ACTEC Foundation Supports Academic Symposium on Wealth Management and Transmission

The ACTEC Foundation was proud to support an academic symposium held at the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University on September 26, 2025. The program, titled “The Law and Economics of Wealth Management and Transmission,” brought together scholars and practitioners to explore emerging issues shaping the future of wealth planning.

The symposium drew approximately 35 attendees, including George Mason faculty and students, professors from peer institutions, and practicing attorneys from the D.C., Virginia, and Maryland region.

The symposium featured a full roster of presenters. The keynote address was delivered by James R. Hines Jr. Professor Hines is the L. Hart Wright Collegiate Professor of Law and co-director of the Program in Law and Economics at Michigan Law. Professors from notable law schools around the country presented on four panels:

• Panel I: Nonprofits
  • David Schizer (Columbia), “Big Picture” Investing at Nonprofits: Accounting for Future Expenses and Donations, co-authored with Thomas Brennan (Harvard Law)
  • ACTEC Fellow Max M. Schanzenbach (Northwestern) Toward Investment Neutrality in University Endowments, co-authored with ACTEC Fellow Robert H. Sitkoff (Harvard)
• Panel II: Planning for Older Age
  • Richard L. Kaplan (Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), The Law and Economics of Financing Long-Term Care: An Unrecognized Impediment to Wealth Transmission
  • Saul Levmore (Chicago), Annuities, Birth Rates, and Wealth Transfers
• Panel III: Intergenerational Wealth
  • Mark P. Gergen (Berkeley), The Possibility for Stateless Dynastic Wealth and a Tale of Two States
  • Julia D. Mahoney (Virginia) & Paul G. Mahoney (Virginia), Intergenerational Wealth Transfers and the Problem of Oligarchy
• Panel IV: The Law of Trusts
  • Yun-chien Chang (Cornell), A Complex Systems Theory of Trust Law
  • ACTEC Fellow Thomas P. Gallanis (George Mason), Trusts and Donative Freedom: What Can We Learn from Law and Economics?
  • Christopher J. Ryan Jr. (Indiana, Bloomington), Uncontested Trusts in Court, co-authored with David Horton (UC Davis) and ACTEC Fellow Reid Kress Weisbord (Rutgers)

Nearly all symposium papers will be published in Volume 33, Issue 2 of the George Mason Law Review, expected at the end of March 2026. One exception is the paper by Julia Mahoney and Paul Mahoney, as the paper’s progress has been delayed due to Paul’s appointment as interim president of the University of Virginia. They have committed to giving the Law Review first option for publication once the paper is complete.

The ACTEC Foundation is honored to help foster scholarship that advances the field of trusts and estates and supports the next generation of thought leadership.