Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog

2009 AALS Annual Meeting Call for Papers and Participation

The AALS Section on Donative Transfers has announced a call for papers and participation for the 2008 Annual Meeting.  The program is entitled New Voices in Trusts & Estates.

Here are the details as provided by Section leadership:

Trusts and Estates has long been a central part of the law school curriculum. But it is not a static field. On the contrary, as the law and the social policies that underpin the law continue to evolve, so does our teaching and scholarship. Each generation of teachers and scholars must address the effect of the passage of time on the relevance of the prior generation’s learning and at the same time must develop cogent understandings of the new and often vexing problems that have arisen for the first time. 

At the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego in January 2009, our Section program will highlight “New Voices in Trusts and Estates.”  We invite Section members to submit an abstract or précis of up to 10 pages that summarizes a current scholarly project for presentation at the Section’s Annual Meeting.  All T&E-related projects are welcome, including those about teaching and curricular issues. We especially welcome submissions from those who will have been full-time law teachers for fewer than seven (7) years as of January 1, 2009, and those who have not presented in recent years at a prior Section program or other national T&E-related conference. Papers accepted for publication are eligible for consideration if the paper will not be published prior to the Annual Meeting.  There is no publication commitment or requirement associated with participation on the panel.

Our Section membership is diverse; we encourage new voices, interests and perspectives. Please submit your abstract or précis by August 1, 2008, to Rob Sitkoff at rsitkoff@law.harvard.edu. Participants will be notified in late September.

Online Version of The Bluebook Now Available

Editors of the Harvard Law Review announced the launch of an online version of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation on February 15. The standard citation guide for American legal writing, The Bluebook is widely used throughout legal practice, by paralegals, attorneys, professors, and students.***

The new online format responds to longstanding requests for a fully-featured electronic edition of The Bluebook that is easier to search, use, and teach. It allows practitioners and students with jurisdiction-specific or publication-specific citation rules to combine them with the general rules of The Bluebook, and it makes an essential tool of legal writing fully accessible to the visually impaired. The online version is also designed to allow future editions to address a wide array of foreign, international, and administrative material much more fully than is possible in the confines of a small printed handbook.***

You can read more about this exciting development at Harvard Law Review launches online version of The Bluebook, law.harvard.edu, Feb. 19, 2008.

Special thanks to Neil E. Hendershot, Esq. (Attorney at law, Goldberg Katzman, P.C., Adjunct Professor, Widener University School of Law) for bringing this information to my attention.

Most Cited Wills, Trusts, & Estates Professors

According to Brian Leiter's Law School Rankings, the following are the most cited Wills, Trusts, and Estates professors:

1. Adam Hirsch (Florida State University), 210 citations, age 53.
2. Stanley Johanson (University of Texas), 180 citations, age 74.
3. Joel Dobris (University of California, Davis), 160 citations, age 67.
4. Lawrence Waggoner (University of Michigan), 160 citations, age 70.
5. Jeffrey Pennell (Emory University), 150 citations, age 58
6. Melanie Leslie (Cardozo Law School), 140 citations, age 46.
7. Robert Sitkoff (Harvard University), 130 citations, age 33.
8. Frances Foster (Washington University, St. Louis), 100 citations, age 52.
9. Jeffrey Schoenblum (Vanderbilt University), 100 citations, age 49.
10. Mark Ascher (University of Texas), 90 citations, age 54.

Runner-up: Grayson McCouch (University of San Diego), 80 citations.

Other highly-cited scholars who don’t work exclusively in this area: John Langbein (Yale University), 1000 citations; Stewart Sterk (Cardozo Law School), 420 citations; Gregory S. Alexander (Cornell University), 340 citations; Mary Louise Fellows (University of Minnesota), 270 citations; T.P. Gallanis (University of Minnesota), 100 citations.

Special thanks to Paul L. Caron (Associate Dean of Faculty, Charles Hartsock Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law) for bringing this information to my attention.

Rutgers Journal of Law and Public Policy call for academic posters and multimedia scholarship

The Rutgers Journal of Law and Public Policy has called for academic posters and multimedia scholarship.

Here is a description of their request:

Law professors are invited to submit to the nation's first academic journal-sponsored poster and multimedia competition.  Submissions will be juried and those accepted will be published all the Journal or Law and Public Policy website in the Spring.  The Journal also aims to publish a special print issue showcasing the academic posters and accompanying postscripts, as well multimedia scholarship postscripts.

Creativity, humor, criticism, satire, and serious commentary welcome.  All areas of scholarship are invited. The upcoming presidential race brings to front many policy issues relevant to voters. We suggest, but do not require, investigating themes of importance to the voting public.

Follow this link for detailed information.

