Why I Do Law Reform
13 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2013
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
This article, Why I Do Law Reform, is the lead article in a symposium issue on the Uniform Probate Code: Remaking American Succession Law, 45 U. Mich. J. L. Reform 727 (2012). The symposium, held at the University of Michigan Law School on October 21, 2011, was held in honor of the author’s “more than 30 years of work to advance the cause of American probate law reform.”
The author was inspired to write the article by a number of articles by other law professors explaining why they write. The article contrasts law-reform work with law-review writing, pointing out that the work product of a law-reform reporter is directed to duly constituted law-making authorities. Before getting into the law-reform business, the author notes that he had written or co-written law review articles that advocated reform, but those articles moved the law not a whit. The articles did, however, lead to the author’s selection as reporter, first for the Uniform Law Commission and then for the American Law Institute. Only by becoming a reporter was the author able to influence the law. The article lists a number of reforms in which the author played a part, in a career in law reform that spanned nearly three decades.
Keywords: law reform, law review, Uniform Law Commission, American Law Institute
JEL Classification: K00, K40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation