Owning Our Values

Owning Our Values offers a close examination of what "systemic racism" means through the lens of property law, in particular through areas heavily tested on the bar exam. Though systemic racism is not new, the way in which law schools and policy makers are thinking and talking about it has changed dramatically in recent years. Those who come to law school seeking to contribute to the cause of social justice may find themselves disappointed with a first-year curriculum that deals largely with arcane common law cases. In Owning Our Values, Natasha Varyani brings her experience as a doctrinal professor teaching in the fields of Property and Critical Race Theory along with her educational psychology background to approach property law from a different perspective.

Each chapter is divided into two parts: one that examines the history of the doctrine and the ways it has been used and the way it has impacted groups based on their race, class, gender, and other identity characteristics. The second section of each chapter contains a suggestion for a skills exercise that provides students and professors with opportunities to see and practice culturally responsive legal skills in context, including a question set from the Next Generation Bar Exam.