Yale Law Journal Pocket Part Seeks Wills, Trusts, and Estates Articles

The following is from a message I received from Lucy Wang, the Chair of the Yale Law Journal Pocket Part:

I am writing to let you know about our current Call for Papers on state law topics.  We are planning to publish two end-of-year issues focusing on recent developments in state courts and state legislatures, and thought your readers might be interested.  The Pocket Part is the online companion to The Yale Law Journal ( www.thepocketpart.org).  One of our goals is to bring critical focus to areas of lawmaking that deserve greater attention in the legal literature.  We are particularly interested in papers on will, trusts, and estates.  I've provided the text of our Call for Papers below; a pdf is also available here:  http://yalelawjournal.org/2007/10/05/callforpapers.html .

The Yale Law Journal Pocket Part is soliciting commentaries for two end-of-year issues: one issue will focus on new developments in state courts, and the other will focus on new developments in state legislatures. Our goal is to bring critical focus to an area of lawmaking that deserves greater attention in the legal literature, and we invite you to submit a commentary on a state law topic of your choosing.

Commentaries may explore a legal development at the state level that has not been extensively reviewed in legal scholarship and the popular press, or present a novel argument on a timely issue that has received attention.

Submissions should be no more than 1,500 words. We encourage authors to write in a style accessible to policy-makers and practitioners. For a detailed style guide and instructions for submitting your piece, please visit our website, www.thepocketpart.org, and follow the link for "Submissions."
   
The deadline for submissions for both issues is Friday, November 2, 2007.

Advice on Getting Published

Leah M. Christensen (Assistant Professor, University of St. Thomas School of Law) and Julie A. Oseid (Assistant Professor, University of St. Thomas School of Law) have recently posted their article on SSRN entitled Navigating the Law Review Article Selection Process: An Empirical Study of Those With All the Power - Student Editors.

Here is an abstract of their article:

Anyone who enters the legal academy knows the pressure for new law professors to publish or perish. The use of student editors as the "gatekeepers" of legal scholarship is a distinctive feature of the legal academy. Yet, even with student editors holding the keys to academic success, few empirical studies have explored what factors student editors consider most important when making article selection decisions. The study reported in this Article attempts to shed light on this process and provide suggestions for new law professors as they navigate the law review article submission process. The present study examines how law review editors at all levels of the law school "tier" system (e.g., Top 15, Top 25, Top 50, Top 100, Third Tier, Fourth Tier and Specialty Journals) weigh the importance of author credentials, topic, format, and timing of an article submission in making their selection decisions. Although most editors consider each of these factors, the data also suggests that the higher-ranked journals rely more heavily on author credentials than lower-ranked journals. Editors at higher-tiered law schools were highly influenced by where an author has previously published. Further, while not a single editor at a Top 15 school considered an author's practice experience in making a publication decision, a majority of the editors at lower-tiered journals rated practice experience as an important factor in article selection. In addition, the study participants almost unanimously agreed that they were influenced by the topic of an article yet there were important differences among the law schools concerning the actual topics about which they would be most or least likely to publish. In addition to describing the survey results in more detail, this article will offer specific commentary from the student editors about their process of selecting law review articles.

Legal Scholarship Blog Adds "Estate Planning" as Recognized Topic

I am pleased to report that the Legal Scholarship Blog has added "Estate Planning" as a category. 

Mary Whisner (Reference Librarian Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington School of Law) also searched for conferences to add to this new category.

She also recommends that anyone with knowledge of program or conference, to please send them an e-mail message so they can get it included in their listings.

Legal Scholarship Blog Explains Omission of Estate Planning and Related Areas

Earlier on this blog, I reported that the Legal Scholarship Blog, run by University of Pittsburgh School of Law & University of Washington School of Law, omitted the areas of Estates, Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Planning, and Elder Law from its list of legal scholarship categories.

I then reported that due to the efforts of Kim Dayton (Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of Law), "Elder Law" was added as a category.

Earlier today (September 9, 2007) I received an anonymous message signed only "Legal Scholarship Blog Editors" explaining the reasons behind their exclusion of other estate planning areas from their list of scholarship categories.  Here is what they said:

Links to such categories appear only when we receive relevant events, and as of the date of your post we had not received notice of any such events * * *. If you have events in the areas of Estates, Trusts & Estates, we would be happy to post them in an appropriately-named category.

Second, the blog does not reflect any judgment about your specific area of the law.  For instance, notice that we have a category of Business Law, which encompasses topics as broad and diverse as unincorporated business entities, corporations, corporate finance, corporate governance, and so on.  Similarly, for instance, notice that we have a category of Criminal Law, which encompasses topics as broad and diverse as criminal procedure, criminology, national security issues, punishment theory, sentencing, and so on.  The question of categorical breadth reflects a calculus of a variety of factors, including the number of relevant events as well as user-friendliness -- but dismissiveness about an area's distinctive contours is not such a factor. 

Legal Scholarship Blog Adds "Elder Law," But Not Other Probate-Related Areas

Earlier on this blog, I reported that the Legal Scholarship Blog, run by University of Pittsburgh School of Law & University of Washington School of Law, omitted the areas of Estates, Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Planning, and Elder Law from its list of legal scholarship categories.

