Robert H. Sitkoff, the Austin Wakeman Scott Professor of Law and the John L. Gray Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has been inducted into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame® and is a recipient of the Accredited Estate Planner® (Distinguished) designation for 2024. The award was presented by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC) during a ceremony on Oct. 23.
An expert in wills, trusts, estates, and fiduciary administration, Sitkoff is one of only five estate planning professionals to receive the award in 2024, which is given annually in recognition of lifetime achievement and outstanding contributions to the practice and profession of estate planning.
“We are honored to induct Robert Sitkoff into the Estate Planning Hall of Fame® Class of 2024,” said NAEPC President Kit Mac Nee in a statement. “Each member has excelled, not only in their respective professional disciplines, but by being recognized as an elite professional by other members of the estate planning community. In addition to Professor Sitkoff’s own practice expertise, this honoree graciously participates in sharing knowledge with others nationally in support of the collaborative approach to estate planning.”
Sitkoff’s research focuses on economic and empirical analysis of trusts, estates, and fiduciary administration. His work has been published in leading scholarly journals such as the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, the Journal of Law and Economics, and the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.
Sitkoff is the coauthor of Wills, Trusts, and Estates (Aspen 11th ed., 2022), the most popular American coursebook on trusts and estates, and a coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of Fiduciary Law (Oxford University Press, 2019). His research has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times, among other media outlets.
An active participant in trusts and estates law reform, Sitkoff serves on the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) as a commissioner from Massachusetts. The ULC provides states with models for nonpartisan 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. Within the ULC, Sitkoff currently serves as chair of the Drafting Committee for an Act on Conflict of Trust and Estate Laws and is a liaison member of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trusts and Estates Acts.
Sitkoff previously served as a member of several other drafting committees for uniform trusts and estates acts, including as chair of the Drafting Committee for the Uniform Directed Trust Act (2017) and as a member of the Drafting Committees for revisions to the Uniform Probate Code (2019) and to draft the Uniform Trust Decanting Act (2015).
Sitkoff is a member of The American Law Institute’s Council. He has served on the advisory panel or consultative group for the Restatement (Third) of Trusts, the Restatement (Third) of Property: Wills and Other Donative Transfers, the Restatement of Charitable Nonprofits, and the Restatement (Third) of Conflicts of Law.
Sitkoff serves as an advisory consultant and expert witness in litigation and regulatory matters involving wills, trusts, estates, and fiduciary administration. He has also led training workshops for trust officers and other professional fiduciaries.
He edits the Wills, Trusts, and Estates abstracting journal in the Social Science Research Network. He is a past chair of the Section on Trusts and Estates of the Association of American Law Schools, an academic fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and an academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law.
Before joining the Harvard Law faculty in 2007, Sitkoff taught at New York University School of Law and at Northwestern University School of Law, and he is the winner of several teaching awards.
NAEPC is a national organization of professional estate planners and affiliated local estate planning councils dedicated to the cultivation of excellence in estate planning. NAEPC fosters the multi-disciplinary approach to estate planning by serving estate planning.