Professor Gerry W. Beyer received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the Ohio State University and 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 and has served as a visiting professor at several other law schools including Boston College, Southern Methodist University, the University of New Mexico, Santa Clara University, and La Trobe University (Australia). A member of the Order of the Coif and the recipient of dozens of outstanding and distinguished faculty and teaching awards and honors, Professor Beyer specializes in estate planning and teaches courses such as Wills and Estates, Trusts, and Estate Planning.

Prof. Beyer is the editor of the most popular estate planning blawg in the nation and is a frequent contributor to both scholarly and practice-orientated publications. He has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles focusing on various aspects of estate planning, including a two volume treatise on Texas wills law, an estate planning casebook, and the Wills, Trusts, and Estates volume of the Examples & Explanations series. In 1993, he received the Probate & Property Excellence in Writing Award for Best Cutting Edge Article for Probate and Trust as well as the 2001 Probate & Property Excellence in Writing Award for Best Overall Article in Probate and Trust. He has been the Keeping Current Probate editor for Probate & Property magazine since 1992. Professor Beyer is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and maintains membership in the American Law Institute, the American Bar Foundation, the Texas Bar Foundation, and the College of the State Bar of Texas.