Born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary) in 1897,[1] Freed attended grammar school there, and graduated from Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio.

[1] Freed received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in 1918 and a Bachelor of Laws from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1920.

He was in private practice in Ohio from 1918 to 1929, and was thereafter a first assistant in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office of Cuyahoga County, Ohio from 1929 to 1932, and prosecuting attorney in that office from 1932 to 1933.

He was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 1933 to 1941.

[2] On September 11, 1941, Freed was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio created by 55 Stat. 148.