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.
Established in 1892, the Uniform Law Commission provides states with models for non-partisan legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. Among the Commission’s many contributions are the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Trust Code.
A growing number of states have recently enacted legislation that authorizes the appointment of a “trust protector”—a person other than the trustee, beneficiary, or settlor who holds power over some aspect of the administration of a trust. The study committee on trust protectors will consider and make recommendations on drafting uniform state legislation, or making amendments to current ULC acts, on the topic. This project was recommended by the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trusts and Estates Acts, of which Sitkoff is a liaison member.
The drafting committee on Series of Unincorporated Business Entities will draft series provisions that can be added to some or all of the uniform unincorporated business organization acts, including possible revisions to the Uniform Statutory Trust Entity Act, for which Sitkoff served as the reporter (the principal drafter).
Sitkoff was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick in 2008 as a Uniform Law Commissioner from Massachusetts in 2008. Most recently, he contributed to the Commission’s Uniform Premarital and Premarital Act (UPMAA) as part of its drafting committee; last year, he was named to the ULC’s drafting committee for the Uniform Act on Powers of Appointment.
Earlier this year, the American Law Institute elected Sitkoff to join its Council. The Council serves as the governing body of the ALI, the leading independent organization in the U.S. producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law.
The youngest chaired professor with tenure in the history of Harvard Law School, Sitkoff previously taught at New York University School of Law and at Northwestern University School of Law. Sitkoff’s work has been published in leading scholarly journals such as the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, and the Journal of Law and Economics. Sitkoff is a co-author of Wills, Trusts, and Estates (Aspen 8th ed. 2009), the leading American coursebook on trusts and estates. He is the editor of the Wills, Trusts, and Estates abstracting journal of the Social Science Research Network and is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
Further information on these and other new drafting and study committees, as well as information on the Uniform Law Commission, can be found at the ULC’s website at www.uniformlaws.org.