The Jack Beaty Educational Scholarship Foundation through the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) is pleased to grant the sum of $5,000 to five law schools to enhance the teaching of trust and estate law in American law schools. The grant money is intended to supplement the salaries of professors, adjunct or full-time, who teach Trusts and Estate related courses. In making decisions, the committee will prioritize law schools intending to offer a Trusts and Estates course that it has not offered in the last three years. Recipients will be expected to offer the course within the next academic year, and distribution will be made at the time the course is offered. Applications are due on September 6, 2026. 

Please submit the completed application or any questions to Professor Natalie Lynner at Drake University Law School: natalie.lynner@drake.edu

  1. Applicant Information

Name: _________________________

Title/Position:___________________

Institution: _____________________

Mailing Address:________________

Email:__________________________

II. Proposed Course Information

Course Title:___________________

Academic Term to be offered: ____

Enrollment Estimate:____________

Required or elective?___________

Instructor:_____________________

  1. Educational Enhancement Statement
  2. How will offering this course enhance teaching Trusts & Estates at your law school?
  • Has this course been offered at the law school in the last three years? Please describe how often the course is offered.

I agree to use the funds solely for the purpose described above and to provide any required reporting or documentation regarding expenditures or outcomes.

Applicant Signature:

Date:

Photo of Gerry W. Beyer Gerry W. Beyer

Dr. Gerry W. Beyer joined the faculty of the Texas Tech University School of Law in June 2005 as the first holder of the Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professorship. Previously, Prof. Beyer taught as a professor or visiting professor at several other…

Dr. Gerry W. Beyer joined the faculty of the Texas Tech University School of Law in June 2005 as the first holder of the Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professorship. Previously, Prof. Beyer taught as a professor or visiting professor at several other law schools including Boston College, Boston University, The Ohio State University, Southern Methodist University, the University of New Mexico, Santa Clara University, St. Mary’s University, and La Trobe University in Australia.

Prof. Beyer is admitted to practice in Texas, Illinois (inactive), Ohio (inactive) and before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

Prof. Beyer is the recipient of dozens of outstanding and distinguished faculty awards from three law schools including the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the most prestigious university-wide teaching award at Texas Tech, the 2015 President’s Academic Achievement Award, and the Outstanding (Law) Researcher Award in 2013 and 2017.

As a state and nationally recognized expert in estate planning, Prof. Beyer is a highly sought after lecturer. He presents dozens of continuing legal education presentations each year for many national, state, and local bar associations, universities, and civic groups. In recognition of his expertise and contributions to the legal profession, the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils inducted him into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2022, Prof. Beyer was awarded the Distinguished Probate Attorney Lifetime Achievement Award by the Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law Section of State Bar of Texas.

Prof. Beyer is the editor of the most popular estate planning blawg in the nation which after being named for five consecutive years to the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 was awarded Hall of Fame status in 2015.

Prof. Beyer is the author of dozens of books and hundreds of articles focusing on various aspects of estate planning, including a two-volume treatise on Texas wills law, an estate planning law school casebook, and the Wills, Trusts, and Estates volume of the Examples & Explanations series. He has four times won awards from the American Bar Association’s Probate & Property magazine for his writing. He is one of the most often downloaded law authors on the Social Science Research Network with a ranking in the top .001%.  Prof. Beyer is the Editor-in-Chief of the REPTL Reporter, the official journal of the largest section of the State Bar of Texas, the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section.

Prof. Beyer serves as a mentor to many students and various law school organizations as well participating regularly in pro bono activities. He is the advisor for the Estate Planning and Community Property Law Journal and its annual seminar, the Black Law Students Association, and the Estate and Property Law Society.

Prof. Beyer received his J.D. from the Ohio State University (summa cum laude) and his LL.M. and J.SD. degrees from the University of Illinois. He is a member of the Order of the Coif, an Academic Fellow and former Regent of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a member of the American Law Institute, and was appointed by the Uniform Law Commission as the Reporter for the Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act and the Integration of Probate and Non-Probate Transfers Study Committee.

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