Edward J.McCaffery
Counsel
Trusts and Estates
emccaffery@seyfarth.com
More About Edward
Edward practices in the area of trusts and estates, taxation, and intellectual property. He is the Dean and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law at the University of Southern California School of Law, where he teaches classes in income taxation, property, corporate tax, and partnership tax. From 1995 to 2006, Edward was also a Visiting Professor of Law and Economics at the California Institute of Technology, teaching public finance and law, law and economics, and law and technology (including intellectual property law).
Edward served as chairman of the planning committee for the prestigious annual USC Institute on Federal Taxation from 1997 until 2006. He was the founder of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics, and chair of the Caltech program for the Program for Law & Technology at Caltech and Loyola Law School. He is a member of the planning committee for the newly formed Institute on Intellectual Property Law at USC Law School. He has been a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law and Yale Law School.
Edward initiated a Law & Technology program at the California Institute of Technology, where he has taught the course in intellectual property, which centers on the patent system. Edward is a charter member of the USC Intellectual Property Institute, the leading continuing education forum for intellectual property practitioners in Southern California, and he serves on its Patent Prosecution Subcommittee.
Edward graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1985. He received his MA in Economics from the University of Southern California in 1994, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Phi. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1980, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and studied Classics (Latin) and Philosophy. Following graduation from law school, Edward was law clerk for Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and practiced with a San Francisco law firm.
Edward has written or co-authored several books and numerous articles, testified before Congress, and made many scholarly presentations and public lectures. He is a member of the American Law Institute, National Tax Association, American Economic Association, American Law & Economics Association, and an elected Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC).
Edward served as chairman of the planning committee for the prestigious annual USC Institute on Federal Taxation from 1997 until 2006. He was the founder of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics, and chair of the Caltech program for the Program for Law & Technology at Caltech and Loyola Law School. He is a member of the planning committee for the newly formed Institute on Intellectual Property Law at USC Law School. He has been a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law and Yale Law School.
Edward initiated a Law & Technology program at the California Institute of Technology, where he has taught the course in intellectual property, which centers on the patent system. Edward is a charter member of the USC Intellectual Property Institute, the leading continuing education forum for intellectual property practitioners in Southern California, and he serves on its Patent Prosecution Subcommittee.
Edward graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1985. He received his MA in Economics from the University of Southern California in 1994, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Phi. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1980, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and studied Classics (Latin) and Philosophy. Following graduation from law school, Edward was law clerk for Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and practiced with a San Francisco law firm.
Edward has written or co-authored several books and numerous articles, testified before Congress, and made many scholarly presentations and public lectures. He is a member of the American Law Institute, National Tax Association, American Economic Association, American Law & Economics Association, and an elected Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC).
- MA, University of Southern California
Phi Kappa Phi
- JD, Harvard Law School
Magna cum laude
- BA, Yale College
Summa cum laude
Phi Beta Kappa
- California
Related Services
Related News & Insights
- American Law Institute
- National Tax Association
- American Economic Association
- American Law & Economics Association
Books
- A New Understanding of Property, University of Chicago Press (forthcoming)
- Co-Editor, Behavioral Public Finance, Russell Sage Press (2006)
- Co-Editor, Rethinking the Vote: The Politics and Prospects of American Election Reform, Oxford University Press (2003)
- Fair Not Flat: How to Make the Tax System Simpler and Better, University of Chicago Press (2002)
- Taxing Women (1997) (Paperback edition with new preface, University of Chicago Press, 1999)
Contributions to Books
- Co-Author, "Unmasking Redistribution," and "Towards an Agenda for Behavioral Public Finance," Behavioral Public Finance, Russell Sage Press (2006)
- "Introduction: A Tale of Two Democracies," Rethinking the Vote: The Politics and Prospects of American Election Reform, Oxford University Press (2003)
