Success Kit for Wills, Trusts, & Estates

Professor Gerry W. Beyer received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the Ohio State University and his LL.M. and J.S.D. degrees from the University of Illinois. Both his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation topics involved estate planning issues. Professor Beyer joined the faculty of the Texas Tech University School of Law in June 2005 as the Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law. Previously, Prof. Beyer taught at the St. Mary's University School of Law from 1981 to May 2005 and has served as a visiting professor at several other law schools, including Boston College, Southern Methodist University, the University of New Mexico, and Santa Clara University. A member of the Order of the Coif and the recipient of many outstanding and distinguished faculty awards, Professor Beyer specializes in estate planning and teaches courses such as Wills and Estates, Trusts, and Estate Planning.

Prof. Beyer is a frequent contributor to both scholarly and practice-oriented publications and has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles focusing on various aspects of estate planning, including a two-volume treatise on Texas wills law and a nationally marketed estate planning casebook. In 1993, he received the Probate & Property Excellence in Writing Award for Best Cutting Edge Article for Probate and Trust as well as the 2001 Probate & Property Excellence in Writing Award for Best Overall Article in Probate and Trust. He has been the Keeping Current Probate editor for Probate & Property magazine since 1992. Professor Beyer is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and maintains membership in the American Bar Foundation, the Texas Bar Foundation, and the College of the State Bar of Texas.