Civil Forfeiture

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After a two-year absence in which we went remote, in the last week of last month (our usual spot on the calendar, between the playoffs and Super Bowl), we once again met in-person for the American Law Institute-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference.

Approximately 200 lawyers, judges, legal scholars, appraisers, law students, right-of-way agents, relocation experts, property owners, and other related professionals gathered in-person–yes, in-person–at the Scottsdale (Arizona) Resort at McCormick Ranch, to get reacquainted, learn stuff, and renew ties last made in-person in Nashville in 2020. In addition to the live attendance, we also welcomed about 50 remote colleagues, who joined the live webstream.

This was the 39th edition of the Conference, one of the most-established and successful conferences in the ALI-CLE stable of programs.

To those who joined us – thank you. This conference reminded us of why this program is so…

Continue Reading 2022 ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference, Scottsdale: You Should Have Been There!

If you ever get the opportunity to teach in a law school — either as a full-time legal scholar, or part-time as an expert adjunct practitioner — take it if you can. You might think you know a lot about a particular subject, but there’s nothing like spending time at the lectern in a law classroom in front of sharp and eager lawyers-in-training to sharpen your thoughts, and get you to truly understand a subject.

And folks calling you “professor” can evoke a smile.

Sensei

But if there’s one downside to the law school experience from the teacher’s side of the lectern, it’s grading. Especially at a law school like William and Mary that has a pretty strict mandatory curve. In upper-division courses that we handle like Eminent Domain and Property Rights Law and Land Use — where we’re dealing with some very high-level stuff and the quality of the…

Continue Reading The Circle Is Now Complete: A Sampling Of Final Paper Topics From William and Mary Law’s Eminent Domain & Property Rights, And Land Use Courses

Screenshot 2022-01-16 at 10-15-33 Alexander Hamilton letter at center of legal fight returned
we tried to come up with a “Hamilton” reference
but have not seen the show

The Crane family has, for decades, had in their possession — if not their outright ownership — the “Hamilton Letter,” which Alex wrote to no less than the Marquis de Lafayette 1780.

Ownership, however, seems to be disputed, and Massachusetts claims that as a “public record,” it owned and once possessed the letter, which it alleges was five-finger discounted by a “kelptomaniac cataloger” at the Commonwealth’s Archives back in the 1940s. The Cranes argue they purchased the letter “from a reputable antiques dealer in Syracuse,” are bona-fide purchasers for value, and that the letter has been with the family ever since. 

Until the day, that is, that the feds, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a Virginia federal court, grabbed it. The Cranes had put the letter up for sale at a…

Continue Reading New Like A Boss Cert Petition: Govt Took The Hamilton Letter It Claims Was Stolen