James Y. Stern to Help Shape National Property Law Through American Law Institute Restatement Appointment

Professor James Y. Stern of William & Mary Law School has been selected by the American Law Institute to serve as an Associate Reporter for the Fourth Restatement of Property, portions of which will also be incorporated into the Third Restatement of Torts. In this role, Stern will help draft and revise black-letter law, comments, and illustrations addressing core issues of property law.

The Restatements of the Law are among the most influential secondary authorities in American law, frequently cited by courts across the country. Associate Reporters work closely with the Reporter and ALI members to develop authoritative statements of the law for courts, practitioners, and scholars. The lead Reporter on the project is Harvard Law School Professor Henry E. Smith.

Stern is a nationally recognized scholar in property and torts whose work focuses on the structure of property rights and their role within private and public law. His appointment reflects his standing in the field and his longstanding engagement with ALI projects.

At William & Mary, Stern teaches Property, Torts, Intellectual Property, and the Law of Economic Warfare, and serves as director of the Law School’s Property Rights Project, which organizes the annual Brigham-Kanner Conference. He has published on an array of topics, including property and tort law, privacy protection, intellectual property, and constitutional history.

Stern also serves as Reporter of Decisions for the Court of Appeals of Virginia for civil cases. In addition, while on leave from the Law School from 2019 to 2021, Stern served as Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he dealt with national security and sanctions law, cryptocurrency regulation, tax reform, and fiscal dimensions of the government’s COVID-19 response. He was awarded the Treasury Department’s Distinguished Service Award by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Stern graduated from Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law. He clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court.