Prof. Robert Sitkoff Elected to Council of the American Law Institute
The American Law Institute has elected Robert H. Sitkoff, John L. Gray Professor of Law, to join its Council. The Council serves as the governing body of the ALI, the leading independent organization in the U.S. producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. The ALI publishes Restatements of the Law, model statutes, and principles of law that are enormously influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.
“I congratulate Rob on this eminent appointment and also congratulate the American Law Institute in recruiting him,” said HLS Dean Martha Minow. “His talents, knowledge, skills, and energy will ensure excellence and impact in the Council’s valuable programs and projects.”
On May 20, the day before his election to the Council, Sitkoff made a presentation to the ALI titled “The Prudent Investor Rule 20 Years On and After the Financial Crisis.” He was joined by Susan Gary, a professor at the University of Oregon School of Law, Bevis Longstreth ’61 a retired partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, and Randall W. Roth, a professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii.
In 1992, the ALI promulgated a new Prudent Investor Rule that has since been adopted by every state. Since the financial crisis of 2008, however, the Rule has come under increasing scrutiny. Bucking that trend, Sitkoff argued that that recent criticisms of the rule reflect a misunderstanding of the relevant law and economics of trust investment. In support of his argument, Sitkoff presented an empirical analysis of trust investment by professional trustees over the past two decades, including just before, during, and after the crisis. Read more about the presentation here.