- "Postscript," Rethinking the Vote: The Politics and Prospects of American Election Reform, Oxford University Press (2003)
- "Must We Have the Right to Waste?," New Essays in the Legal and Political Theory of Property, Cambridge University Press (2001)
- "Cognitive Theory and Tax," Behavioral Economics and the Law, Cambridge University Press (2000)
- Co-Author, "Framing the Jury," Behavioral Economics and the Law, Cambridge University Press (2000)
- Co-Author, "Gender and Tax," Gender and American Politics: Women, Men, and the Political Process (2000), also available as “Social Science Working Paper 1046,” California Institute of Technology, (October 1998)
- "Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council," Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2d ed., Macmillan Reference (2000)
- "Taking of Property" (Update 2), Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2d ed., Macmillan Reference (2000)
Representative Articles
- Co-Author, "Tax Reform Impact on Estate Taxes," Tax Reform Management Alert Series, Seyfarth Shaw LLP (December 22, 2017)
- "The Fair Timing of Tax," Michigan Law Review (2004)
- Co-Author, "Are There Sex Differences in Fiscal Political Preferences?," Political Research Quarterly (2003)
- "A Voluntary Tax? Revisited," National Tax Association Proceedings, National Tax Journal (2002)
- "Real Tax Reform: The Case for a Progressive Consumption Tax," The Boston Review (December 1999/January 2000)
- "The Burdens of Benefits," 44 Villanova Law Review 445 (1999)
- "The Missing Links in Tax Reform," 2 Chapman Law Review 233 (1999)
- "Afterword: Towards a Feminization of Wealth," 6 Southern California Review of Law & Women's Studies 605 (Spring 1997)
- "Ronald Dworkin, Inside-Out," Review essay regarding Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution, 85 California Law Review 1043 (July 1997)
- "Being the Best We Can Be (A Reply to Critics)," 51 Tax Law Review 615 (1996)
- "Equality, of the Right Sort," 6 UCLA Women's Law Journal 289 (1996)
- "Tax's Empire," 85 Georgetown Law Journal 71 (1996)
- Co-Author, "Framing the Jury: Cognitive Perspectives on Pain and Suffering Damages," 81 Virginia Law Review 1341 (1995)
- "The Political Liberal Case Against the Estate Tax," 23 Philosophy and Public Affairs 281 (1994)
- "The Uneasy Case for Wealth Transfer Taxation," 104 Yale Law Journal 283 (1994)
- "Why People Play Lotteries and Why it Matters," 1994 Wisconsin Law Review 71 (1994)
- "Slouching Toward Equality: Gender Discrimination, Market Efficiency, and Social Change," 103 Yale Law Journal 595 (1993)
- "Taxation and the Family: A Fresh Look at Behavioral Gender Biases in the Code," 40 UCLA Law Review 983 (1993)
- "Tax Policy Under a Hybrid Income-Consumption Tax," 70 Texas Law Review 1145 (1992)
- "The Holy Grail of Tax Simplification," 1990 Wisconsin Law Review 1267 (1990)
Review Essays
- "The Tyranny of Money" (Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess, by Robert H. Frank). 98 Michigan Law Review 2153 (May 2000)
- "Ronald Dworkin, Inside-Out" (Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution, by Ronald Dworkin). 85 California Law Review 1043 (July 1997)
Other Works
- "Comments on Estate Tax Repeal" (a discussion with Chuck Collins of United for a Fair Economy). American Prospect On-Line <http://www.prospect.org> (February-March 2001)
- "When Will They Ever Learn? Part I: Forgetfulness of Things Past." The Progress Report <http://www.pro gress.org/archive/mcc03.htm> (2001)
- "When Will They Ever Learn? Part II: Back to a Better Future?" The Progress Report <http://www.progress.org/archive/mcc04.htm> (2001)
- Oklahoma's Death Tax: Not O.K. (OCPA Policy Paper, 2000)
- "Should We End Life Support for Death Taxes?" (with Charles Davenport and James S. Halpern). 57 The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 603 (September/October 2000) [reprinted in 88 Tax Notes, September 11, 2000, at 1373]
- A Declaration of Independence from Death Taxation: A Bipartisan Appeal (with Richard E. Wagner) (Institute for Policy Studies, 2000) [reprinted in 88 Tax Notes, August 7, 2000, at 801]
- "Meet David Cruz" (with Nomi M. Stolzenberg). 12 Center for Feminist Research Newsletter, Spring 2000, at 7
- "Grave Robbers: The Moral Case Against the Death Tax." Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 353 (October 1999) reprinted in 85 Tax Notes, December 13, 1999, at 1429
- "Policy Flaw Is That U.S. Does Not Burden Debt and Consumption."Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 25, 1999, at 6
- "Celebrate the Deceased, Don't Tax Them to Death." The Seattle Times, April 9, 1999, at B5
- "Estate Tax Reform: The (Moral) Case Against Carve-Outs." 79 Tax Notes, April 16, 1998, at 122
- "Ouch! That Tax Bites!" 23 Working Woman, July/August 1998, at 20. "Taxing Women." Engineering and Science, Winter 1997, at 34
- "A Tax That Should Offend Liberals." The Wall Street Journal, September 10, 1997, at A22
- "Lincoln's Law" (speech excerpt). USC Law 20 (Spring 1997)
- "The Tax Laws are no Friend to Working Mothers." USA Today, April 7, 1997, at 15A
- "Taxing Women: How the Tax Code Discriminates Against Women and Families." 17 California Lawyer, April 1997, at 36
- "Rethinking the Estate Tax." 67 Tax Notes, June 19, 1995, at 1678. [Reprinted in Selected Readings in Tax Policy: 25 Years of Tax Notes (1998).]
