Wills, Trusts, and Estates in Focus

BOOKMARK

Authors

Naomi R. Cahn
Alyssa A. DiRusso
Susan N. Gary

Series / Focus Casebook Series

BOOKMARK

Book length

620 pages

Publication Date

2025-01-07

Description

Table of contents

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In a typical Wills, Trusts, and Estates (WTE) class there are both students who want to practice in WTE (either exclusively, or as part of a general practice), and those who need only to master the general concepts in order to pass the bar exam. Wills, Trusts, and Estates in Focus by Naomi R. Cahn, Alyssa DiRusso, and Susan Gary attends to the needs of both sets of students. For those who will practice in WTE, the concepts are presented in an engaging way and exemplified by realistic hypothetical scenarios that mirror practice and support the development of lawyering skills. For those who need only to pass the bar, the organization of the text is keyed to multi-state essay examination topics as presented on the multi-state bar exam.

The well-crafted pedagogy of the Focus Series makes WTE concepts and procedure clear and accessible for all students. Case Previews shed light on each succinctly-edited case, provide legal context, and direct students to the issue at hand. Post-Case Follow-Ups review the decision and prepare students to apply the relevant legal principles to the set of exercises that follow, called Real Life Applications.Professors will appreciate the accessible approach of Wills, Trusts, and Estates in Focus, which combines straightforward narrative explanations with real-world examples, and problems designed to engage students in active learning.

Features of Wills, Trusts, and Estates in Focus:

Insightful authorship: The author team consists of three well-known academics with expertise in WTE and complementary areas such as family law, charities, elder law, and tax. All are elected Fellows of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), the leading professional organization of trust and estates attorneys.
Conscious modernization of the WTE casebook that balances major landmark cases and 21st century authorities, including recent case decisions and developments in the law (such as the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act)
Thorough coverage of core topics, combined with the Focus Series pedagogy
Manageable problem sets that allow students to apply doctrine to realistic fact scenarios
Research and drafting exercises that support the development of practice-based skills

Professors and students will benefit from:

Clear writing that promotes the learning outcomes of student competencies in
1. knowledge and understanding of both the substantive and procedural law of WTE
2. legal analysis and reasoning
3. problem-solving
4. how to exercise proper professional and ethical responsibilities with regard to clients and the legal system
A balanced emphasis on practice readiness and bar-exam readiness
An author team with experience writing for students, practitioners, and lay people
A clear and logical book structure and chapter organization, with cross-references to related coverage in other chapters
Appendices that provide examples of how doctrine maps on to practice, as in will contest pleadings and probate filings

Teaching materials include:

Teacher’s Manual with straightforward case summaries and answers to all problems
Sample 3-credit syllabus

Table of Contents (PDF)

Professor Materials

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About the authors

Naomi R. Cahn

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law, Armistead M. Dobie Professor of Law, Co-Director, Family Law Center, University of Virginia School of Law

Naomi Cahn is an expert in family law, trusts and estates, feminist jurisprudence, reproductive technology, and aging and the law. Prior to joining the University of Virginia faculty in 2020, she taught at George Washington Law School, where she twice served as associate dean. She is the co-director of UVA Law’s Family Law Center.

Cahn is a co-author of casebooks in both family law and trusts and estates, and she has written numerous articles exploring the intersections among family law, trusts and estates, and feminist theory, as well as essays concerning the connections between gender and international law. In addition, she is the author or editor of books written for both academic and trade publishers. Her books include “Red Families v. Blue Families” (Oxford University Press, 2010, with Professor June Carbone): “Homeward Bound” (Oxford University Press, 2017, with Amy Ziettlow); and “Unequal Family Lives” (Cambridge University Press, 2018, co-edited with UVA professor Brad Wilcox and others).

Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker, and she has appeared on numerous media outlets, including NPR and MSNBC. She is also a senior contributor to the Forbes Leadership Channel, for which she regularly writes posts on gender equity.

