Professor Emerita Lynda L. Butler Presented with Property Rights Award

Property Rights Robert H. Thomas, the Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law at William & Mary, presented Professor Butler with OCA’s Crystal Eagle in recognition of her long-term vision and work to legitimize the civil and human right of private property ownership. Photo by Katey M. Howerton

Property Rights Inscribed on Professor Butler’s OCA award: “This Crystal Eagle is presented to Lynda L. Butler by Owner’s Counsel of America in recognition of your courage, long-term vision, and steady leadership of William & Mary Law School’s Property Rights Project, your dedicated work to elevate the civil right of private property ownership, and your decades long mentorship of the next generation of property rights lawyers.” Photo by Robert H. Thomas

Property Rights During the weekend, Professor Butler presented the keynote at the 41st American Law Institute-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Conference, alongside her former student Jeremy Hopkins ’02. Photo by Robert H. Thomas

by David F. Morrill | February 8, 2024

During the annual dinner of the Owners’ Counsel of America (OCA) in New Orleans on Saturday, February 3, Chancellor Professor of Law, Emerita, Lynda L. Butler received a signal honor in the world of property rights.

Robert H. Thomas, the Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law at William & Mary, presented Butler with OCA’s Crystal Eagle. The award recognizes Butler’s years of work legitimizing the civil and human right of private property ownership.

“Her long-term vision—indeed courage—are highly worthy of our recognition and appreciation,” Thomas said in his remarks. “We, the guardians of the ‘guardian of every other right’—the members and affiliates of the Owners Counsel of America—owe her a debt of gratitude.”

Thomas announced that Butler was nominated for the Crystal Eagle by no less than seven members, including some of her former students.

An undergraduate alumna of William & Mary’s Class of 1973, Butler enjoys the distinction of being William & Mary’s longest-serving female faculty member. She served in myriad leadership roles at the university and Law School, including eight years as vice dean, and from 2008-09 as interim dean (she is the first woman to serve as a law school dean in Virginia).

In 2022, Butler retired as director of the Law School’s Property Rights Project and its renowned Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023. In 2019, William & Mary honored her with the Thomas Ashley Graves, Jr., Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching.

“Professor Butler will be an excellent awardee and continue to be an ambassador for property rights and will bring great credit to us, and to the cause of civil rights,” Thomas said. “She has been—and will continue to be—a leading advocate recognizing the importance of property rights to the rule of law, and as a necessary foundation for human flourishing.”