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Mark Fenster

Professor of Law
Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Hazouri & Roth Tort Professor
Mailing Address: Box #117625 Gainesville, FL 32611
Email: fenster@law.ufl.edu
Phone: 352.273.0962
Fax: 352.392.3005
SSRN  Vita [PDF]

Education

J.D., Yale Law School
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Institute of Communications Research
M.A., University of Texas at Austin
Department of Radio/Television/Film
B.A., University of Virginia

Teaching and Scholarship

Administrative Law, Legislation, Torts, Property, Government Transparency, Social Theory.

Professional Activities

  • University of Florida: Joined College of Law in 2001 as Assistant Professor.
  • Yale Law School: Teaching Assistant, Civil Procedure; Conference Coordinator (1997-1998). Editor, Yale Law Journal; Symposium Editor, Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities.
  • Prior Legal Positions: Environmental and Land Use Law Fellow, Shute Mihaly & Weinberger, San Francisco; Judicial Clerk for Judge Carlos Lucero, 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
  • Prior Educational Positions: Indiana University, Department of Telecommunications, Visiting Lecturer (1991-93); Shenandoah University, Department of Mass Communications, Assistant Professor (1993-95).
  • Admitted to Practice: New York, California.

Property (4 credits) – LAW 5400

  • The acquisition and possession of real and personal property, estates in land, introduction to future interests, landlord and tenant, easements, licenses, constitutional takings, zoning, public access, and covenants and rights incident to land ownership.

Torts (4 credits) – LAW 5700

  • Civil liability for harm caused by wrongful acts that violate non-contractual duties imposed by law. Covers negligence and other theories of liability as prescribed by the instructor.

Land Use Planning & Control (3 or 4 credits) – LAW 6460

  • A study of legal aspects of the allocation and development of land resources; private controls through covenants and easements; public regulation and control through zoning and subdivision regulation; social, economic and political implications of land regulations; eminent domain; selected current problems such as growth management, historic preservation, environmental regulations and urban development.
    Prerequisites: Property (LAW 5401).

Administrative Law (3 credits) – LAW 6520

  • Analysis of administrative process, with emphasis on activities of federal regulatory agencies. Topics include legislative delegations of authority to agencies, executive branch controls, rulemaking/adjudicatory procedures, due process rights, and scope of judicial review of administrative decision making.

Intellectual Property (2 or 3 credits) – LAW 6570

  • A survey of the law of patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, and unfair competition.

Current Books

  • Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture (revised 2nd ed.) (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008). First edition published 1999. Excerpts translated into Polish and Slovenian.

Articles and Essays

  • “Disclosure’s Effects: WikiLeaks and Transparency.” 97 Iowa Law Review __ (forthcoming 2012).
  • “The Transparency Fix: Advocating Legal Rights and Their Alternatives in the Pursuit of a Visible State,” 73 University of Pittsburgh Law Review ____ (forthcoming 2012)
  • “Failed Exactions.” 36 Vermont Law Review ____ (forthcoming 2012) (symposium essay)
    “Seeing the State: Transparency as Metaphor.” 62 Administrative Law Review 617-672 (2010).
  • “The Stubborn Incoherence of Regulatory Takings.” 28 Stanford Journal of Environmental Law 525-576 (2009) (symposium article).
  • “Designing Transparency: The 9/11 Commission and Institutional Form.” 65 Washington & Lee Law Review 1239-1321 (2008).