Professor of Law

Bradley Fogel’s scholarship focuses on estate planning and related issues. He writes extensively on issues relating to the federal gift tax and on the relationship between estate planning attorneys and their clients.

“Estate planning brings many diverse fields of law under one umbrella,” says Professor Fogel, whose scholarship reflects this. He has written on the estate planning aspects of subjects as diverse as federal constitutional law, state income tax and legal malpractice. “An expert in estate planning must be willing to delve into unfamiliar areas of the law,” he says.

Professor Fogel has also written extensively on the annual exclusion in the federal gift tax. “The annual exclusion is fundamental to many estate planning tools,” he says. “The law in this area, however, is muddled and inconsistent — largely due to missteps made by the I.R.S. and others as the law developed. One of the joys of academia is being able to look beyond what the law is and figuring out how it got that way.”

Professor Fogel believes the rules attorneys deal with every day may seem bizarre to the uninitiated. “I try to be cognizant of this in my scholarship and my classes,” he says. “I frequently discuss the lay person’s view of issues in my work. Similarly, after learning or applying a new principle, I ask my students to consider what they would have thought of the principle before they began law school. Eventually, this experience will help students explain the law to their clients.”

Professor Fogel graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1994, after which he practiced law in New York. In his practice, he represented high net worth clients in connection with estate and succession planning.

“You have a closer relationship with your clients in estate planning than in just about any other practice area,” he says. “For proper estate planning, the attorney needs to explore very personal issues — the client’s net worth, their family relationships, their health care wishes and more.”

After practicing in New York, Fogel entered academia as a visiting assistant professor at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. From there he came to Saint Louis University.

“Academia gives you the freedom to think about and write about whatever interests you,“ says Fogel. “You can research any aspect of the law regardless of whether it would be worthwhile for a client. I get to satisfy my curiosity and, hopefully, generate curiosity in my students.”