Ronald R. Volkmer was a renowned professor at Creighton Law School from 1969 to 2016 with the title of the Frank J. Kellegher Professor of Trusts and Estates. It is safe to say nearly every attorney who graduated from Creighton Law School in the last 40 years took at least one class—either Property or Trusts and Estates—from Ron. Ron, who has been of counsel at McGill since its inception in 1975, consults with the firm in his areas of emphasis, which include property law, tax exemption issues, trusts and estates, and ethical issues.
Born in Nebraska City, Ron graduated from Nebraska City Lourdes Central High School. Ron studied history at Creighton University, where he graduated magna cum laude in three years in 1966. He was a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society. He continued his education at Creighton University Law School where he was the first editor-in-chief of the Creighton Law Review. In 1968, he received his law degree from Creighton. Thereafter, Ron became a teaching assistant at the University of Illinois College of Law. Ron obtained his Master of Law degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign, Illinois in 1973, and did graduate study at the University of Michigan from 1975-1976.
Most of his published articles were on topics of interest to the practicing bar, most notably his articles in the Creighton Law Review and his semi-monthly column in Estate Planning magazine (“Recent Fiduciary Decisions”). Believing that the gap between the practicing bar and the academic legal community needed to be bridged, Ron has been active in the Nebraska State Bar Association and has made numerous presentations at seminars sponsored by Nebraska Continuing Legal Education.
Since 1989, Ron has been actively involved in supporting community mediation and continues his involvement in that endeavor as the board treasurer for Concord Mediation Center. He also serves as the board chairman for Families in Action, a south Omaha nonprofit, and as a board member of the Nebraska Lawyers Trust Account Foundation. Last but not least, Ron’s tenure at Creighton was marked by a leadership role in establishing a formal connection between the School of Law and Creighton’s program in the Dominican Republic, Mision ILAC. For his long-standing devotion to promoting law student immersion trips to the Dominican Republic, the School of Law honored him by attaching his name to that program.