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Register now and plan on joining us on Thursday, February 27, 2025 at the U.C. Berkeley Law School for a one-day conference: “Property Rights and the Roberts Court: 2005-2025.”

Here’s the agenda. Here’s a description of the program:

For much of the past century, property rights were relegated to second-class status compared to the rest of the Bill of Rights. However, under the Supreme Court leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, this trend has begun to shift.

In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Chief Justice’s elevation to the Supreme Court, Pacific Legal Foundation is partnering with Berkeley Law’s Public Law and Policy Program to host a day-long conference exploring the major property rights developments and future of property rights law in the Roberts Court.

We’ll hear from two different panels of renowned legal scholars and accomplished litigators, as well as a keynote lunch discussion between…

Continue Reading Join Us: “Property Rights and The Roberts Court: 2005-2025” (Feb. 27, 2025, UC Berkeley Law School)

With our tongues firmly planted in cheeks, the Planning Chairs for the upcoming 42d edition of this popular and venerable Conference bring you this “breaking news” report from San Diego!

As you know, in addition to being the best nationally-focused conference on the subjects that we love and a venue that is nearly certain to have some of the warmest winter weather in the continental United States, and we went on-location from some of the local highlights: the beaches, Torrey Pines, the Zoo, Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, and Coronado to name but a few.

More about the Conference here, including registration information.

Here are some of the highlights:

  • Property Rights at the Supreme Court: DeVillier and Sheetz and What’s Next
  • Slow Take: Possession, Rent, Relocation, and Offset
  • The Jury’s View: How Jurors See Your Case
  • From Penn Coal to Penn Central: How to

…
Continue Reading Breaking News: Come Join Us For The 42d ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference, San Diego, Jan 30-Feb 1

Our thanks to Bobby Debelak for having us back on as a guest on his Eminent Domain Podcast.

We’re long-time fans of the pod (naturally), and it was good to get together with Bobby and talk a bit of shop.

Here’s a description of our session:

Robert Thomas joins Bobby Debelak to discuss the most interesting legal developments from 2024, cases to watch next term, and previews the 2025 ALI-CLE conference to be held in San Diego at the end of January 2025. At the end, a musically themed cross-examination includes Robert’s dream set list of 70s bands.

Our three set list entries: the first, a classic, timeless sound; the second might reveal our “square” proclivities; while the may be a selection The Dude may not approve.

Check it out above, on Spotify, or wherever you get your pods!Continue Reading Latest Ep, Eminent Domain Podcast: Podworthy Cases, ALI-CLE, And 1970s Bands

2025 San Diego

Get ready to join your colleagues and friends in San Diego for the 42d ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference.

The 41st Conference was in New Orleans. Here’s a report of that event, and here are our reports from prior conferences in Austin and Scottsdale.

Here are some of the highlights of the upcoming Conference:

  • Property Rights at the Supreme Court: DeVillier and Sheetz and What’s Next
  • Slow Take: Possession, Rent, Relocation, and Offset
  • The Jury’s View: How Jurors See Your Case
  • From Penn Coal to Penn Central: How to Prove “Too Far”
  • Leveraging Expertise in Eminent Domain Litigation: Working with Land Planners, Engineers, and Other Predicate Experts
  • Kelo at Twenty: What Changed, What Didn’t, and What’s on the Horizon
  • Viva Las Vegas: How the Nevada Judiciary Upheld Property Rights in 180 Land’s Inverse Condemnation Taking
  • Ethics: Guiding the Trolley: Perspectives on Professional Ethics in

…
Continue Reading Registration For The 42d ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference Is Underway (Don’t Miss Out!)

Here are the cases and other materials we discussed in today’s Section of State & Local Government Law Land Use group meeting on takings:

…
Continue Reading Links From Today’s ABA Land Use Session

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Like most “paranormal caught on camera” shots,
this one is grainy. But you can just make Mr. Jefferson out.

Colonial Williamsburg is adjacent to the William & Mary Law School, so from time-to-time, we’ll take a walk over just to soak up the atmosphere. The vibe picks up in the autumn season, when the leaves are turning and there’s a slight chill in the air. We try to time these visits for the evenings, because the atmo is particularly intense. 

