The Texas Federal Tax Institute (TFTI) started in very modest fashion. The State Bar of Texas (SBOT) sponsored several basic tax CLE programs in the early 1980s, but practitioners clearly wanted additional programs that addressed more sophisticated, cutting-edge issues facing tax practitioners. In 1985, desiring deeper tax CLE content, Scott Morris – a former professor who had taught tax courses in Dallas at what is now the SMU Dedman School of Law – created a one-day real estate and partnership taxation seminar which was conducted in Dallas. Although the State Bar lent its name to the program, Scott took the entire responsibility for putting on the program and donated any profits to the SBOT Tax Section.