Law Schools

This Law School Professor Is A Real 'Genius'

His works seeks to stop injustice.

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Thomas W. Mitchell (Photo via TAMU)

Real estate may not sound like a splashy specialization, but Texas A&M School of Law professor Thomas W. Mitchell will prove it to you. Mitchell has received a prestigious MacArthur Genius Grant — and the $625,000 stipend that comes with it — for his work reforming real property inheritance law.

Mitchell is the primary author of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA), which addresses the problem of inheriting common real property that is split between multiple owners. Historically, this often leads to a forced sale of the property, resulting in depressed prices for the property, similar to a foreclosure sale. Under the UPHPA, judges consider both economic and non-economic factors, and when one owner wants a sale and others do not, the UPHPA gives them the right to buy the property at market value. So far, 17 states, including Texas, Georgia, and Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted the UPHPA, and when forced sales do occur under the Act, they fetch open market-like prices. The Act was also incorporated into the 2018 Farm Bill, which helps heirs’ property owners maintain ownership and access government assistance.

Mitchell says he sees the award as recognition that you can really make change and stop injustice:

“When I started nearly 25 years ago, my ideas for law reform to help disadvantaged property owners were considered nearly impossible to achieve. I tell my students that they can make a real difference,” Mitchell said. “No matter how inevitable and seemingly permanent any injustice may appear to be, if you use your imagination and think boldly, develop a strategy, cultivate allies, and remain determined, change can come.”

Robert Ahdieh, dean of the School of Law, notes the work Mitchell has done is something most professors can only dream of:

“From the time I first met him as a law student, I have always been struck by Thomas’ commitment to positively impacting law and society,” Ahdieh said. “With his incredible work on reforming the law of partition, he has managed to do so in ways that are fundamental and lasting — and to which most law professors can only aspire.”

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And as for the money? He tells Law.com that will be used to expand his work:

I think of the money as a resource, but even bigger than that is the reputational capital of getting this award and the ability to leverage both. For a while I’ve had ideas that if I had more resources, I’d do X. And the X is—up to this point, I got this award for my work over 20 years on law reform and policy. But that’s basically something I’ve done by myself, at whatever home institutions I had. I didn’t work with others. I don’t have a staff. I don’t have students who work for me. It’s something I’ve done after hours. I’d like to leverage both the money and the social capital to build a center. I would have staff. I would have law students who work for me, and graduate students in other disciplines. I’d have the ability to make a bigger impact because I could systematically look at a variety of laws that have undermined property rights for all kinds of disadvantaged individuals and communities.

Mitchell’s goal is to have 25 states enact the UPHPA by 2025, and this recognition as a Genius will definitely help with that goal.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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