Dave Roland began working at the Show-Me Institute in 2007, after three years in the nation's capital as an attorney with the Institute for Justice, where he litigated school choice, economic liberty, and property rights cases in state and federal courts. Dave earned undergraduate degrees in political science and Biblical studies at Abilene (TX) Christian University before studying law and religion at Vanderbilt University, where he received his M.T.S. and his law degree in 2004. While attending Vanderbilt, Dave wrote a series of essays for the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center about the First Amendment and public education, and he clerked for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberties in Washington, D.C. His work has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and other major newspapers nationwide. He has also presented expert testimony about school choice, eminent domain, and constitutional liberties before several state legislatures. His report "School Choice and the North Carolina Constitution" was published in 2006. Since joining the Show-Me Institute, Dave has traveled widely in the state of Missouri, speaking to elected officials, student groups at colleges and law schools, Federalist Society chapters, and community groups about education, property rights, health care reform, constitutional protections for liberty, and the American Founders' conception of virtue. His name has become a familiar sight in newspapers all over the state, and he has been a guest on radio shows such as the Charlie Brennan Show on KMOX in St. Louis and the Gary Nolan Show in Columbia. In 2009, Dave and his wife, Jenifer (the institute's director of publications), published a case study, “All Caught Up: How Tax Policy May Have Allowed Tennessee to Outgrow Missouri.”
