Call Number:

ALI.10.005

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library

Extent:

3 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1970 august-2000 june (inclusive) and 1992-1998 (bulk)

Creator:

American Law Institute

Abstract:

The Ira Ellman Family Dissolution Papers house the correspondence and printed material of the Chief Reporter of the American Law Institute on the ten year study of the Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. The collection chronicles Ellman's term as Chief Reporter on the Project starting in 1991 and ranging until the study's completion in 2001. A majority of the collection is composed of printed material of various sources and Principle drafts, as well as some correspondence between Ellman and a variety of law professors concerning the process of creating tentative drafts on the issue of family dissolution. The subject of all of these documents dealt with sub-topics of family dissolution. A large number of drafts of the Principles of Family Dissolution compose the collection. The collection looks at the treatment of partners, division of property, private agreements and formal contracts, child support and custodial responsibility.

Ira Ellman was the Chief Reporter for the American Law Institute's for the 10-year study on the Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. Additionally, Professor Ellman is a senior author of a leading text on family law. Prior to his time with the American Law Institute, he worked with U.S. Supreme court Justice William O. Douglas as a law clerk. Furthermore, he has worked as a legislative aide to Sen. Adlai Stevenson III and a consultant to the California legislature. Professor Ellman has visited at a wide variety of law schools including Yale School of Law, the Arren Institute and the Center for the Study of Law and Society, at U.C. Berkeley. Professor Ellman is experienced in serving on legislative and judicial committees, having served on many in Arizona concerning family law and policy, including the Arizona Child Support Guidelines Committee. He is a founding member of the Bioethics Committee of Good Samaritan Medical Center located in Phoenix, Arizona. Ellman has recently been awarded a grant from an English foundation that will allow him to extend his investigation on the judgment of appropriate legal rules to the United Kingdom. He has recently finished his semester as a Visiting Fellow at Trinity College of Cambridge.

The Ira Ellman Family Dissolution Papers, 1970-2000 consists of materials related to Ira Ellman's research and drafting activities as Chief Reporter of the Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution study for the American Law Institute. The collection includes primarily printed materials followed by correspondence related to the ten-year long study and his term as Chief Reporter for this project. The bulk of the collection was comprised from 1992 to 1998, but spans inclusively from 1970 to 2000. The collection is divided into four three series corresponding to the topics, correspondence and drafts of the study. Nearly two-thirds of the collection is comprised of the printed material. The remaining third is comprised of correspondence between Ira Ellman and various professors of law concerning the drafts for the Principles of Family Dissolution Law.