People
Robert H. Sitkoff
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On March 29, in his contribution to the HLS Class Marshals' Last Lecture series, Robert Sitkoff, an expert in trusts and estates, explained the impact and importance of private law in enabling individuals to organize their lives and relationships with one another.
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‘Last Lecture’: Annette Gordon-Reed traces her journey from Texas childhood to lawyer and historian
April 6, 2016
As part of the Last Lecture Series presented every year by the HLS Class Marshals, Professor Annette Gordon-Reed ’84 spoke about her experiences combining legal analysis and historical research.
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The Seminole Tribe of Florida urged a district court Friday to remand to state court a lawsuit accusing Wells Fargo of mismanaging a $1.4 billion trust, saying that its breach of trust claims do not belong in federal court. ... Moreover, the minor beneficiaries would not normally be understood by trust lawyers as the purchasers or sellers of securities held in trust, Harvard Law Professor Robert Sitkoff said. The experts’ opinions show that precluding the lawsuit under SLUSA would have far-reaching consequences such as enabling trustees to misappropriate trust property “with impunity,” insulating trustees from fiduciary accountability and sacrificing “portfolio efficiency” by removing several asset classes as potential investments, the tribe said.
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DoL Fiduciary Rule: ‘Disruptive but Manageable’
December 12, 2015
...The morning brought lectures on fiduciary law given by two prominent law professors from Harvard and Yale...Chatty and colloquial, Harvard professor Robert Sitkoff, touted as the youngest in law school history to win an endowed chair, broke the ice by referring to "fiduciary" as the F-word...The key takeaways from the lectures included Sitkoff's statement that the way to insure that an adviser acts in a client's best interest is via fiduciary law.
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When Unhappy Donors Want Their Money Back
December 15, 2014
For most people, giving money to charity feels great. Asking for the money back is a whole different story. Yet philanthropy experts say donors increasingly are doing just that: requesting “refunds” on gifts they feel have been misused, ignored, or spent in a way that strays from their original reason for giving...“About 30 states have the Uniform Trust Code, which authorizes donor standing to enforce a charitable trust,” says Robert Sitkoff, a professor at Harvard Law School who studies wills, trusts and estates. But “a New York court has gone further, recognizing donor standing to enforce other kinds of charitable gifts, too.”
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The Ins and Outs of Perpetual Trusts
December 5, 2014
Most people struggle to plan their financial futures beyond the next decade, while those with money and foresight are likely to think well in advance about what they want to leave their children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. But what about planning for eternity? It seems too long to contemplate. Yet in the last several decades, states have begun competing with one another for the business of perpetual trusts, which are designed to last forever, or at least 1,000 years in the case of Wyoming...But now a Harvard Law School professor, Robert H. Sitkoff, has written an academic paper making the case that perpetual trusts are unconstitutional in some of the very states that have tried hardest to persuade people to establish them..."Why do we care about these perpetual trusts?” Mr. Sitkoff said. “Because there’s a lot of money in them. Billions of dollars is pouring into these jurisdictions.”
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Sitkoff named chair of Drafting Committee for Act on Divided Trusteeship
September 19, 2014
Robert H. Sitkoff, the John L. Gray Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has been named Chair of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) drafting committee for an Act on Divided Trusteeship.
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Whether you’re rich or poor, famous or obscure, if you have a will, chances are it says something to the effect of, “pay my debts before you pay my heirs.”…State law offers some protection with what’s called a creditor period – a certain length of time (ranging from two months after the start of probate to five years from the date of death) after which the executor can pay beneficiaries without worrying about creditors’ claims, explains Harvard Law professor Robert H. Sitkoff.
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Jessica Beess und Chrostin ’13 wins ABA writing award
October 3, 2013
Recent Harvard Law School Graduate Jessica Beess und Chrostin '13 won a major law student writing competition with her paper, "Mandatory Arbitration Clauses in Donative Instruments: A Taxonomy of Disputes and Type-Differentiated Analysis." The contest was sponsored by the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law section of the American Bar Association.
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Sitkoff contributes to Uniform Powers of Appointment Act
August 26, 2013
In early July, the Uniform Law Commission approved a new act, the Uniform Powers of Appointment Act, at its annual meeting held this year in Boston. Harvard Law School Professor Robert H. Sitkoff, who focuses his research on economic and empirical analysis of the law of trusts and estates, served on the drafting committee for the Act. The Act codifies the law of powers of appointment, a staple of modern estate-planning practice.
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A roundtable at HLS on corporate time horizons
October 22, 2012
A group of senior corporate managers, finance practitioners, and academics from Europe and the U.S. gathered at HLS on Sept. 14-15 for a conference on the role of corporate governance in encouraging long-term value in public corporations.
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Sitkoff appointed to two new ULC committees
October 4, 2012
Robert H. Sitkoff, the John L. Gray Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has been appointed to two new Uniform Law Commission committees—the study committee on trust protectors, and the drafting committee on Series of Unincorporated Business Entities.
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In late July, the Uniform Law Commission approved the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act (UPMAA) at its annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Harvard Law School Professor Robert H. Sitkoff, whose primary research focus is economic and empirical analysis of the law of trusts and estates, served on the drafting committee for the Act.
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Where can you pick up a lunch with Larry Summers, a fashion-forward shopping spree with a Harvard Law School professor or a Justice David Souter bobblehead? The HLS annual Public Interest Auction, of course.
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The Uniform Law Commission has formed a new drafting committee to prepare a Uniform Act on Powers of Appointment. Robert H. Sitkoff, the John L. Gray Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has been named as a member of the drafting committee. An expert in trusts and estates, Sitkoff serves under gubernatorial appointment as a Uniform Law Commissioner from Massachusetts.
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Sitkoff essay on law reform in trusts and estates appears in JOTWELL
December 15, 2010
JOTWELL—the Journal of Things We Like (Lots)—published “Top-Down Versus Bottom-Up Law Reform in Trusts and Estates: Future Interests and Perpetuities” by HLS Professor Robert Sitkoff on Nov. 22.
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Robert H. Sitkoff, the John L. Gray Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, was elected an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a national professional organization of approximately 2,600 lawyers who specialize in trusts and estates.
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Sitkoff in WSJ on Cadbury-Hershey
November 25, 2009
Milton Hershey had no children so he said he would make the “orphan boys of the United States” his heirs.To that end, the chocolatier founded the Milton Hershey School, which today serves 1,700 underprivileged children and has an endowment of $6.2 billion. In 2005, Hershey had the nation’s fifth largest endowment, which was about half the size of Princeton’s and Stanford’s but larger than that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Sitkoff Reappointed to Uniform Law Commission
November 18, 2009
Harvard Law School Professor Robert Sitkoff has been reappointed to serve a new five-year term on the Uniform Law Commission by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Sitkoff is one of three commissioners representing the Commonwealth. He has served as an interim commissioner since March of 2008.
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In an April 29 lecture, Harvard Law School Professor Robert H. Sitkoff discussed the causes and consequences of revolutionary changes in American trust law. The talk, entitled “Lawyers, Banks, and Money: The Quiet Revolution in American Trust Law,” was part of an event honoring Sitkoff on his appointment as the John L. Gray Professor of Law. (Watch a webcast of the event.)
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This spring, two faculty members, Bruce Mann, the Carl F. Schipper, Jr. Professor of Law, and Robert Sitkoff, the John L. Gray Professor of Law, gave lectures to commemorate their appointments to endowed chairs. News coverage and video of their lectures are included below.