PropertyProf Blog

SAVE THE DATE: Central States Law Schools Association Scholarship Conference

The 2019 Central States Law Schools Association Scholarship Conference will be held September 20-21, 2019 at The University of Toledo College of Law.

CSLSA is an organization of law schools dedicated to providing a forum for conversation and collaboration among law school academics. The annual conference is an opportunity for legal scholars to present working papers or finished articles on any law-related topic in a relaxed and supportive setting. Scholars from member and nonmember schools are invited to attend. 

Registration will formally open in July. More information about the CSLSA conference can be found on our website here.

Detroit Mercy Seeking PropertyProf

Announcement: Property Law Position

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law seeks a proven or aspiring scholar and teacher with an interest in teaching first-year Property Law for a tenured or tenure-track position beginning 2020-2021.  Applicants must have a law degree and strong academic background and must demonstrate either a record of or potential for both teaching excellence and high scholarly achievement in any area of law.  The balance of the teaching package will be determined in conversation with the successful candidate.

To Apply

Applicants should send a cover letter, which should include a brief description of their ideal teaching package and a general indication of their areas of scholarly interest.  Please direct the cover letter, a current CV, additional supporting materials (if any), and any questions you may have to:

Professor Julia Belian, Chair of Faculty Recruitment

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law

651 East Jefferson

Detroit, Michigan 48226

([email protected], 313-596-0225)

Materials will be accepted via email or regular mail.  Review of applicants will begin in July 2019 and will continue until the position is filled.

About Our Program of Legal Education

Detroit Mercy Law offers a unique curriculum that complements traditional theory- and doctrine-based course work with intensive practical learning.  Students must complete at least one clinic, one upper-level writing course, one global perspectives course, and one course within our Law Firm Program, an innovative simulated law-firm practicum.  Detroit Mercy Law also offers a Dual J.D. program with the University of Windsor in Canada, in which students earn both an American and a Canadian law degree in three years while gaining a comprehensive understanding of two distinct legal systems.  Interested Dual J.D. students are fully integrated into upper-level U.S. courses.  The program’s first-year U.S. Property Law module could form a component of the teaching package if desired.

Detroit Mercy Law is located one block from the riverfront in Downtown Detroit, within walking distance of federal, state, and municipal courts, the region’s largest law firms, and major corporations such as General Motors, Quicken Loans, and Comerica Bank.  The School of Law is also uniquely situated two blocks from the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, an international border crossing linking Detroit with Windsor and Canada. 

Detroit offers a dynamic variety of culinary, cultural, entertainment, and sporting attractions.  See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO4J_PC1b5M and learn more at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/travel/detroit-michigan-downtown.html.

Michigan’s largest, most comprehensive private university, University of Detroit Mercy is an independent Catholic institution of higher education sponsored by the Religious Sisters of Mercy and Society of Jesus.  The university seeks qualified candidates who will contribute to the University's urban mission, commitment to diversity, and tradition of scholarly excellence.  University of Detroit Mercy is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer with a diverse faculty and student body and welcomes persons of all backgrounds.

Mitchell on Heirs' Property Reform and the Farm Bill

Thomas W. Mitchell (Texas A&M) has posted Historic Partition Law Reform: A Game Changer for Heirs' Property Owners (forthcoming in Heirs' Property and Land Fractionation: Fostering Stable Ownership to Prevent Land Loss and Abandonment. United States Department of Agriculture, E-Gen. Tech. Rep.) on SSRN. Here's the abstract:

Over the course of several decades, many disadvantaged families who owned property under the tenancy-in-common form of ownership – property these families often referred to as heirs’ property – have had their property forcibly sold as a result of court-ordered partition sales. For several decades, repeated efforts to reform state partition laws produced little to no reform despite clear evidence that these laws unjustly harmed many families. This paper addresses the remarkable success of a model state statute named the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA), which has been enacted into law in several states since 2011, including in 5 southern states. The UPHPA makes major changes to partition laws that had undergone little change since the 1800s and provides heirs’ property owners with significantly enhanced property rights. As a result, many more heirs’ property owners should be able to maintain ownership of their property or at least the wealth associated with it.

This article describes how the UPHPA has gotten significant purchase among lawmakers at the state and federal level and among other very important stakeholders. At this time, 14 states located throughout every region of the U.S. as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands have enacted the UPHPA into law, making the UPHPA the 6th most successful of the 38 uniform real property acts the Uniform Law Commission has promulgated in its 127-year history. Further, the District of Columbia and New York currently are considering UPHPA bills that have been introduced in their respective legislatures. Over the course of the next several years, it is likely that several more states or other jurisdictions will enact the UPHPA into law. Further, the UPHPA has helped raise awareness of the many problems heirs' property owners face and important stakeholders have taken some very important actions to address some of these concerns. These stakeholders include the USDA's U.S. Forest Service, the USDA's National Resources Conservation Service, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Further, this article describes how the federal Farm Bill that Congress passed in 2018 and that was then signed into law explicitly references the UPHPA in a few places and provides incentives for additional states to enact it into law so that farmers and ranchers in those states will be eligible for certain USDA benefits that are only made available to farmers and ranchers who are located in states that have enacted the UPHPA into law.

Hiring Announcement: Natural Resources and Health Law @OU

The University of Oklahoma College of Law
Professor or Associate Professor of Law

The University of Oklahoma College of Law anticipates hiring up to two faculty members AY 2019-2020 in the following areas: (1) energy and natural resources law, with a focus on water law and energy-related regulation; and (2) health law, including with a focus on healthcare privacy, insurance/finance, ethics, and regulatory compliance. Secondarily, we are also interested in candidates who have a teaching interest in family law, professional responsibility, and criminal law.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS: Consistent with the mission and responsibilities of a top-tier public research university, we are interested in candidates who are (or have the potential to become) recognized scholars and teachers and who will participate actively in the life of the College of Law. As determined by qualifications and professional accomplishments, the position in energy and natural resources law may be accompanied by the award of an endowed chair. 

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: To apply, candidates should send CVs and expressions of interest to Ms. Melanie Tijerina, Faculty Appointments Committee, University of Oklahoma College of Law, 300 Timberdell Road, Norman, OK 73019 or by email to [email protected].  The College of Law will treat all applications as strictly confidential, subject only to requirements of state and federal law.

ABOUT OU: The state’s flagship law school, OU Law has distinguished itself as among the most innovative and prominent law schools in the region. In the last decade, OU Law has built world-class facilities incorporating advanced technology and inventive programs of study that have attracted exceptional students and faculty. In addition, OU Law has significantly expanded faculty resources, including a dramatic increase in endowed positions. These efforts contribute to OU Law’s strong and growing national reputation.

The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Carnegie-R1 comprehensive public research university known for excellence in research, teaching, and community engagement, serving the educational, cultural, economic and health-care needs of the state, region, and nation from three campuses: Norman, the Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, and the Schusterman Center in Tulsa. OU enrolls over 30,000 students and employs more than 2700 full-time faculty members in 21 colleges. The 277-acre Research Campus in Norman was named the No.1 research campus in the nation by the Association of Research Parks in 2013. Norman is a culturally rich and vibrant town located just outside Oklahoma City. With outstanding schools, amenities, and a low cost of living, Norman is a perennial contender on “best place to live” rankings. Visit www.ou.edu/provost/flipbook and www.ou.edu/publicaffairs/oufacts.html for more information.

The University of Oklahoma, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures. This includes, but is not limited to:  admissions, employment, financial aid, housing, services in educational programs or activities, or health care services that the University operates or provides.

FURTHER INFORMATION: For additional information, please contact the Faculty Appointments Committee at [email protected].