Tulane Law Professor Scalise Elected to prestigious International Trusts & Estates Academy

Tulane Law Professor Ronald J. Scalise Jr. (TC’97, L’00), the John Minor Wisdom Professor of Civil Law, has been elected to the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (TIAETL), further cementing his global expertise in the field. 

Scalise, the editor of the Louisiana Civil Code who is internationally recognized as a leader in civil law and trust and estates law, was named to the highly-selective international organization that is comprised of lawyers from 41 different countries. The work of the TIAETL is to focus on how trusts and estates law operates in different legal systems. Issues members of the academy study include topics such as how international conventions impact the transfer of property, the tax consequences across jurisdictions of the transfer of wealth during life or at death, the preservation of family businesses with multinational connections, and much more. 

"Ron’s impact in the field and on the law school’s robust civil law program cannot be overstated,” said law Dean Marcilynn Burke. “He is one of the most prominent scholars in the field, and his passion for teaching law is evident in the admiration of his students, whom he has inspired to practice in Louisiana and in the field of trusts and estates law. We are fortunate to call him a Tulanian.”

"Ron’s impact in the field and on the law school’s robust civil law program cannot be overstated."

Law Dean Marcilynn Burke

Scalise is currently the second Louisiana lawyer to be elected as a member to TIAETL.

“The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law is thrilled to have Professor Ronald Scalise of Tulane Law School as an Academician given Professor Scalise’s important scholarship in many comparative aspects of succession and trust law and his leadership in uniform conflicts of law in trust and estate legislation in the United States,” said M. Read Moore, a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery in San Francisco, California, and the President-Elect of TIAETL.  “Professor Scalise joins a handful of other distinguished U.S. law professors who are members of the Academy and who provide important context and perspective from the United States on trust and succession law matters to our multinational organization.”

Scalise, who teaches both common-law trusts and estates as well as civil-law successions (and numerous other civil-law courses) at Tulane Law, has long established himself as a leader in trusts and estate law, locally, nationally, and internationally. He serves in top legal organizations that both study trusts and estates law and recommend law reform in that area. 

On the international level, Scalise has, for over a decade, served as the sole American representative to an international group of distinguished scholars writing on and studying comparative succession law.  The group – led by eminent comparative law scholars Reinhard Zimmermann from Germany and Kenneth Reid from Scotland – has previously published three books with Oxford University Press on the intestacy, wills, and forced heirship, and a fourth book on estate administration is currently in production.

He is also a leader at the national level, currently serving as the Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission’s (ULC) project on conflicts of law on trusts and estates. He previously served as the ULC Reporter for the Uniform Community Property Disposition at Death Act.  Scalise is also an elected member of the American College of Trusts and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and was recently elected as the ACTEC State Chair for Louisiana and to the Board of Regents of ACTEC.  He is currently the only academic on ACTEC’s Board of Regents.   

Professor Robert Sitkoff of Harvard Law School, who has worked with Scalise in the Uniform Law Committee’s project on conflict of laws in trusts and estates, said Scalise will bring important expertise to the international academy.

“Ron has done important work in national law reform efforts,” Sitkoff said. “In our work with the ULC, Ron made critical contributions that drew on his expertise in comparative law and multiple legal systems.” 

Sitkoff lauded Scalise for his “extensive service to the field, not just in his teaching and scholarship, but also his direct engagement with the practice through his leadership roles in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and his work as a reporter in multiple ULC projects.”

Closer to home, Scalise currently serves as the Reporter for the Louisiana State Law Institute (LSLI) Committee on Successions and Donations and the LSLI Committee on Trust Law. In doing so, Scalise follows a long line of Tulane lawyers in being a thought leader in the area. 

“Ron is without question the leading academic voice in Louisiana successions and trust law, but he is so much more than that,” said law alumnus David Edwards (A&S '71, L ‘72), a partner at Jones Walker who is a member of both of Scalise’s Law Institute Committees and an elected member of ACTEC himself. 

“Nationally, Ron is a leader in the field. He is a star of the academic fellows in ACTEC.  His opinion is highly sought after in national conversations on trust law.  It is easy to look at the voluminous work he does in Louisiana and not realize he has had the same level of impact on trust law across the country. With all of his talent and acumen, we are so fortunate to have Ron as a Tulanian.”

In Louisiana, with its unique civil law tradition, Scalise is widely viewed as the leading voice in trust law and succession law.  In 2021, in a case on rehearing involving will formalities, Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Scott Crichton wrote in a concurrence, “I write separately to commend Tulane Law Professor Ronald J. Scalise, Jr. for his significant contribution to this area of law, which is made clear by citations to his legal scholarship not only by two of the dissents to the original opinion but also by the majority opinion on rehearing.” 

Members of the Louisiana State Law Institute committees that Scalise leads similarly applauded his leadership in the area. 

“This is a well-deserved honor,” said Marguerite “Peggy” Adams, of Counsel with Liskow & Lewis, who has worked with Scalise on several LSLI committees, the LSLI Council, and in ACTEC. “It is hard to overstate his talents. He is just one of the smartest people I know. His thoughtful approach to analyzing and drafting law is remarkable and he is able to discuss complicated issues and suggest realistic solutions. And, on top of all this, he is a really nice guy.”