- "Flat Taxes, VATs, and What Tax Lawyers Can Learn from Jerry Brown." 55 Tax Notes, 1992, at 1697. [reprinted in USC Law 12 (October 1992).]
- "The Iceman Cometh Again: Return of the Estate Freeze?" 46 Tax Notes, March 12, 1990, at 1327
- "The Capital Gains Debate, Take Two: On Indexing and Fairness." 44 Tax Notes, July 31, 1989, at 605
- "Capital Gains: What's the Point, and Are We Missing It?" 43 Tax Notes, April 10, 1989, at 223
- "IRAs and the Wealthy: Questionable Assumptions." 38 Tax Notes, February 8, 1988, at 629
- "Generation-Skipping Tax: Problems and Planning." Paper presented to the Tax Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco, October 7, 1987
Testimony
- U.S. Congress. Joint Economic Committee. The case for Fundamental Tax Reform. November 5, 2003
- House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Tax, Finance & Exports. The First Step: Death Tax Reform. Hearings, 105th Cong., 2d sess., March 25, 1998
- U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on Finance. In Re the Estate Tax. Hearings, 104th Cong., 2nd sess., June 7, 1995
More About Edward
Edward practices in the area of trusts and estates, taxation, and intellectual property. He is the Dean and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law at the University of Southern California School of Law, where he teaches classes in income taxation, property, corporate tax, and partnership tax. From 1995 to 2006, Edward was also a Visiting Professor of Law and Economics at the California Institute of Technology, teaching public finance and law, law and economics, and law and technology (including intellectual property law).
Edward served as chairman of the planning committee for the prestigious annual USC Institute on Federal Taxation from 1997 until 2006. He was the founder of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics, and chair of the Caltech program for the Program for Law & Technology at Caltech and Loyola Law School. He is a member of the planning committee for the newly formed Institute on Intellectual Property Law at USC Law School. He has been a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law and Yale Law School.
Edward initiated a Law & Technology program at the California Institute of Technology, where he has taught the course in intellectual property, which centers on the patent system. Edward is a charter member of the USC Intellectual Property Institute, the leading continuing education forum for intellectual property practitioners in Southern California, and he serves on its Patent Prosecution Subcommittee.
Edward graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1985. He received his MA in Economics from the University of Southern California in 1994, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Phi. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1980, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and studied Classics (Latin) and Philosophy. Following graduation from law school, Edward was law clerk for Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and practiced with a San Francisco law firm.
Edward has written or co-authored several books and numerous articles, testified before Congress, and made many scholarly presentations and public lectures. He is a member of the American Law Institute, National Tax Association, American Economic Association, American Law & Economics Association, and an elected Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC).
Edward served as chairman of the planning committee for the prestigious annual USC Institute on Federal Taxation from 1997 until 2006. He was the founder of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics, and chair of the Caltech program for the Program for Law & Technology at Caltech and Loyola Law School. He is a member of the planning committee for the newly formed Institute on Intellectual Property Law at USC Law School. He has been a visiting professor at UCLA School of Law and Yale Law School.
Edward initiated a Law & Technology program at the California Institute of Technology, where he has taught the course in intellectual property, which centers on the patent system. Edward is a charter member of the USC Intellectual Property Institute, the leading continuing education forum for intellectual property practitioners in Southern California, and he serves on its Patent Prosecution Subcommittee.
