At a recent award ceremony held in Palm Springs, California, Yale Law School graduates Dana Berliner (Class 1991), Randall Smith (Class 1982) and Dwight Merriam (Class 1978) joined in honoring fellow alum Efrén C. Olivares with the presentation of the Crystal Eagle Award. The Crystal Eagle is given annually by Owners’ Counsel of America, a national network of leading eminent domain lawyers, to an individual who has demonstrated a deep and abiding commitment to the protection and defense of private property rights. Mr. Olivares, YLS Class of 2008, is the director of the Texas Civil Rights Project’s Racial and Economic Justice Program. Efrén works on behalf of private landowners living along the U.S. and Mexico border facing the loss of their property by eminent domain for the development of border security measures.
We Hold Nothing Back