This month, Texas A&M University School of Law held its third annual Real Property Law Schmooze. The invitation-only event, titled "Where do we go from here? Fair Housing and Community Development at a Crossroads," was hosted by Professors Lisa T. Alexander and Thomas W. Mitchell, co-directors of the law school's Program in Real Estate and Community Development Law. Professor Alexander, a Texas A&M University Presidential Impact Fellow, has a joint appointment in Texas A&M University’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, and Professor Mitchell has a joint appointment in Texas A&M University’s Department of Agricultural Economics.
The mission of the Real Estate and Community Development Program is to create innovative research, curricular and experiential offerings, and policy solutions to meet both urban and rural property challenges in the 21st century. Since the program's inception, the law school has hosted an annual Real Property Law Faculty Workshop (aka the Real Property Law Schmooze) inviting leading scholars from across the nation to discuss forthcoming projects and research.
Vicki L. Been, the Boxer Family professor of law at NYU Law School, affiliated professor of public policy of NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, faculty director at the NYU Furman Center, and former commissioner of housing preservation and development for the City of New York, was the Program in Real Estate and Community Development Law's Distinguished Real Property Law Keynote Speaker on February 1, 2019. Her presentation, "Inclusive Communities: Learning from its False Premises, Fears, and Framing Choices, through the Lens of Gentrification," was open to the entire law school, including all first-year property law students, and was co-sponsored by the Texas A&M University School of Law Faculty Speaker Series.
This year the event's invited guests and breakout sessions included:
- Fair Housing & Community Development: Where Do We Go from Here?
- Nestor Davidson, Professor of Law, Director, Urban Law Center, Fordham University School of Law
- Kristen Barnes, Professor of Law, University of Akron School of Law
- Scott Cummings, Professor of Law, Director, Legal Ethics and the Profession (LEAP), University of California Los Angeles Law School
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A Second Look at Protected Classes
- Robert G. Schwemm, University of Kentucky School of Law
- Melvin Kelley, Visiting Assistant Professor, Northeastern University School of Law
- Robin Paul Malloy, Director Center on Property, Citizenship & Social Entrepreneurism, Syracuse University College of Law
- Implementing Fair Housing and Community Development
- Stacy Seichnaydre, Associate Professor of Law & Assoc. Dean for Experiential Learning, Tulane University School of Law
- Courtney Anderson, Associate Professor of Law, Georgia State University School of Law
- Rigel Oliveri, Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
- Theorizing Fair Housing, Homelessness, and Justice
- Lisa T. Alexander, Professor of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law, Co-Director, Program in Real Estate and Community Development Law
- Mark Roark, Visiting Professor, Southern University School of Law
- Sophia House, Legal Fellow, NYU Furman Center, New York University School of Law
- Brandon Weiss, Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law (Visiting Clinical Professor, Yale Law School)
- Property, Affordable Housing, and Equality
Dean Robert B. Ahdieh welcomed all participants. The following faculty affiliated with the Texas A&M Program in Real Estate and Community Development Law moderated the panels: Timothy Mulvaney, Milan Markovic, Aric K. Short, Luz Herrera, and Thomas W. Mitchell.
"A great time was had by all and we look forward to next year’s Schmooze!" said Alexander.
Photos courtesy of Doug Thurman