Edward graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1985. He received his MA in Economics from the University of Southern California in 1994, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Phi. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1980, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and studied Classics (Latin) and Philosophy. Following graduation from law school, Edward was law clerk for Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and practiced with a San Francisco law firm.
Edward has written or co-authored several books and numerous articles, testified before Congress, and made many scholarly presentations and public lectures. He is a member of the American Law Institute, National Tax Association, American Economic Association, American Law & Economics Association, and an elected Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel (ACTC).
- MA, University of Southern California
Phi Kappa Phi
- JD, Harvard Law School
Magna cum laude
- BA, Yale College
Summa cum laude
Phi Beta Kappa
- California
Related Services
Related News & Insights
- American Law Institute
- National Tax Association
- American Economic Association
- American Law & Economics Association
Books
- A New Understanding of Property, University of Chicago Press (forthcoming)
- Co-Editor, Behavioral Public Finance, Russell Sage Press (2006)
- Co-Editor, Rethinking the Vote: The Politics and Prospects of American Election Reform, Oxford University Press (2003)
- Fair Not Flat: How to Make the Tax System Simpler and Better, University of Chicago Press (2002)
- Taxing Women (1997) (Paperback edition with new preface, University of Chicago Press, 1999)
Contributions to Books
- Co-Author, "Unmasking Redistribution," and "Towards an Agenda for Behavioral Public Finance," Behavioral Public Finance, Russell Sage Press (2006)
- "Introduction: A Tale of Two Democracies," Rethinking the Vote: The Politics and Prospects of American Election Reform, Oxford University Press (2003)
- "Postscript," Rethinking the Vote: The Politics and Prospects of American Election Reform, Oxford University Press (2003)
- "Must We Have the Right to Waste?," New Essays in the Legal and Political Theory of Property, Cambridge University Press (2001)
- "Cognitive Theory and Tax," Behavioral Economics and the Law, Cambridge University Press (2000)
- Co-Author, "Framing the Jury," Behavioral Economics and the Law, Cambridge University Press (2000)
- Co-Author, "Gender and Tax," Gender and American Politics: Women, Men, and the Political Process (2000), also available as “Social Science Working Paper 1046,” California Institute of Technology, (October 1998)
- "Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council," Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2d ed., Macmillan Reference (2000)
- "Taking of Property" (Update 2), Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2d ed., Macmillan Reference (2000)
Representative Articles
- Co-Author, "Tax Reform Impact on Estate Taxes," Tax Reform Management Alert Series, Seyfarth Shaw LLP (December 22, 2017)
- "The Fair Timing of Tax," Michigan Law Review (2004)
- Co-Author, "Are There Sex Differences in Fiscal Political Preferences?," Political Research Quarterly (2003)
- "A Voluntary Tax? Revisited," National Tax Association Proceedings, National Tax Journal (2002)
- "Real Tax Reform: The Case for a Progressive Consumption Tax," The Boston Review (December 1999/January 2000)
- "The Burdens of Benefits," 44 Villanova Law Review 445 (1999)
- "The Missing Links in Tax Reform," 2 Chapman Law Review 233 (1999)
- "Afterword: Towards a Feminization of Wealth," 6 Southern California Review of Law & Women's Studies 605 (Spring 1997)
- "Ronald Dworkin, Inside-Out," Review essay regarding Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution, 85 California Law Review 1043 (July 1997)
- "Being the Best We Can Be (A Reply to Critics)," 51 Tax Law Review 615 (1996)
- "Equality, of the Right Sort," 6 UCLA Women's Law Journal 289 (1996)
- "Tax's Empire," 85 Georgetown Law Journal 71 (1996)
- Co-Author, "Framing the Jury: Cognitive Perspectives on Pain and Suffering Damages," 81 Virginia Law Review 1341 (1995)