I am pleased to report that due to the efforts of Kim Dayton (Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of Law), "Elder Law" has been added as a category.

Unfortunately, the remaining categories are still missing.

Legal Scholarship Blog Slights Estate Planning and Related Areas

In a very sad commentary on the way some academics hold our area of the law, the Legal Scholarship Blog run by University of Pittsburgh School of Law & University of Washington School of Law has omitted the areas of Estates, Wills, Trusts, Probate, Estate Planning, and Elder Law from its list of legal scholarship categories.  Instead, all of these topics fall within the purview of "Property."

Law Review Article Submission Humor

For a humorous view of the law review submission process, see Daniel J. Solove, A Sample Law Review Submission Policy, Aug. 22, 2007.

Writing Opportunity for Law Professors

The following posting is from Raymond P. Camiscioli:

Legal publisher is seeking professors who teach in the areas of wills, trusts, estate planning and estate administration to write “Expert Commentaries” (E.C.) on recent cases, legislation and regulations pertaining to estates practice.

Each E.C. is approximately 4-5 pages, double-spaced. $300 per E.C.

This is a great opportunity to further enhance your standing (and your school’s) in the academic and law firm community while earning extra money writing on a topic you enjoy.  Please email your current C.V. to raymond.p.camiscioli@lexisnexis.com.

UMKC Suspends LL.M. in Estate Planning Program

According to the University of Missouri Kansas City's website:

Effective fall semester 2007, the Master of Laws (General) with Estate Planning Concentration program has been suspended. Applications are not accepted for and students may not enroll in the program at this time.

Consider Using ExpressO to Submit Your Articles

The following is from Robert D. Cooter, Co-Founder of the Berkeley Electronic Press & ExpressO (Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law University of California, Berkeley):

The law review submission season is underway. If you are submitting your manuscript, consider using ExpressO, the on-line manuscript delivery service found at: http://law.bepress.com/expresso

ExpressO makes law review submissions fast and easy. You can deliver your cover letter, CV, and manuscript to your choice of over 550 American law school reviews - including all of the top 100 - simply by uploading the electronic files to our site. We have logged more than 325,000 deliveries since July 2003, and garnered the praise of editors and authors alike: http://law.bepress.com/expresso/editor_testimonials.html

Over 170 Law Schools have signed up for institutional accounts. If your school is among them, ExpressO will bill your institution directly. If your school is on the list, and you are still prompted for a credit card, please contact support@law.bepress.com . Please note that if you pay with a personal credit card in error, we will not be able to refund you. Here is the institutional account list: http://law.bepress.com/expresso/institutions.html

Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal Seeks Articles

The student-edited Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal ("QPLJ") publishes four issues per year featuring articles related to probate topics as well as complete full-text opinions from important probate court cases. The Journal Editors have now begun the process of selecting scholarly articles and probate-related opinions for publication in Volume 21. In addition to traditional full-length Articles, the QPLJ is particularly interested in shorter Essay and Commentary pieces. Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis through the year.

If any readers have written a piece they wish to have considered for publication, or have come across an interesting probate court opinion, please consider sending it to the QPLJ.

For questions regarding submission of articles or opinions, please contact Rachel Aylor at (203) 582-3223, or by e-mail at projournal@quinnipiac.edu.  Or you may direct any questions or comments to Associate Professor of Law Jeffrey Cooper at jeffrey.cooper@quinnipiac.edu.

Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal Seeks Articles

The following is from a message sent by Jim Burkhard:

As the summer "writing season" starts, I would encourage you to consider submitting property, probate, estate planning and related articles to the ABA's Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal.

The Journal has approximately 30,000 subscribers. It is refereed, and all article are edited by professionals.

We are currently considering articles for the Fall Issue. Our published deadline for submissions for the Fall Issue is early July, 2007. However, in certain circumstances, that deadline may be extended.

Articles for the Winter Issue should be submitted by September 10, 2007.

Proposals for articles dealing with property law should be sent to Roger D. Schwenke rschwenke@carltonfields.com, and articles dealing with estate planning, probate and trust law topics should be sent to W. Birch Douglass, III at bdouglass@mcguirewoods.com.

General information about the article submission process can be found at the ABA's Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section's website, http://www.abanet.org/rppt/.

I would be delighted to answer any question regarding the Journal. Please contact me at JIMB@LAW.SC.EDU.

Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal Seeks Articles

The Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal features articles related to probate topics, as well as complete full-text opinions from important probate court cases. In addition, the Journal is introducing a new feature in upcoming issues. The Journal will be publishing "Perspectives" in conjunction with each of the printed probate court opinions. These pieces are intended to be extremely brief (1,000-2,000 word) articles which will place the opinions in context and summarize their significance.

The Journal is actively seeking articles for upcoming issues. In addition, the Journal particularly encourages the submission of important court opinions and Perspectives pieces by both presiding judges and practitioners.

