Law School to Host Fifth Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Oct. 17-18

By Jaime Welch-Donahue

William & Mary Law School will host the Fifth Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Oct. 17-18.

The conference is presented by the William & Mary Property Rights Project and the Institute of Bills of Rights Law. During the conference, Professor Robert C. Ellickson of Yale Law School will be honored with the 2008 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize. The conference will include panels on the role of the judiciary in property rights, norms and decentralization of property rights, Professor Ellickson's scholarly contributions, and the potential impact of global warming on property rights. The conference concludes with a roundtable luncheon discussion on judicial rhetoric and judge-made compensability rules.

The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize is named in recognition of Toby Prince Brigham and Gideon Kanner for their lifetime contributions to private property rights. Previous recipients of the Brigham-Kanner Prize include Professor Frank I. Michelman of Harvard Law School (2004), Professor Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago Law School(2005), Professor James W. Ely, Jr. of Vanderbilt Law School (2006), and Professor Margaret Jane Radin of the University of Michigan Law School (2007).

Panelists include Michael M. Berger of Phelps and Phillips, LLP, Los Angeles, Calif.; Toby Prince Brigham of Brigham Moore, LLP, Miami, Fla.; James W. Ely, Jr., of Vanderbilt University; Lee Fennell of the University of Chicago Law School; Nicole Stelle Garnett of the University of Notre Dame Law School; Roderick M. Hills, Jr., of New York University Law School; Gideon Kanner of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, Los Angeles, Calif., the Hon. Maureen O'Connor of the Supreme Court of Ohio; Eduardo M. Peñalver of Cornell University Law School; Carol M. Rose of the James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona; Henry E. Smith of Yale Law School; Stewart E. Sterk of Cardozo Law School; and the Hon. Wilford Taylor, Jr., of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court of Virginia.

Ellickson, the 2008 recipient of the Brigham-Kanner Prize, is the Walter E. Meyer Professor of Property and Urban Law at Yale Law School. Prior to joining the Yale faculty in 1988, he was a member of the law faculties at the University of Southern California and Stanford University. Professor Ellickson's books include The Household: Informal Order Around the Hearth (2008), Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes (1991), Land Use Controls (with Vicki L. Been) (3d ed 2005), and Perspectives on Property Law (with Carol M. Rose and Bruce A. Ackerman)(3d ed 2002). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was President of the American Law and Economics Association in 2001.

There is a $50 conference registration fee, which includes admission to all panels and Saturday's breakfast and roundtable luncheon discussion. Waiver of the registration fee is available for students.

For a brochure or other conference information, contact Kathy Pond at 757-221-3796 or ktpond@wm.edu.

Media Contact: Jaime Welch-Donahue, William & Mary Law School, 757-221-1840, jpwelc@wm.edu.