We’ve noted this before, but we shall say it again: if you ever have the opportunity to teach in a law school — either as a full-time legal scholar or part-time as an expert adjunct practitioner — do it if you are at all able. 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 it can be oh-so-rewarding as you see law students develop into colleagues at the Bar.

(And everyone insisting on calling you “professor” can evoke a smile.)

But if there’s a 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…

Continue Reading The Future Looks Bright: A Sampling Of Final Paper Topics From William and Mary Law’s Eminent Domain & Property Rights, And Land Use Courses

Too busy writing those briefs and writs, and haven’t found the time to hit your local store or the interwebs and fulfill your seasonal duties? Or maybe you just have gifter’s block about an appropriate present for the dirt lawyer in your life this holiday season.

Well, you could go the Charlie Brown route and give your kindred a bag of rocks, or the old reliable origami boulders (see below). But you are better than that and want to be a good gifter, no?

So here are our modest suggestions for some last-minute gifts to show your loved ones how much you really care. (Suggest your own in the comments below.)

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Continue Reading Our (Last-Minute) 2023 Holiday Dirt Lawyer Gift Guide

A crisp autumn day at the Old School (truly – founded 1779)

We have just wrapped another semester of dirt law classes at William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. Today was the last day of instruction in our Land Use course, as well as in our Eminent Domain & Property Rights class.

Many law schools feature Land Use Law courses, but only a few are so bold as to include a course on Eminent Domain and Property Rights in their offerings (and a substantial three-credit course, at that). William and Mary Law School is an excellent and very appropriate place to study these topics.

What a great law school, and wonderful, committed, students. I learned way more than I conveyed. A welcoming administration, faculty and staff, too.

A huge thank you to law school Dean Benjamin Spencer, Professor Emerita Lynda Butler (for entrusting me with her beloved…

Continue Reading Closing Another William and Mary Law School Season

On this Thinks…uh Thanksgiving holiday, we’re grateful for all you property law and property rights mavens out there. Drive on, friends.

And no Thanksgiving gathering would be complete without the obligatory dramatic reading of John Stossel’s timeless holiday classic, “Private Property Rights Made the First Thanksgiving Possible.” We’re certain your relatives are eagerly awaiting your performance, including your interpretive dance.

They’ll be very thinkful, we’re sure.Continue Reading We’re Thinkful For All You Dirt Law Lovers

We were all set to write up our in-depth analysis and post our deep thoughts on the California Court of Appeal’s opinion in Pacific Gas and Electric Co. v. Superior Court, No. C097529 (Sep. 21, 2023), a case involving the question of “necessity,” the burden of proof, and whether a legislature’s assertion that a taking is needed to accomplish the stated public use is virtually un-challengeable in court.

But before we could get to it, our colleagues Brad Kuhn and Steve Silva beat us to it, and posted “Public Agency’s Resolution of Necessity Not Entitled to Conclusive Presumption When Using Eminent Domain for Takeover of Public Utility” at Nossaman’s California Eminent Domain Report.

If you do this kind of stuff, you understand that challenges to necessity in eminent domain by property owners are generally very (very) difficult to mount. But as Brad and Steve write:

In…

Continue Reading Cal App: Hang On, Maybe You Can Challenge Eminent Domain Necessity In Some Cases

On the day we celebrate Constitution Day (or should we say Khaaaaan-stitution Day?) we have to admit that pretty much nothing beats One Named Kirk’s reading of the Preamble. 

KIRK: This was not written for chiefs!

Hear me! Hear this!

Among my people, we carry many such words as this from many lands, many worlds. Many are equally good and are as well respected, but wherever we have gone, no words have said this thing of importance in quite this way. Look at these three words written larger than the rest, with a special pride never written before or since.

Tall words proudly saying We the People. That which you call “Ee’d Plebnista” was not written for the chiefs or the kings or the warriors or the rich and powerful, but for all the people!

Down the centuries, you have slurred the meaning of the words: “We…

Continue Reading This Was Not Written For Chiefs! Happy Constitution Day From One Named Kirk

Every year at this time, it seems, we realize once again that as you get older, you overlook birthdays. Time speeds up, or maybe slows down. Very Proustian.

Thus, it occurred to us only yesterday that that this blog’s “birthday” was looming and we almost let it slip by without notice. It hardly seems like seventeen years ago this day that we posted here for the first time.

In law blog years, that’s quite a while. Thanks to you, our readers and contributors, we’re still here, and still going pretty strong over 4,500 posts and nearly two decades later. 

Because doing this in a vacuum would not be worthwhile, we’d like to recognize those who send us items, who make comments, who give us feedback, who gently prod with suggestions, and who simply read and subscribe. You guys make the efforts that go into this thing all worth…

Continue Reading They Say It’s Your Birthday, Well It’s Our (17th) Birthday Too, Yeah!

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Continue Reading The Verified Complaint In Equity: The Declaration Of Independence, v.247