Academic Fellow Nomination

The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel recognizes leading Academics of the Trust and Estate profession who have made a substantial contribution to the academic T&E field. To become an Academic Fellow of the College, one must be nominated by an active Fellow in good standing and elected by the Board of Regents.

Academic Fellows participate in stimulating committee discussions, which are a highlight of every national meeting, and the committee work-product is the pride of the College.

The Legal Education Committee

The Legal Education Committee focuses on the quality and relevance of trust and estate courses offered in law schools, strategies for incorporating skills training into courses, ideas for mentoring new lawyers in estate planning, the role of adjunct professors, and trust- and estate-related scholarship, case law, statutory law, and current developments.

Academic Fellow Requirements

In order to become an Academic Fellow of ACTEC, one must:

1. Have a full-time academic appointment at a duly accredited law school and must, under ordinary circumstances, at the time of nomination and election be a tenured member of the faculty. A “duly accredited law school” is one that, at the time of the nomination of the Fellow, is accredited or provisionally accredited by the American Bar Association. For a Nominee to qualify as specializing in T & E law, the Nominee must devote at least half of the Nominee’s working time on an annual basis to teaching, writing, or lecturing in the area of T & E law.;
2. Have not less than ten years’ experience as a teacher specializing in T & E law or as a lawyer in active private T & E practice or, a combination thereof. In all cases, a Nominee must spend the three years immediately and continuously preceding the nomination and election specializing in T & E Law.;
3. Have a well-deserved outstanding reputation, either among academics in the T&E field on a national level, or among the T&E bar in the state(s) where one teaches, or both;
4. Have demonstrated exceptional knowledge of T&E law;
5. Have made substantial contributions to the T&E field by lecturing, writing, teaching, or being involved in bar activities or in the enactment of significant state, federal or uniform T&E legislation, or outreach, education, and mentoring to communities that have been historically underrepresented in estate planning (“diverse communities”) on topics and issues connected to estate planning, probate, and trust.

Law Schools with Current Academic Fellows

• Albany Law School
• Baylor Law School
• Boston College Law School
• Creighton University
• Cumberland School of Law at Samford University
• Drake University law School
• George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
• Georgia State University College of Law
• Harvard Law School
• Hofstra University School of Law
• Louisiana State University
• Loyola University Chicago School of Law
• New York Law School
• New York University School of Law
• Oklahoma City University School of Law
• Pace University School of Law
• Pepperdine University School of Law
• Quinnipiac University School of Law
• Rutgers Law School
• Santa Clara University
• Seattle University School of Law
• Southern Methodist University School of Law
• Stetson University College of Law
• Suffolk University Law School
• Texas Tech University School of Law
• The University of Florida Levin College of Law
• Tulane Law School
• University of Baltimore School of Law
• University of California, Davis School of Law
• University of Iowa College of Law
• University of Maryland School of Law
• University of Missouri
• University of Missouri Columbia School of Law
• University of Montana School of Law
• University of New Mexico School of Law
• University of North Dakota
• University of Oklahoma
• University of Oregon School of Law
• University of San Diego School of Law
• University of South Carolina School of Law
• University of South Dakota
• University of Tennessee College of Law
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
• University of Virginia School of Law
• University of Washington School of Law
• University of Wyoming College of Law
• USC Law School
• Vanderbilt University School of Law
• Vermont Law School
• Warner Norcross & Judd LLP
• Washington and Lee University School of Law
• Yale University Law School