All potential authors are requested to follow the latest versions of A Uniform System of Citation, most commonly called the Bluebook, published by the Harvard Law Review Association. Any articles submitted by e-mail are requested to be in Microsoft Word format.

For questions regarding submission of articles or opinions, please contact the Articles Editor, Brett Woodis, or the Opinions Editor, Kathleen Cassidy, at the Probate Journal Office at (203) 582-3223, or by e-mail at projournal@quinnipiac.edu. Please address all article/opinion submissions to: Articles/Opinions Editor, Quinnipiac Probate Law Journal, Quinnipiac University School of Law, 275 Mount Carmel Avenue, Hamden, CT 06518-1952. In addition, articles and opinions may be submitted by e-mail to projournal@quinnipiac.edu.

Call for Authors

Prof. Andrew J. McClurg (Herbert Herff Chair of Excellence in Law at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, The University of Memphis) requested that I post the following announcment:

Carolina Academic Press (CAP) is beginning a series of comparative law texts called the “Contextual Approach Series” (CAS).  I’m serving as editor.  CAP and I are looking for U.S. law professors in a variety of subject areas to serve as lead authors for entries in the series.

The goal of the CAS is to create a series of interesting, student-friendly, self-contained, accessible comparative law books that—using co-authors from the U.S. and two other countries—clearly and concisely explain how law works in practice around the world in different subject areas.  The books will be paperbound and roughly 200 pages.

The first book, Practical Global Tort Litigation: U.S., Germany and Argentina (McClurg, Koyuncu and Sprovieri), is in publication production and available for use as a model.  Detailed guidelines for authors in the series also are available.

As the title of the series suggests, each book will be based on a set of case or problem facts raising prototypical, universal legal issues in the particular subject area. This contextual approach is intended to bring comparative law to life and make it digestible and understandable to law students by giving them a foundation to attach the law to.

As an example, Practical Global Tort Litigation takes a simple products liability case involving a shattering glass jar through the legal systems of the U.S., Germany, and Argentina.  Other examples: a criminal law text could take a simple theft case through the U.S. and two other legal systems; a family law text could take a divorce problem through the U.S. and two other systems; a criminal procedure book could compare the handling of a search, arrest and confession in the U.S. and two other systems; a wills and trusts book could address property disposition upon death in the U.S. and two other legal systems, etc.

The three co-authors will explore and analyze issues raised by the problem facts from the perspective of their respective legal systems in side-by-side country-specific sections.

The U.S. author will serve as the lead author and will enlist, with the editor’s help, the two non-U.S. authors.  The U.S. author has primary responsibility for supervising, editing, and integrating the contributions of the non-U.S. authors.  This will require learning the relevant law of the two non-U.S. countries.  In selecting countries for study, one goal is to choose legal systems that are representative of major world regions, legal traditions or both.

Prospective authors should possess the following attributes: (1) expertise in the relevant subject matter from a U.S. perspective; (2) excellent writing and composition skills; (3) dependability and reliability; (4) an eye for detail in consistency of organizational structure, style, formatting, and citation style; and (5) the time and resources to pursue the project to completion on deadline (roughly 18 months from signing of contract).

A lack of experience or background in comparative law is not a bar if you possess the above qualifications and an interest in studying and learning about other legal systems.  The non-U.S. co-authors are expected to provide the primary expertise regarding foreign law.  I had no prior background in comparative law before writing Practical Global Tort Litigation with Adem Koyuncu in Cologne and Luis Sprovieri in Buenos Aires.  In one sense, this proved to be an advantage. On the other hand, as a former faculty member at the Florida International University College of Law, I did have access to international resources, which proved essential.

All subjects are open to consideration, although we are particularly interested early on in first-year courses and core upper-level courses.

If you have an interest in becoming an author in this series, please send a preliminary inquiry to amcclurg@memphis.edu that includes: (1) the subject area you would be interested in writing about; (2) a c.v.; and (3) any early ideas you might have regarding a set of problem facts and candidates for the two non-U.S. countries (and co-authors in those countries).

Research Canons from Prawfsblawg

The following is reproduced from Announcing: The "Research Canons" Project, Prawfsblawg, Sept. 5, 2006:

Prawfsblawg is pleased to announce the "Research Canons" project.  The purpose of this project is to get input from you, our readers, about the most important works of scholarship in the various areas of legal inquiry.

Unlike other disciplines, most law academics do not have an advanced degree in "law."  For students pursuing a Ph.D in areas such as economics, history, or social psychology, they must pass comprehensive exams showing that they have a broad knowledge of the most important works in the field.  It is only after comps that students go on to complete their specialized dissertation research.

Legal academia assumes that entry-level candidates and new scholars have done the background research necessary for their area of expertise.  But it is left to the individual to get this knowledge.  Certainly, the J.D. provides a baseline, and mentors are helpful in providing further direction.  But there is nothing akin to comps that sets forth a comprehensive listing for new folks to follow.  Many of us have heard the question, in the AALS interview, in the job talk, or as a new scholar presenting a paper: "Well, of course, you have read the work of Prof. X in this area, right?"  Failure to respond appropriately to this question may raise eyebrows and cast doubt on the scholar's research.

