Conference Program & Schedule of Events

President’s Gallery, Wren Building (please note the Wren Building has limited accessibility for people with physical disabilities)

Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Room 119

Courts and commentators have for years agreed that state law defines property and thus that constitutional protection of property depends on the content of a particular state’s law. A number of recent Supreme Court decisions have, in the views of some, posed a serious risk to this federalism dimension of constitutional property. The work of Stewart Sterk has called upon scholars to pay more attention to this dimension. Using Sterk’s work as a springboard, Panel 1 will discuss the role of federalism in takings jurisprudence.

Opening Remarks: Stewart E. Sterk, H. Bert and Ruth Mack Professor of Real Estate Law; Director, Center for Real Estate Law & Policy at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University

• Michael M. Berger, Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, Los Angeles, California
• Jim Krier, Earl Warren DeLano Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
• Maureen E. Brady, Associate Professor of Law, University of Virginia Law School
• Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law, Columbia Law School

10:30 am - 10:45 am  Networking Break

Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Penny Commons

10:45 am - 12:00 noon

Panel 2: Background Principles of Common Law and Constitutional Property

Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Room 119

Even since Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council announced the background principles exception to the categorical taking for economic loss, courts and commentators have struggled to identify and define those principles. What doctrines of nuisance law are background principles? How do custom, the public trust doctrine, and other public rights theories fit into the categorical taking exception? Panel 2 will discuss how courts and commentators have addressed these and other related issues.

• David L. Callies, FIACP, Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
• Mark F. (Thor) Hearne II, Esq., Partner, Arent Fox LLP Law Firm, St. Louis, Missouri
• Erin Ryan, Elizabeth C. & Clyde W. Atkinson Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law
• Christina M. Martin, Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm

Lunch Roundtable: Other Emerging Issues in Constitutional Protection of Property

Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Room 119

• James W. Ely Jr., Milton R. Underwood Professor of Law, Emeritus, and Professor of History, Emeritus, Vanderbilt University
• Christina M. Martin, Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
• Robert H. Thomas, Director, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert; Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law at William & Mary Law School (Fall 2018)

1:30 pm - 2:45 pm

Panel 3: Property and Social Justice

Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Room 119

Property’s role in promoting or impeding social justice is much debated. Some commentators maintain that private property actually contributes to inequality and an unjust society. Others argue that private property is the key to stabilizing economic systems, ending wars, and addressing poverty. Panel 3 will explore issues related to this debate. Topics may include the link between property rights and social cohesion/political stability and the role of the power of eminent domain in addressing social justice issues.

• Carol M. Rose, Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor of Law and Organization, Emerita, Yale Law School; and Ashby Lohse Professor of Water and Natural Resource Law, Emerita, University of Arizona Law College
• Luis Gallardo-Rivera, Co-director for the Center for Habitat Reconstruction, Puerto Rico
• Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
• David A. Super, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law School

2:45 pm - 3:00 pm  Networking Break

Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Penny Commons

3:00 pm - 4:15 pm

Panel 4: The Constitutionality of Land Use Exactions

Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Room 119

Exactions play an important role in government efforts to address various environmental and social costs resulting from private land use. Since the Court’s decision in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, however, the constitutional law principles governing exactions have become murky and confusing. Under what circumstances may a local government lawfully impose conditions on a land use applicant in exchange for approval? What type of evidence is needed to successfully defend or challenge an exaction? Panel 4 will examine the meaning and legal implications of Koontz and other court decisions on the validity of exactions.

• Amy Brigham Boulris, Shareholder, Gunster Law Firm, Miami, Florida
• John Echeverria, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School
• James S. Burling, Vice President for Litigation, Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento, California
• Timothy M. Mulvaney, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development, Texas A&M University School of Law

4:15 pm - 4:45 pm  RECEPTION