Thank you for your interest in the International
Academy. The purpose of the Academy is
to establish and maintain an international group of lawyers, judges, academics,
teachers, and government legal officials skilled and experienced in probate,
wills, estates, tax and estate planning for individuals, trusts, civil law
foundations, the laws of succession, guardianship, tutorship, conservatorship,
and other related fields of law, including particularly the cross border and
international aspects thereof (“trust and estate law”) in order to:
- Improve and enhance the ethical and performance standards of
members of the trust and estate legal community;
- Simplify and expedite the administration of justice in trust
and estate law;
- Study, compare, and analyze the legal procedures employed in
various countries of the world in trust and estate law;
- Prepare reports based on these analyses; and
- Furnish those reports to all members of the Academy and, if
the Council of the Academy (the “Council”) deems it appropriate, to lawmaking
bodies, to other public agencies, and to the public.
Membership in the Academy is by invitation only;
applications are not accepted. A current
member of the Academy must nominate you, and your nomination must be seconded
by two other members of the Academy. In
the case of many jurisdictions, including the United States and Canada, you
must be nominated by a member of the Academy who resides in that
jurisdiction. A current list of Academy
members is available on the Academy’s website.
To be eligible to be nominated for membership in the Academy
as a practicing lawyer, you must meet the following criteria:
- Be an attorney licensed to practice law in the highest court
of your state, province, or other political subdivision or be accredited to
practice law in your country of residence.
- Have a total of not less than 10 years’ experience as a
lawyer in the active private practice of trust and estate law, three of which
immediately and continuously precede and are continuing at the time your
nomination is submitted and you are elected.
- Be acknowledged as a leading practitioner by your peers
within the trust and estate law community.
- Have demonstrated excellence in the practice of trust and
estate law.
- A substantial part of your trust and estate law practice
must focus on the comparative and cross border and international aspects of the
trust and estate law practice, including tax-related areas.
If you meet these criteria should contact a member of the
Academy known to you to discuss the potential for nomination. A member of the Academy can help a nominee
assess your qualifications for membership, including evaluating relevant
factors that demonstrate your excellence in the practice of estate and trust
law, and can also introduce you to other Academy members.
The Academy has committees that informally review proposed
nominations by a current member before that member may initiate the formal
nomination process. Your potential
nominator will let you know when the informal review is complete and whether or
not the formal nomination process may be initiated. The formal nomination
process involves you and your nominator completing a series of relevant forms
detailing your qualifications, your professional background, and your
contributions to the trust and estate law community.
Being nominated does not guarantee election to
membership. Regional membership
committees review and vote on all formal nominations. If a regional committee approves your nomination,
the Academy’s Council and Officers will also review and vote on your
nomination. This polling is important
because it allows members of the Academy to comment on you are in fact a
leading practitioner and have demonstrated excellence in trust and estate law
in a manner similar to other members of the Academy. The process from submitting an authorized
nomination to election typically takes six to eight weeks.
Different rules apply for lawyers who teach trust and estate
law on a full-time or substantially full-time basis at a duly accredited law
school or other institution of higher learning.
Please contact the Academy’s executive director for further details on
the qualification of teachers and professors of trust and estate law for
membership in the Academy.