TWE Professor named AALS President-Elect

Reese Hansen (Howard W. Hunter Professor of Law, Brigham Young University), a leading wills, trusts, and estates professor, has been named the President-Elect of the Association of American Law Schools.

Here is a brief description of his accomplishments from H.Reese Hansen, AALS Newsletter, Nov. 2008, at 6-7.

Professor Hansen received his B.S. with honors from Utah State University (1964) and his J.D., Order of the Coif (1972) from The University of Utah, where he was Research Editor and Note Editor of the Utah Law Review.  He then spent two years at the firm of Strong, Poelman & Fox in Salt Lake City. Professor Hansen was recruited by Dean Rex E. Lee to BYU in 1974. The law  school was then only a year old, and Lee immediately named Hansen Assistant Dean. Two years later he became Associate Dean, a position he held for 13 years. Professor Hansen became Acting Dean in 1989 and was named Dean eight months later, serving as Dean for 14 years (1990-2004). His combined service in the Dean’s office spans 30 of the first 31 years of the BYU law school’s history.

Professor Hansen has coauthored multiple editions of one of the leading casebooks on Trusts, and has coauthored three books on Utah and Idaho Probate systems, as well as a variety of articles and book chapters. He currently teaches Wills and Estates, Trusts and Basic Estate Planning.

Professor Hansen has served the legal profession and legal education extensively beyond his home school. He served for five years as a Trustee of the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), chaired three LSAC committees, served as a Director of Law School Admission Services, Inc., on the Board of Trustees of Utah Legal Services, Inc. and as a member of the Utah Commission on Education for Law and Citizenship, and the ABA’s Foreign Law Initiative Law School Advisory Committee in the early 1990’s. From 1998 – 1995 Professor Hansen was a Commissioner,  National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He currently serves as a member of the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professionalism.

Professor Hansen has engaged in significant AALS service over the years. He has chaired two AALS Sections, served three years on the Membership Review Committee, and for the past three years has been a member of the Executive Committee. He chairs the Association’s Audit and Investment Policy Committee.

Commissioners of the Utah State Bar honored him with its first “Award for Illustrious Civility in the Law” in 1996.