Mike Berger and Jim Burling, enlightening. Not a bad crowd for a Saturday morning.
We've now wrapped this year's ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation and Condemnation 101 Conference, and for those of you who were able to join us, thank you. We know that it is a large commitment of resources and time, and as your Planning Chairs, Joe Waldo and I appreciate you being here. We hope it was as useful and rewarding for you as it was for us. Of course, we also appreciate our expert faculty for their presentations and materials. It takes a lot of their time and resources -- none of it compensated -- to prepare and present at this conference. They are all, ultimately, volunteers.
Day 1 links, Day 2 links.
Here's my own thoughts on the hits, the misses, and the near-misses. Highlights:
- Gideon Kanner and Michael Berger's one-hour retrospective on their careers and the state of eminent domain and inverse condemnation law, from a collective experience of over a century of scholarship and practice.
- The audience. We had a very good turnout, and it's always more exciting to have an energetic, knowledgeable, and engaged crowd. Let's keep our place as one of ALI's flagship conferences.
- Professor Herb Titus' keynote about Fourth Amendment searches and seizures, and how they relate to Fifth Amendment takings.
- The frozen yogurt machines at the afternoon break. Well played.
- The Nikko Hotel - we had pretty much the entire third floor, and the hotel facilities and staff were very good. Plus, the room commode has a remote (sorry, had to say that again).
- The collegiality: eminent domain lawyers in private practice and government service, appraisers, and other professionals getting together for two-and-a-half days to talk shop on the subjects that drive us. I love learning about the issues that all the various jurisdictions have ongoing. I'm always blown away by the collective expertise in the room at this conference, and come away feeling energized. This year is no exception.
Not-so-highlights (or, can we do better?):
One last thing before we get back to our usual programming. We'll start planning soon for next year's conference. Send me topics, issues, ideas of things you'd like to see on the agenda, or speakers that might be considered. Anything to make the program better.
- The ethics session. I understand I might have come on a bit strong and may have been off-putting, especially for those of you who don't exclusively represent property owners. Message received. Not my intention, of course, and we've already started thinking about next year's ethics component and how we can make it more useful for everyone. Stay tuned.
- Professor Kanner professed that this conference was his "swan song" (his words, not ours). Say it isn't so.
- The rain. We know California needs water, but it seems every time we come here, it pours. Ah well. At least it keeps us indoors.
