Academic Symposium

The ACTEC Foundation Biennial Symposium series is the premier academic symposium on trust and estate law in the United States. Each symposium aims to foster scholarly work in trust and estate law, connect academics with practitioners, offer junior academics a platform to present their research and engage with senior scholars, facilitate interactions among trust and estate professors, involve experts from other fields in trust and estate discussions, and enhance ACTEC’s reputation as the premier organization for trust and estate lawyers, both in practice and academia.

Since 2005, The ACTEC Foundation has provided funding for a symposium approximately every two years. Requests for proposals are circulated by the Legal Education Committee of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), with a theme related to trust and estate law, defined to include any topic related to the gratuitous transfer of property (e.g., probate law, trust law, elder law, transfer tax law). Proposals identify the law school that will host the symposium, along with one or two faculty members at the host school to manage the logistics of the symposium. The Legal Education Committee chooses the winning theme and proposal.

Once selected, the faculty member(s) of the winning symposium proposal coordinate all arrangements with the law school, the law review or journal, and the speakers. Symposium papers are published to share the exchange of ideas with a broader audience beyond those attending the symposium. A crucial aspect of the request for proposals is securing, as much as possible, a commitment from a law review at the host school to publish the papers as a symposium issue. The host school oversees the budget and submits a report on the symposium to The ACTEC Foundation.

The ACTEC Foundation has provided grants of $20,000 each to support over 20 symposia, aligning with its mission to promote legal education in wills, trusts, and estates. These symposia have covered topics such as “Trust Law in the 21st Century,” “The Uniform Probate Code: The Remaking of American Succession Law,” and “Wealth Transfer Law in Comparative and International Perspective.” This longstanding collaboration with the Legal Education Committee of ACTEC helps The Foundation advance its goal of fostering educational opportunities in the trust and estate field and encouraging partnerships between academics and practitioners.