so the neighbor encouraged Pearson to consider this field of study. “I had no idea what an accountant was,” said Pearson. “I went to accounting school, and at that time you could do a six-year program in accounting and law.” He earned an undergraduate degree with a major in accounting and a Juris Doctor, graduating as a member of Order of the Coif. During his final year of accounting in 1956, he was one of three classmates that passed the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam. The others went on to lucrative accounting careers, but Pearson remained focused on law. “I have never practiced as a CPA, but passing the exam opened several doors for me,” he said. One of the doors opened was the opportunity to teach college courses. He was hired to teach business law in the accounting department while in his final year of law school, setting in motion a teaching record of legendary proportion. After a short stint trying cases with the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, Pearson returned to Grand Forks in 1961 to establish a private practice. He immediately returned to teaching courses at the College of Business. “[Accounting professor R.D.] Koppenhaver asked me to fill the spot of a faculty member leaving to earn his doctorate degree, so I taught beginning and intermediate accounting, analysis and financial statements and a bunch of other courses including business law,” said Pearson.
Photo: Pearson’s UND Law Class of 1958. He is in the front row, second in from the right
In 1967, at the request of law dean Jerrold Walden, Pearson returned to the law school to teach tax courses, and has taught every semester since. Over the span of years and through the succession of deans, Pearson has taught many of the tax classes offered in the school including income tax, estate and gift tax, corporate and partnership tax, mineral taxation and state and local tax. With so many years in the classroom, he is now seeing second and third generations of students, and some of his former students have become colleagues. One such student was Owen Anderson. “Owen was a student of mine. When he became an oil and gas instructor here, we team taught my mineral tax class. I learned about oil and gas by listening to him, and as it turns out Owen is now the leading expert in the world on oil and gas law, and I
even use his book in the mineral taxation class I teach in the spring,” said Pearson. His love of teaching and students is what fuels the fire to continue to do more. “For me it is a wonderful thing. It is great to be with the students and because you have to use your brain cells, I think it has helped in keeping me from diapers and drooling,” Pearson joked. “The big impact of teaching all these years has been I have had to learn the subject matter. There is no better way to learn something than to have to teach it. It has helped me keep current and in my private practice of law.” Pearson has not only been a great teacher, but a benefit to the law school in many other ways. Davis said, “I found him invaluable, and he was one of the most important resources I had during my time as dean.” He summarized the impact Spring 2012 s
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