The Research Canons project is intended to fill this gap.  Over the following weeks, we will be asking for input on the canons for the following subjects:

• Civil Procedure - 9/6
• Contracts - 9/7
• Criminal Law - 9/11
• Criminal Procedure - 9/12
• Property & Real Estate Law - 9/13
• Torts - 9/14
• Constitutional Law - 9/18
• Administrative Law - 9/19
• Antitrust - 9/20
• Commercial Law - 9/21
• Corporate Law - 9/25
• Dispute Resolution - 9/26
• Employment and Labor Law - 9/27
• Energy Law - 9/28
• Election Law - 9/29
• Environmental Law - 10/2
• Family Law - 10/3
• Federal Courts/Civil Rights - 10/4
• Health Law - 10/5
• Immigration & Naturalization - 10/6
• Intellectual Property - 10/9
• International Law - 10/10
• Law & Economics - 10/11
• Law & Philosophy - 10/12
• Law & Race Relations - 10/16
• Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility - 10/17
• Legal History - 10/18
• Legislation/Statutory Interpretation - 10/19
• Local Government Law - 10/20
• Securities Regulation - 10/23
• Tax - 10/24
• Trusts & Estates - 10/25

Georgetown to Offer Certificate of Study in Estate Planning

Here is the information about Georgetown's new program from its website:

Beginning in Fall 2007, the Law Center will offer a new Certificate of Study in the field of Estate Planning.  Top-notch estate planners must acquire not only technical expertise (for example, in tax law, decedents’ estates, employee benefits, and charitable giving),  but also the client-relations skills that are essential to this individualized area of practice.  Adjunct faculty, all leading experts in their fields, draw on their wealth of practical experience to equip our students with these skills.

The Certificate in Estate Planning may be completed as a stand-alone program or in conjunction with the LL.M. in Taxation. Before matriculating in the stand-along program or in the Tax LL.M., U.S. students must have completed successfully a basic law school course in federal individual income taxation.  Candidates for this Certificate must successfully complete 12 credits which include three required courses (Introduction to Wealth Transfer Planning: The Estate and Gift Tax; Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates; and Advanced Estate Planning Seminar), plus one elective course in a related area.

Students enrolled in the Tax LL.M. Program may complement this curriculum with core tax courses (such as taxation of partnerships and S corporations), courses in employee benefits, and courses that focus on charitable giving and tax-exempt organizations.

For more information, contact Albert G. Lauber, Director of Tax and Securities Programs.

ExpressO Update

Earlier on this blog, I reported on the ExpressO manuscript delivery service.  The following is an update reproduced with the permission of Prof. Robert Cooter (Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley):

The fall law review submission season is underway. If you are submitting your manuscript, please consider using ExpressO, the on-line manuscript delivery service found at: http://law.bepress.com/expresso. 

ExpressO makes law review submissions fast and easy. You can deliver your cover letter, CV, and manuscript to your choice of over 500 law school reviews - including all of the top 100 - simply by uploading the electronic files to our site. Each electronic submission delivers your documents to law reviews as an e-mail attachment, and posts them within a dedicated, secure web site created for each law review. Our service also allows authors to send a single expedite request simultaneously to multiple journals. 

MORE THAN 130 LAW SCHOOLS HAVE AN ACCOUNT. IS YOURS ON THE LIST? http://law.bepress.com/expresso/institutions.html. 

ExpressO Institutional Accounts cover delivery fees for all authorized law faculty at participating law schools. If your school does not have an account, you will need to use a credit card. Electronic deliveries cost US$2.00 (per law review).
   

Special Note: Two dozen law reviews in the top 100 require hard copies of manuscripts from ExpressO. In these instances, we print and mail the submissions. The delivery fee for these select reviews is US$6.50. A detailed receipt will be emailed to you upon completion of your submission.
   

WHAT IS NEW WITH EXPRESSO? INSTITUTIONAL EXPRESSO ACCOUNTS FOR STUDENTS
   

Many schools encourage student scholarship by covering student delivery fees. ExpressO welcomes student authors but recognizes many law reviews (10% of the law reviews we serve) will not consider their articles. We now inhibit student submissions to these law reviews in order to reduce the burden and cost of wasted deliveries. ExpressO Institutional Student accounts will save law review editors time and schools money. 

Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Journal Seeks Articles

The following is from a message from Jim Burkhard (Associate Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law), editor of the American Bar Association's Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal.

Dear Colleagues:

Have you considered publishing your next property or probate article in the ABA's Journal of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law?

