Yale and Arizona law professor Carol M. Rose will discuss, “Property Law and the Rise, Life, and Demise of Racially Restrictive Covenants,” at the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. The lecture will be March 13, at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center courtroom, and will also be available as a live webcast at http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4775d77635a741deb45688dbd080d5fd1d. The event is free and open to the public.

The Wolf Family Lecture will offer valuable insights for property law students, as well as those interested in constitutional law and students involved with the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations.

Rose is the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law, and Organization and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, and the Lohse Chair in Water and Natural Resources at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. Her book, Saving the Neighborhood: Racially Restrictive Covenants, Law, and Social Norms (Harvard University Press), which she co-authored with Yale Law Professor Richard Brooks, will be available March 11.

The Wolf Family Lecture Series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf, who holds the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, and his wife, Betty. Wolf is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property. The treatise is the most referenced real property treatise in the country and is cited regularly by the courts, including several citations in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Wolf family’s strong ties to the University of Florida date back to the 1930s, when Wolf’s father, Leonard Wolf, was a UF undergraduate. Since that time, two more generations of his descendants have made their way to Gainesville to study and work.

Past scholars who have delivered the Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property include Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; Gregory S. Alexander, A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; Lee Fennel, Max Pam Professor of Law at the University of Chicago; Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School; and Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law and director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University School of Law.

For more information:
Matt Walker, UF Law Communications
352-273-0650, mlwalker@law.ufl.edu

11 a.m.

The topic of the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property will be, “Property Law and the Rise, Life, and Demise of Racially Restrictive Covenants.” The lecture will feature Carol Rose, the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law and Organization and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. It will also be available as a live webcast at, http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4775d77635a741deb45688dbd080d5fd1d.

The Wolf Family Lecture Series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf, who holds the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, and his wife, Betty.

Past scholars who have delivered the Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property include Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; Gregory S. Alexander, A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; Lee Fennel, Max Pam Professor of Law at the University of Chicago; Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School; and Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law and director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University School of Law.

For the full press release, visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/news/2013/03/05/yale-law-professor-to-discuss-racially-restrictive-covenants-at-uf-law/.

Harvard Law School Professor Joseph Singer, a nationally recognized expert in property law, will deliver the lecture titled, “Property Law as the Infrastructure of Democracy,” on Tuesday April 5, at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

“The subprime crisis has confronted us with the problems that come from too little regulation,” Singer said. “But debates about how to prevent a reoccurrence are hampered by the libertarian idea that regulations inevitably take away our freedom. On the contrary, freedom is not possible without the rule of law.”

Singer said regulation is just another word for law: “To see how law promotes freedom, we have only to consider the legal framework of property in a free and democratic society.”

Singer argues that regulations do not take away our freedom, but are what makes us free. He said markets work only because of consumer protection and other regulatory laws. The history of American property law and its protections are also important in understanding and appreciating the democratic society we live in today.

“The history and structure of property law give us a better understanding of the legal framework of a free and democratic society that aspires to treat each person with equal concern and respect.”

“We are delighted to have Professor Singer visit UF law,” said UF Law Professor Christine Klein. “His work is always thought-provoking and insightful, making him one of today’s preeminent property law scholars.”

The Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real property treatise in the country, which is regularly cited by the courts, including several citations in the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I am thrilled that Professor Singer will have the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with our impressive students and our first-class faculty,” said Wolf.

Past scholars who have delivered the Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property include, Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; Gregory S. Alexander, A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; and Lee Fennel, professor of law at the University of Chicago.

This event is free and open to the public.

For additional information:
Matt Walker, UF Law Communications
352-273-0650 or mlwalker@law.ufl.edu

Land-use, environmental and real property attorneys and zoning officials dealing with waterways, shoreline property owners and those interested in property law are invited to hear Gregory S. Alexander, a professor of law at Cornell University Law School, speak on “Ownership and Its Obligations: Public Access to Beaches and Other Encroachments on the Right to Exclude.” The event, being held at Holland Hall 180, is free and open to the public.

“I am humbled to be invited to deliver the Wolf Family Lecture, endowed and named by the family of one of this country’s most distinguished legal scholars of property law,” Alexander said. “I hope that my remarks concerning recent developments affecting the land owner’s right to exclude will befit the occasion and be of interest to the University of Florida College of Law community.”

The lecture series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real- property treatise in the country, which is cited regularly by the courts, including several citations in the United States Supreme Court. The treatise is a legal source that lawyers, law professors and judges have relied upon for more than 50 years.

“My wife and I are very excited about the selection of Professor Alexander as the speaker for the Wolf Family Lecture,” said Wolf. “He has chosen a timely topic of interest to continue the lecture series.”

Alexander is the A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School where he has been a member of the faculty since 1985. Following his graduation from Northwestern University School of Law, he clerked for the Hon. George Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. After he completed further study as a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, Alexander became a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. Alexander is also a prolific and recognized writer. His most recent book is titled The Global Debate Over Constitutional Property: Lessons for American Takings Jurisprudence.

Danaya Wright, the UF Clarence J. TeSelle Professor of Law and a former student of Alexander, said lecture participants will gain valuable insights into property ownership and its obligations.

“For anyone concerned with public access to beaches and other natural resources, this lecture should prove very educational,” Wright said. “Though I often encourage students to resist encroachments on public rights, I prefer they not get arrested,” Wright added with a smile. “Professor Alexander’s approach, if followed by more people, should make resistance less necessary and natural resources more accessible. You can’t beat that!”

Contact: Scott Emerson at 352-273-6018 or semerson@law.ufl.edu

Merrill is the Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School in New York, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2003. He previously taught at Northwestern University School of Law. From 1987 to 1990 he served as deputy solicitor general in the Department of Justice, where he represented the United States before the U.S. Supreme Court. He previously practiced law with Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood in Chicago, where he continues to serve as a consultant on appellate litigation, constitutional law, regulated industries, and environmental law.

Merrill earned bachelor’s degrees from Grinnell College in Iowa and Oxford University in England prior to enrolling in the University of Chicago Law School, where he earned his J.D. cum laude in 1977. Following graduation from law school, Merrill was law clerk to United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun, as well as United States Court of Appeals Chief Judge David L. Bazelon.

The lecture series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most utilized treatise in the country in the area, which is cited regularly by the courts, including several recent citations in the United States Supreme Court. The treatise is a legal source that lawyers, law professors and judges have relied upon for over half a century.

“My wife and I envision that the gift will enable the Levin College of Law to bring leading real property experts to share ideas with our impressive law school community,” Wolf said. “The text of each lecture will be published in the Powell treatise, which will enable the ideas to reach even a wider audience of practitioners, judges, and academics. We also want to expose these outstanding lecturers to all the great things we have at our law school, especially our faculty, students, and staff. In this way, the gift will further enhance UF’s already outstanding reputation.”

UF Law Dean Robert Jerry said, “The Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property will provide a forum for leading academic experts on American real property law to present their ideas not only to our students but also to a national and international audience. We are delighted that the Wolf Family chose to create this significant series, and we are very excited about Professor Merrill’s inaugural lecture in February.”