California Property Rights Attorney & Scholar Michael Berger to Receive 11th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize

Michael M. Berger will receive the 2014 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize October 30, 2014. He is the first practicing attorney to receive the Prize.

Today William & Mary Law School and the William & Mary Property Rights Project announced that accomplished property rights lawyer, scholar, and teacher Michael M. Berger will receive the 2014 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize October 30-31, 2014 at the 11th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia. [Disclosure: Mike Berger is a property rights attorney affiliated with the Owners’ Counsel of America as an Honorary Member.]

The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference is sponsored by the William & Mary Property Rights Project which seeks to promote the exchange of ideas between scholars and members of the property rights bar through lectures, this annual conference and the Brigham-Kanner Conference Journal. The Conference is named in recognition of the lifetime contributions of Toby Prince Brigham, Florida attorney, and Gideon Kanner, appellate attorney and professor of law emeritus at Loyola Law School.

Each year the Property Rights Project presents the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize to an individual whose work affirms that property rights are fundamental to protecting and preserving individual liberty. Mike Berger is the first practicing lawyer to receive the prize.

Berger is a partner with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP in Los Angeles and is co-chair of Manatt’s Appellate Practice Group. He is not only one of the country’s preeminent appellate lawyers, but also one of the nation’s top condemnation and land use attorneys. Mike has argued before numerous appellate courts, including throughout California, the federal courts of appeal, other state supreme courts and the United States Supreme Court. He has appeared as counsel of record arguing on behalf of property owners before the U.S. Supreme Court on four occasions in these well-known property rights cases: Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (2002), City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. (1999), Preseault v. ICC (1990) and First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles (1987).

In addition to his many scholarly publications on takings and property rights, Mike has authored amicus briefs in some of the landmark property rights cases of our time, including Kelo v. City of New London (2005), Lingle v. Chevron USA, Inc. (2005), San Remo Hotel v. City & County of San Francisco, 545 U.S. 323 (2005), Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council (1992) and Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987).

The Conference will take place over two days beginning with the award ceremony on Thursday night in the historic Wren Building, the oldest building on the William & Mary campus and oldest college building in the United States. The Conference continues on Friday at William & Mary Law School with panel discussions focused on property rights, property law and takings law as well as a panel devoted to exploring the impact of the Prize recipient’s scholarship. (You can read coverage of past Brigham-Kanner Conferences on this blog here.)

At this time, a list of panelists and a conference schedule have not yet been posted. For more details about the conference and how to participate, please contact the William & Mary Property Rights Project at lsdevl@wm.edu or call (757) 221-3796.

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