- "The Political Liberal Case Against the Estate Tax," 23 Philosophy and Public Affairs 281 (1994)
- "The Uneasy Case for Wealth Transfer Taxation," 104 Yale Law Journal 283 (1994)
- "Why People Play Lotteries and Why it Matters," 1994 Wisconsin Law Review 71 (1994)
- "Slouching Toward Equality: Gender Discrimination, Market Efficiency, and Social Change," 103 Yale Law Journal 595 (1993)
- "Taxation and the Family: A Fresh Look at Behavioral Gender Biases in the Code," 40 UCLA Law Review 983 (1993)
- "Tax Policy Under a Hybrid Income-Consumption Tax," 70 Texas Law Review 1145 (1992)
- "The Holy Grail of Tax Simplification," 1990 Wisconsin Law Review 1267 (1990)
Review Essays
- "The Tyranny of Money" (Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess, by Robert H. Frank). 98 Michigan Law Review 2153 (May 2000)
- "Ronald Dworkin, Inside-Out" (Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution, by Ronald Dworkin). 85 California Law Review 1043 (July 1997)
Other Works
- "Comments on Estate Tax Repeal" (a discussion with Chuck Collins of United for a Fair Economy). American Prospect On-Line <http://www.prospect.org> (February-March 2001)
- "When Will They Ever Learn? Part I: Forgetfulness of Things Past." The Progress Report <http://www.pro gress.org/archive/mcc03.htm> (2001)
- "When Will They Ever Learn? Part II: Back to a Better Future?" The Progress Report <http://www.progress.org/archive/mcc04.htm> (2001)
- Oklahoma's Death Tax: Not O.K. (OCPA Policy Paper, 2000)
- "Should We End Life Support for Death Taxes?" (with Charles Davenport and James S. Halpern). 57 The Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 603 (September/October 2000) [reprinted in 88 Tax Notes, September 11, 2000, at 1373]
- A Declaration of Independence from Death Taxation: A Bipartisan Appeal (with Richard E. Wagner) (Institute for Policy Studies, 2000) [reprinted in 88 Tax Notes, August 7, 2000, at 801]
- "Meet David Cruz" (with Nomi M. Stolzenberg). 12 Center for Feminist Research Newsletter, Spring 2000, at 7
- "Grave Robbers: The Moral Case Against the Death Tax." Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 353 (October 1999) reprinted in 85 Tax Notes, December 13, 1999, at 1429
- "Policy Flaw Is That U.S. Does Not Burden Debt and Consumption."Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 25, 1999, at 6
- "Celebrate the Deceased, Don't Tax Them to Death." The Seattle Times, April 9, 1999, at B5
- "Estate Tax Reform: The (Moral) Case Against Carve-Outs." 79 Tax Notes, April 16, 1998, at 122
- "Ouch! That Tax Bites!" 23 Working Woman, July/August 1998, at 20. "Taxing Women." Engineering and Science, Winter 1997, at 34
- "A Tax That Should Offend Liberals." The Wall Street Journal, September 10, 1997, at A22
- "Lincoln's Law" (speech excerpt). USC Law 20 (Spring 1997)
- "The Tax Laws are no Friend to Working Mothers." USA Today, April 7, 1997, at 15A
- "Taxing Women: How the Tax Code Discriminates Against Women and Families." 17 California Lawyer, April 1997, at 36
- "Rethinking the Estate Tax." 67 Tax Notes, June 19, 1995, at 1678. [Reprinted in Selected Readings in Tax Policy: 25 Years of Tax Notes (1998).]
- "Flat Taxes, VATs, and What Tax Lawyers Can Learn from Jerry Brown." 55 Tax Notes, 1992, at 1697. [reprinted in USC Law 12 (October 1992).]
- "The Iceman Cometh Again: Return of the Estate Freeze?" 46 Tax Notes, March 12, 1990, at 1327
- "The Capital Gains Debate, Take Two: On Indexing and Fairness." 44 Tax Notes, July 31, 1989, at 605
- "Capital Gains: What's the Point, and Are We Missing It?" 43 Tax Notes, April 10, 1989, at 223
- "IRAs and the Wealthy: Questionable Assumptions." 38 Tax Notes, February 8, 1988, at 629
- "Generation-Skipping Tax: Problems and Planning." Paper presented to the Tax Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco, October 7, 1987
Testimony
- U.S. Congress. Joint Economic Committee. The case for Fundamental Tax Reform. November 5, 2003
- House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Tax, Finance & Exports. The First Step: Death Tax Reform. Hearings, 105th Cong., 2d sess., March 25, 1998
- U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on Finance. In Re the Estate Tax. Hearings, 104th Cong., 2nd sess., June 7, 1995