And so it was yesterday afternoon and into the evening, as we were walking about CW that we happened to run into Thomas Jefferson, Esq., an up-and-coming Williamsburg lawyer, who was kind enough to spend a bit of time chatting. At the end of an educational and enjoyable conversation, we shook hands and went about our business.

A paranormal encounter with the spirit of Mr. Jefferson, author of…

Continue Reading Last Night, I Shook Hands With Mr. Jefferson’s Ghost

Screenshot 2024-10-21 at 19-32-18 Freestone®

On Monday, we joined our land use colleagues Dwight Merriam, Professor Shelley Saxer, and Professor David Callies for the Hawaii Bar Association’s Section of Real Property and Financial Services program, “Property Rights & Regulatory Takings,” a wide-ranging and very well-attended program for Hawaii dirt lawyers.

As the above photo notes (L to R: Charles Nelson Reilly, Dwight Merriam, Shelly Saxer, David Callies), we were not able to be in the room with our colleagues, but had to remote in, as our duties at William & Mary Law School kept us in Virginia and not able to be in downtown Honolulu at the same time. Ah well!

Here are the cases and materials we discussed:

  • State of Hawaii v. Williams (Intermediate Court of Appeals, Summary Disposition Order): property owner should not have been prohibited from introducing evidence of the current use of his property at the time of the

…
Continue Reading Links And Materials From Hawaii Bar Association Takings Program

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Lawprof Ilya Somin (GMU Law), Mercatus Center’s Charles Gardner,
and lawyer Emily Cruikshank Bayonne (Tubman Realty, LLC)
speaking on “How Policy Changes Can Address Incursions on
Property Rights Where Courts Have Failed to do So.”
Jim Burling (PLF) moderating.

Recently, we attended a wonderful symposium co-sponsored by George Mason Law School’s Journal of Law, Economics & Policy (congratulations to the student editors who ran the show that day), and our outfit Pacific Legal Foundation. Of course, with the subject being “Imagining the Future of Regulatory Takings,” how could we resist attending?

If you missed it, it was not recorded unfortunately. But stay tuned for the full published symposium issue which shall include all of the articles and other pieces the speakers presented that day.

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PLF’s Ethan Blevins kicked off the day by
urging the speakers and the audience to
“make property rights cool again.”

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Brian Hodges …

Continue Reading Imagining The Future Of Regulatory Takings: “Making Property Rights Cool Again”

Screenshot 2024-10-11 at 08-06-50 RPFSS

Hawaii lawyers (and those barred in the 808), take note: On October 21, 2024, the Hawaii State Bar Association will hold its annual Convention, and as always there’s a full lineup of CLE programs so you can meet your MCLE requirements.

Thanks to the Real Property & Financial Services Section, there’s a significant dirt law component. First, there’s “Property Rights and Regulatory Takings” the program on which we are presenting along with Dwight Merriam and lawprof Shelley Saxer. Here’s the official description:

This course will provide a survey of property rights and regulatory takings with an emphasis on recent decisions from the United States Supreme Court. Panelists include distinguished faculty and practitioners that will address impact fees, development rights, taking claims, rent controls, and other current issues.

Following us will be a program on “Land Use Conditions” with Cal Chipchase, Brad Saito, and a lawyer…

Continue Reading Hawaii Dirt Lawyers: Don’t Miss “Property Rights & Regulatory Takings” CLE At The HSBA Convention (In-Person & Webcast)

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Here’s the full report from David Morrill about the 21st Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference earlier this month. Pictured above: Professor James Stern (responsible for the overall planning of the B-K Conference), this year’s Prizewinner Professor Lee Fennell (U. Chicago Law School), and Andrew Brigham, St. Augustine, Florida – property rights lawyer extraordinaire).

Here are what Prof. Fennell had to say:

Upon accepting the Property Rights Prize, Fennell said that spending time in myriad places through the years piqued her interest in how property can work better for complex systems like large and interconnected cities and ecosystems. In the process, she tried to learn more about what sorts of interconnectedness matter most for humans and other animals, and what forms of adaptability and property forms can best serve needs going forward.

“We can’t make any headway on property as an institutional response to interdependent systems without practicing interdependence ourselves, getting together…

Continue Reading 21st Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Report