ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gerry W. Beyer, Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law / Lubbock, TX
Professor Gerry 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.
Professor Beyer received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the Ohio State University and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. After practicing law in Columbus, Ohio, he received his LL.M. and J.S.D. degrees from the University of Illinois. Both his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation topics involved estate planning issues.
Professor Beyer joined the faculty of the Texas Tech University School of Law in June 2005 as the Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law. Previously, Prof. Beyer taught at the St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, from 1981 to May 2005 and has served as a visiting professor at several other law schools including Boston College, Boston University, Ohio State University, Southern Methodist University, the University of New Mexico, Santa Clara University, and LaTrobe University (Melbourne, Australia).
Professor Beyer has received numerous awards for his classroom performance, student mentoring, and research.
Professor Beyer is a frequent contributor to both scholarly and practice-orientated publications and has authored and co-authored dozens of books and articles focusing on various aspects of estate planning. On the list of the top 3,000 Law Authors on the Social Science Research Network, his ranking was #57 as of April 1, 2015. In 1993, he received the Probate & Property Excellence in Writing Award for Best Cutting Edge Article for Probate and Trust, the 2001 Probate & Property Excellence in Writing Award for Best Overall Article in Probate and Trust, and the Probate & Property 2012 Excellence in Writing Award — Best Cutting Edge Article in Trusts and Estates.
Professor Beyer is a member of the American Law Institute and an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and maintains membership in numerous organizations including the American Bar Foundation, the Texas Bar Foundation, and the College of the State Bar of Texas.
Professor Beyer's Wills, Trusts, and Estates Prof Blog is the #1 ranked Estate Planning blog in the United States and is ranked, as of April 1, 2015, as the 21st most popular legal blog in the nation. For five consecutive years, his blog was named as one of the ABA Journal's Blawg 100, that is, the best legal blogs as selected by the ABA Journal's editors.
Professor Beyer currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of The Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law Reporter of The State Bar of Texas, a Director of the South Plains Trust & Estate Council, member of the advisory board for 2nd Chance for Pets, Vice-Chair of the State Laws Committee of ACTEC, and has served as the editor of the Keeping Current column of Probate & Property magazine since 1992. He is author or co-author of many law review articles, books, and book supplements, including Fat Cats And Lucky Dogs — How to Leave (Some of) Your Estate to Your Pet (2010); Pet Animals: What Happens When Their Humans Die? 40 Santa Clara L. Rev. 617 (2000).