Advantages:

• 29,000 subscribers
• Peer reviewed
• All articles are edited both by students and professionals
• Citation checking is subject to rigorous review

The Journal has had an enviable track record of publishing quickly and on time. We believe the editing process is second to none, proven by the number of authors who have elected to publish more than one article in the Journal. Some scholars have found that the Journal is especially attractive for placement of tenure pieces and the like because it is peer-reviewed by professional editors.

Articles in the Journal are by leading academics and practitioners.

The practitioner articles, while often having more of a practical bent, are still very much well-researched scholarly pieces. From time-to- time we publish student pieces.

Although the Fall issue is already full, we are still accepting submissions for the Winter issue. Information regarding the submission process may be found in the ABA's "Information for Authors," available at the ABA Real Property and Probate Section's web site: www.abanet.org/rppt/publications/journal/home.html. Click on - "How to write for the Journal."

Estate planning, trust and probate articles should be submitted electronically to W. Birch Douglass, III, at bdouglass@mcguirewoods.com.

Real property articles should be submitted electronically to Roger D. Schwenke at rschwenke@carltonfields.com. 

For consideration for the Winter issue, we need the article no later than September 10, 2006.

If you have questions regarding the Journal or our policies, I would be delighted to chat with you on the phone (803-777-4155) or by email (Jimb@law.law.sc.edu). If I don't know the answer, I'll get you to the person who does.

Property Articles Solicited for Probate & Property

The following is reproduced from an e-mail message from Prof. Alice M. Noble-Allgire.  I thought you may be interested because many Wills, Trusts, and Estates professors also teach other property-related courses.

Dear Colleagues:

            As some of you know, I am an associate articles editor for Probate & Property magazine, which is published by the ABA’s Section on Real Property, Probate and Trust Law.  As such, I would like to encourage those of you who have just finished writing a law review article (or have recently published one) to think about whether you could rework the piece into a magazine-length article targeted to real estate practitioners.

            We have one or two openings for our Jan/Feb 2007 issue, but would need the manuscripts within the next week or two. Submissions after that time frame would be considered for March/April and beyond.  Submissions can be emailed to me or to Real Property editor Michael Glazerman (mglazerman@burnslev.com).

            Probate & Property reaches about 30,000 section lawyers nationwide. It’s a great way to get a second, broader distribution for your work product and to gain direct access to the people who can put your ideas into practice.  We are primarily interested in practical pieces that would appeal to either real estate practitioners or estate planning/probate attorneys.  Articles should be in the range or 10 to 14 pages (double-spaced, WordPerfect or Word) in length, with minimal to moderate citations. For more information, see the “Author Guidelines” on the RPPT webpage at http://www.abanet.org/rppt/publications/magazine/home.html.

            Best regards,

            Alice 

Alice M. Noble-Allgire
Associate Professor of Law
School of Law, Mail Code 6804
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901
Telephone: 618-453-8751
Fax: 618-453-3317

Law Review Submission Policies

For an interesting set of articles discussing law review submission policies, follow this link to a post on the Tax Professor Blog.

Why Shouldn't I be Allowed to Leave my Property to Whomever I Choose at my Death? (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving the French)

Terry L. Turnipseed (Assistant Professor of Law, Syracuse University College of Law) has recently authored an article entitled Why Shouldn't I be Allowed to Leave my Property to Whomever I Choose at my Death? (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving the French). It will appear in Volume 44, page 737 of the Brandeis Law Journal.

Here is the abstract of the article posted on SSRN:

This article analyzes whether the ancient common law concepts of dower and curtesy, and their modern day statutory equivalents – the elective share laws – should be substantially modified or eliminated. In modern America, forty-nine of the fifty states and the District of Columbia severely limit freedom of testation vis-à-vis surviving spouses. If, as a policymaker, one believes the marital partnership theory of marriage to be gospel, then by goodness change to community property and be done with it. Do not, as many states have done, choose separate property (an inherently non-partnership, eat-what-you-kill, philosophy) and then try to graft some back-end sorry excuse for community property at death. But if you truly believe, as I think many well-intentioned people do, that this is America, and we have a long tradition of property and testator freedom, then keep your separate property system and completely eliminate your elective share law. Those are really the only two options that have internally consistent logic.

If you eliminate the elective share laws, the sky will not fall. They have been doing it for decades in Georgia and all the empirical evidence shows that things are working just fine thank you. The fact that the privileged can pay their way out of any elective share law – by some estate planning technique or by moving money offshore – and the less financially fortunate cannot, is a real injustice that must be rectified. Let us eliminate the elective share laws for all, not just the well-to-do.

The elective share laws are terribly demeaning and paternalistic to women. Male dominated legislatures, though, continue to perpetuate belittling female stereotypes by saying through elective share laws that women are so incompetent and unable to stand up for themselves that the “little missies” still must be protected by some ancient magical sword. With literally every single disinheritance study showing de minimis rates of disinheritances that are not agreed to by the spouse, elective share laws seem like some ridiculous school child's Rube Goldberg machine trying to solve in as complex a manner as humanly possible a problem that really does not exist. Every few years, mostly male law professors huddle to build a better mousetrap to keep their evil male counterparts from doing something they have little or no desire or motivation to do, and in the process precious freedom – for both men and women – loses out.

