"The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law" is a body that comprises leading estate and trusts lawyers from civilian and common law jurisdictions around the globe. Its membership - all experts in trusts, estate and inheritance law, and/or tax law - includes solicitors, barristers, notaires, judges, and law professors. The group's proceedings manifest a comparative approach, offering perspectives on issues of direct and immediate concern for both civil and common law jurisdictions. This volume records the May 2000 week-long conference in Berlin, which focused on four main topics: arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, in which the "estate" meets the "family"; transnational issues in testamentary matters, especially in light of the "Hague Convention on Succession to Deceased Estates"; responsibility of tax advisers, the discussion of which concentrates on the development of a unified code of conduct; and developments in offshore trusts, in which the very nature of the interest of the beneficiary under a trust is being redefined and tested once again.