James S. Wershow was a professor of law and agricultural law at the University of Florida and provided numerous state government agencies with counsel on agricultural law. He owned and managed a successful beef breeding farm. Wershow was a principal author of the Florida “Greenbelt Law” which provides for agricultural use assessment of Florida farmland for tax purposes, rather than assessment based on development or speculative values. He also served as an advisor to the Florida House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture and served as counsel to the Florida Senate Committee on Ways and Means and Finance and Taxation, taught at the University of Florida from 1970 to 1985.