Ray D. Madoff

Ray Madoff is a Professor at Boston College Law School where she teaches and writes in the areas of philanthropy policy, taxes, property and estate planning. Professor Madoff is the Co-founder and Director of the Boston College Law School Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good, a non-partisan think tank that convenes scholars and practitioners to explore questions regarding whether the rules governing the charitable sector best serve the public good.

Professor Madoff is the author of: Immortality and the Law: The Rising Power of the American Dead (Yale), which looks at how American law treats the interests of the dead and what this tells us about our values for the living. The Financial Times called it "a sparkling polemic. "Professor Madoff is also the lead author on one of the top treatises on estate planning: Practical Guide to Estate Planning (CCH) (published annually from 2001-present) and has written numerous articles and chapters in a wide variety of areas involving property and death.

Professor Madoff’s areas of expertise include philanthropy policy, the rights of the dead (including the ability of the dead to control their bodies, reputation, and property),estate taxes, comparative inheritance law, and wealth inequality and taxes. A regular commentator on a number of these topics, Professor Madoff has appeared on dozens of national radio shows including On Point, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, Here and Now, and Marketplace, among others. Professor Madoff is a frequent contributor to the opinion pages of the New York Times, and has also published Op-Eds in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, the Boston Globe and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Professor Madoff is an experienced mediator and leading authority on the use of mediation to resolve will and trust disputes. Prior to teaching, she was a practicing attorney for nine years in New York and Boston.

Professor Madoff is a member of the American Law Institute, an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estate Counsel and past president of the American Association of Law School’s Trusts and Estates Section. She was named a 2014 Top Women of the Law by Mass Lawyer’s Weekly. She was also named to the NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50 in 2017 and 2018 for her work promoting reform of the tax rules governing philanthropy.