologne. Professor Bird-Pollan is a Kentucky Colonel, a bourbon drinker, and a long-time Detroit Lions fan, not necessarily in that order.