In 2017, Cahn won the Harry Krause Lifetime Achievement in Family Law Award from the University of Illinois College of Law. She has worked with the Uniform Law Commission as a reporter for two drafting committees. In addition to her work with the commission, Cahn is a member of the American Law Institute, an elected fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, editor of the ACTEC Law Journal and a member of the American Bar Foundation, among other commitments. She serves on the editorial board of the Family Court Review. In addition, she has chaired and been on the steering committee for some of the major Association of American Law Schools sections, such as Women in Legal Education, Family & Juvenile Law, Aging and Africa. From 2002-04, Cahn researched gender-based violence while on leave and living in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Prior to joining the faculty at GW Law, Cahn practiced with Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., and with Community Legal Services in Philadelphia.

Alyssa DiRusso

Whelan W. and Rosalie T. Palmer Professor of Law, Cumberland School of Law

Alyssa DiRusso specializes in trusts and estates, tax, and related areas of law. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and serves on the Members Consultative Group for the Restatement of the Law of Charitable Nonprofit Organizations. She is also an elected Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). DiRusso served as the associate editor of the peer-reviewed ACTEC Law Journal from 2018-20, and as editor in chief from 2020-22. She has been admitted to practice in Massachusetts (inactive) and Alabama, and has appeared before the United States Supreme Court.

Susan N. Gary

Professor Emerita, University of Oregon School of Law

Susan N. Gary, Professor Emerita and formerly Orlando J. and Marian H. Hollis Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law, received her B.A. from Yale University and her J.D. from Columbia University. Before entering academia, she practiced with Mayer, Brown & Platt in Chicago, and with DeBandt, van Hecke & Lagae in Brussels. Professor Gary has taught trusts and estates, estate planning, estate and gift tax, nonprofit organizations, and an undergraduate course on law and families. She continues to teach trusts and estates. She has written and spoken about the regulation of charities, fiduciary duties including the prudent investor standard, stewardship trusts as a new form of business ownership, the definition of family for inheritance purposes, donor intent in connection with restricted charitable gifts, and the use of mediation to manage conflict in the estate planning context. She served as a trustee on the University’s Board of Trustees.

Professor Gary is an Academic Fellow and former Regent of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and served on the Council of the Real Property, Trust and Estate Section of the American Bar Association. She served as the Reporter for three projects of the Uniform Law Commission: the Uniform Electronic Wills Act, the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, and the Model Protection of Charitable Assets Act. She was a member of the steering committee of the Intentional Endowments Network and continues to serve on its Fiduciary Investment Committee. She has served on the Advisory Board of the NYU National Center on Philanthropy and the Law and has held leadership positions in three sections (trusts and estates, elder law, and nonprofits) of the Association of American Law Schools.

In Oregon, Professor Gary has been a member of the Oregon Law Commission and served as Reporter for its Probate Modernization Work Group. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Nonprofit Organizations Law Section of the Oregon State Bar she led a review of Oregon’s nonprofit corporation statutes that resulted in legislation revising the statutes. She served on the Executive Committee of the Estate Planning Section of the Oregon bar for nine years, including serving as its chair, and served as Editor of the Estate Planning Section’s newsletter for 15 years. Significant recent articles are “The Changing Landscape of Business Succession: How and Why Purpose Trusts Matter,” Ohio State Bus. L. J. (forthcoming 2024), “Best Interests in the Long Term: Fiduciary Duties and ESG Investing,” 90 Univ. of Colorado L. Rev. 731 (2019), and “The Oregon Stewardship Trust: A New Type of Purpose Trust that Enables Steward-Ownership of a Business,” 88 Univ. of Cincinnati L. Rev. 707 (f2019).

Product Information

Publication date

2025-01-07

2019

Pages

620

Looseleaf

9798894105703

Subject

Wills, Trusts, and Estates

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$179.00

Looseleaf Paperback

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