Law Professor David Callies earns national award

Callies honored for his lifetime of scholarship addressing takings and private property rights

David Callies and the Crystal Eagle Award from the Owners' Counsel of America.

Professor David L. Callies, the Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law, has been recognized by the Owners’ Counsel of America (OCA), a nationwide network of eminent domain attorneys, for his lifetime of scholarship that focuses on takings law and private property rights. 

In a ceremony on Saturday, February 7, 2015, at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco, the OCA honored Callies with its Crystal Eagle Award for his lifetime of scholarship about land use, eminent domain, and regulatory takings law both nationally and internationally.

Gideon Kanner, Professor Emeritus, Loyola Law School, and Robert H. Thomas ’87, a director with Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert in Honolulu, introduced Professor Callies and presented the award. Thomas is the Hawai’i representative of OCA. 

“Annually, the Owners’ Counsel of America identifies an individual who has made a substantial contribution toward protecting the civil right of private property ownership and presents that individual with the Crystal Eagle Award,” explained Cathy Newman, Owners’ Counsel executive director. “This year, we are honored to recognize David Callies for his work concerning eminent domain, land use regulation and takings law.”

Richardson Law School Dean Avi Soifer said, “It is wonderfully fitting that David Callies has been honored in this way. He has been a standout teacher and scholar at our Law School for decades during which he has informed, challenged, and creatively provoked a generation of our students.” Soifer added, “David continues to do that and much more for the Law School as well as for many members of the larger community.”

At the Law School, Callies teaches property, land use, and state and local government law. He is a member of the American Law Institute, the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the Council of the International Bar Association’s Asia Pacific Forum, and the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He is also the past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of State and Local Government Law, and he received the Section’s 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award.  

A prolific writer, Callies has authored or co-authored 20 books and over eighty articles on topics relating to real property law, takings law, and land use and development in both the United States and Asia. In 2007, his book Taking Land: Compulsory Purchase and Land Use Regulation in the Asia-Pacific (with Kotaka) (U.H. Press, 2002) was republished in Japanese.  Additionally, his book, Land Use Controls in the United States is published in both Japanese and Chinese.   He authored the article "Takings, Physical and Regulatory," addressing the use of U.S. property law precedents by Hong Kong’s highest court that was published in a special 2007 edition of the Asia Pacific Law Journal to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s establishment as a special administrative region of China. 

In addition to his written scholarship, Callies has delivered endowed lectures at Albany Law School and John Marshall Law School, presented at the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference at William & Mary Law School, and lectured on land use issues in Japan, China, and Korea.  He recently served as co-chair and lecturer at Touro Law School’s symposium commemorating the 40^th anniversary of The Takings Issue, a book Callies coauthored with Fred Bosselman and John Banta in 1973. He is a regular speaker at annual conferences presented by the American Law Institute, and the American Planning Association.

Before relocating to Hawaiʻi, Callies practiced local government and land use law with the firm of Ross & Hardies in Chicago, when he also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning and served as an Assistant State’s Attorney. He is a graduate of DePauw University, the University of Michigan Law School (JD) and the University of Nottingham (LLM).  He is also a past foreign fellow and present life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University.

“The Owners’ Counsel of America sought to honor David Callies for his scholarship, which has evolved over the last 40 years to highlight the importance of private property rights in takings law,” said Thomas. “David has become an abiding voice in support of the constitutional right of property, and a fearless and outspoken critic when property rights are not given appropriate recognition.  For example, in a recent article, he noted that the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s 1993-2010 track record on private property rights was ‘appalling,’ and hoped the current court would reverse that trend.”

“In addition to his work researching, thinking and writing about property and takings law, we are grateful to Professor Callies for educating and mentoring new generations of lawyers, and for showcasing the relationship between property rights and individual liberties,” Thomas added.

ABOUT OWNERS' COUNSEL OF AMERICA (OCA):

The Owners’ Counsel of America is a nationwide network of eminent domain attorneys dedicated to protecting the rights of private property owners large and small, locally and nationally, and to furthering the cause of property rights.  Lawyers affiliated with OCA are in private practice in nearly every state and represent landowners against federal, state, and local governments, utilities, redevelopment authorities and other entities that may possess the power of eminent domain or engage in land-use regulation.  Locate an eminent domain lawyer in your state at www.ownerscounsel.com.