Praises and Scholarship

Congratulations to Joan Krause, from the University of Houston. She has been promoted to Full Professor. 

Ann Murphy (Gonzaga) is teaching Comparative Elder Law in Florence, Italy right now for the first time in connection with the Gonzaga in Florence program.

Katherine Pearson (Dickinson) was selected to receive a “Special Achievement Award” for “extraordinary legislative efforts in 2005 on behalf of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Elder law Section” by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Board of governors. The award was presented on June 8, 2006.

Also, two of her Elder Law Clinic students from Penn State Dickinson School of Law students, Irene Kang and Jacqueline Olexy, have had articles addressing diversity issues in elder law accepted for publication by the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Olezy was the top prize winner in NAELA’s Student Writing Competition, and she received a cash award along with an all expenses paid trip to NAELA’s symposium this past April.

Finally, The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Journal has a new editor debuting in its Summer 2006 edition. Susan T. Bart (Chicago, Illinois) becomes the new editor, and Read Moore is her assistant editor.

Individual Income Tax Planning with a FLP/LLC

Reed W. Easton (Seton Hall University School of Business) has recently published his article “Individual Income Tax Planning with a FLP/LLC” for the March/April 2006 Business Entities Journal. 8 NO. 2 Bus. Entities 24. Here is the abstract:

Family Limited Partnerships (FLPs) and Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) are commonly used by individuals with large estates to transfer securities and real estate to members of their family with reduced gift or estate tax consequences due to valuation discounting. The valuation discounting associated with the FLP/LLC technique results from the lack of control and lack of an established market for the limited partner (LP) interests or nonvoting membership interests. The reductions to the value of the interests in the FLP or LLC may range from 15% to over 50%, depending on the specific facts and circumstances.

However, FLPs and LLCs may not be as attractive as they once were for transfer tax purposes because of recent successes that the IRS has had in challenging these structures. But, despite unfavorable case law, the use of a FLP or an LLC as an income tax planning tool should not be overlooked.

This article presents a planning idea that uses a FLP or an LLC structured to defer or shift the recognition of imminent gains from the sale of partnership property. This deferral or shift, coupled with an estate tax deduction under Section 691(c) or additional estate tax deductions resulting from the increased income tax liability of the decedent, can result in significant savings. While the idea is not free from risk, if structured properly, significant income tax deferral can be achieved with very little downside risk. The suggestion contained herein was derived from a particular client engagement.

AALS Section on Aging and the Law Presentation at 2007 AALS Annual Meeting

Are you a member of the AALS Section on Aging and the Law?  If yes, you may wish to consider preparing a "poster presentation" for the 2007 AALS Annual Meeting.

Here is an excerpt from a recent e-mail I received from AALS:

Please send your proposal by e-mail to Gehan Girguis, AALS Executive Assistant at ggirguis@aals.org by September 1, 2006. The poster should state your name, the name of your law school, the Section for which you are submitting, a title of the poster, a description of what you will be presenting and an actual copy of the poster itself. Your proposal will be sent to the Section Chair and Chair-elect and they will review and select the posters that will be presented as the Section’s posters at the 2007 AALS Annual Meeting. This is an opportunity to share your work with the larger academic community. * * *

Posters are intended to provide authors an opportunity to present in clear and succinct fashion the thesis and conclusion of their research or to describe teaching innovations outside formal program presentations. Because the focus is on the content of the research and innovative teaching, posters that are primarily promoting a particular school program, project, book or materials are not eligible for poster display. Other advertising or fliers are not permitted with posters.

For more information, you may contact Jane La Barbera.

Call for Papers

The following is adapted from an e-mail message I recently received from Prof. Anne-Marie Rhodes of the Loyola University Chicago School of Law:

Ohio Northern Law Review has obtained funding for a symposium on current issues in Trusts and Estates. The symposium will be held March 23, 2007. They are looking for potential speakers and topics of current interest in trusts and estates. It sounds like they have funding for travel.

If you are interested, please submit proposals for papers to Kristen Bell at k-bell@onu.edu. Her phone is 317-698-5996. I think she would also welcome ideas and names of potential speakers.

Impact of Legal Blogs

The following is from a message I received from Ian Best, the third year law student from Ohio State who has prepared the best, in my opinion, taxonomy of law blogs.

I wanted to let you know that I've just posted a collection of law review articles which cite legal blogs. There are 70 legal blogs represented. The 27-page collection is available for downloading here:
 
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/04/lawrevsciteblog.html.

   

Your blog is cited 1 time. But let me know if you are aware of articles that I have missed.
   

