A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rhinelander received his A.B and LL.B. from Harvard University. He attended Trinity College at Cambridge and received an M.A. After serving as Law Clerk to the Honorable Augustus N. Hand of the United States Court of Appeals in New York, Rhinelander practiced law in Boston from 1937-41. From 1941 to 1947, he served on the legal staff of the War Production Board and was Assistant General Counsel to the Civilian Production Administration. He was an Associate Professor of law at George Washington University until 1948, when he joined the faculty of UVA Law School.  Rhinelander served as a Professor for more than 3 decades. Rhinelander taught such subjects as Contracts, Corporate Finance, Federal Taxation, Law and Accounting, Investments and Securities, Social Legislation, and Anti-trust Law. He died in 1992.