Also, there are two interviews with judges that you might be interested in, because they talk about legal blogs and law review articles. The posts are:
   

1. Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger, Ohio Supreme Court:

http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/04/the_future_belo.html
   

2. Richard G. Kopf, U.S. District Judge (Nebraska):

http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/04/judge_richard_k.html

Listen to AALS Program "Inheritance Law and the Empirical Scholar"

On January 5, 2006, the AALS Section on Donative Transfers, Fiduciaries and Estate Planning conducted a session at the AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. entitled Inheritance Law and the Empirical Scholar.

The AALS has just made the audio portion of this session available in MP3 format.  If you are interested in listening to this program, right-click on the link above, select "Save Target As," and then save to your hard drive, iPod, or other device.  Note that the file is over 20M in size so be sure to have a fast Internet connection.

Below is the description of the program as provided by the AALS:

Moderator: E. Gary Spitko, Santa Clara University School of Law
Speakers: Mary Louise Fellows, University of Minnesota Law School
Michael Heise, Cornell Law School
Justin D. Levinson, University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law
Ray D. Madoff, Boston College Law School
Robert H. Sitkoff, Northwestern University School of Law

This program will focus on opportunities for empirical scholarship in inheritance law and methodological issues particularly relevant to empirical scholarship in inheritance law.

Some of the panelists will discuss their present and past empirical research in inheritance law with a focus on methodological issues that have arisen of particular concern to inheritance law scholars. More generally, panelists also will consider the underdeveloped opportunities for empirical work in the donative transfers area, the areas of inquiry for which empirical scholarship might prove most helpful in inheritance law reform efforts, and some of the empirical methods that might prove most useful to inheritance law scholars. Finally, the panel also will address issues relating to empirical project design and funding, collaboration by law professors with social scientists doing empirical scholarship, the importance of peer review, and placement of empirical legal scholarship.

The Value of Law Blogging

The following is from the Law Librarian Blog:

The National Law Journal has a little piece on blogging titled "Blogging law profs assault ivory tower, Is it scholarship, or a cyber chit-chat?" (Feb. 27, 2007). The article features two Law Professor Blogs Network editors, Paul Caron, editor of TaxProf Blog and co-founder of the Law Professor Blogs Network, and OSU Law Prof Douglas Berman, whose blog, Sentencing Law & Policy, was cited by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in State v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005) in additon to be citing in at least four federal circuit court opinions and more than 10 federal district court opinions.

AALS Program: Blogging: Scholarship or Distraction?

For an interesting report on the AALS program entitled Blogging: Scholarship or Distraction?, see the summary prepared by Paul L. Caron (Charles Hartsock Professor of Law, Director of Faculty Projects, University of Cincinnati College of Law).

Manuscripts Wanted

The following is from an e-mail message I recently received from Robin Paul Malloy, the E.I. White Chair and Distinguished Professor of Law at the Syracuse University College of Law:

I am actively seeking book proposals and manuscripts for books related to all areas of property law including those with a focus on culture, and the relationship between property and citizenship. Subject areas can cover a wide range in the property area. Proposals and manuscripts are needed for a book series on Property, Citizenship, and Social Entrepreneurism with Cambridge University Press, and for a series on Law, Property, and Society with Ashgate Publishing.

Please see www.law.syr.edu/pcse for more information, and contact me to discuss proposals.

You do not have to be involved in the PCSE Working Group to have a book in either one of these series.

ABA Fellowships

The Real Estate, Probate, and Trusts Law Section of the American Bar Association is sponsoring fellowships for young lawyers with a special interest in the subject and who want to increase their involvement in Section activities.  The Section provides the following description:

The Fellowship appointment is for two years. We will select four Fellows from among the applicants. To be considered for selection, a person (1) must have practiced in the probate (including trusts and estates) or real property area for at least one year and (2) should be an active member of the Young Lawyers Division (or an active member who has aged out within the last three years, as calculated by the Young Lawyers Division) or demonstrated leadership at the state or local bar level. As part of the Section’s commitment to diversity, at least two of the four Fellows selected will be minority applicants.

We will make the following commitments to those selected as Fellows:

• To provide a subsidy, consistent with Section policies, for attendance at the Spring and Fall Council Meetings of the Section, as well as any stand-alone meetings of the Committee to which the Fellow is appointed, up to $1,500 annually;
• To appoint a “committee chair” of a RPPT substantive committee who will expose the Fellow to opportunities to do substantive committee work, including writing materials for CLE programs and/or to be submitted to Section publications;
• To appoint a mentor to suggest ways the Fellow can maximize opportunities for participation and professional development within the Section; and
• To invite the Fellows to certain social functions reserved for Section leaders.

Mentoring

The AALS Section of Donative Transfers, Fiduciaries and Estate Planning has a mentoring program to match mentors with mentees to assist newer professors with their questions regarding teaching and scholarship.

If you are interested in this program, either as a mentor or mentee, please contact Prof. Wendy Gerzog at wgerzog@ubalt.edu.

Wills, Trusts, and Estates Comes to SSRN

Background:  The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is an electronic archive of abstracts to, and full text reproductions of, scholarly paper