FlaLaw » 2000 » November » 27

Faculty in the spotlight : Lars Noah & Barbara Noah

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:28:05 +0000

Professor Lars Noah and CGR Assistant in Law, Health Law & Policy Barbara Noah have accepted an offer of publication from Foundation Press for a new casebook they are drafting, Law, Medicine, and Medical Technology. Lars also was quoted Nov. 7 on the FDA’s withdrawal of phenylpropanolamine (PPA) from dozens of nonprescription drug products in the Dallas Morning News.

Faculty in the spotlight : Gregg D. Polsky

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:25:58 +0000

An article by Gregg D. Polsky, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law (Tax Interim Professor) was published in this week’s issue of Tax Notes, entitled “Taxing Contingent Attorney’s Fees: Many Courts are Getting It Wrong.”

Faculty in the spotlight : Walter Weyrauch

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:10:15 +0000

Professor Walter Weyrauch has published “Nonrational Sources of Scholarship: Remembering David Daube” (1909-1999), in 19 Rechtshistorisches Journal 677 (2000); and “A Theory of Legal Strategy,” 49 Duke Law Journal (2000). This article, written jointly with Professor Lynn LoPucki (UCLA), maintains that controversies tend to be decided on factors other than legal merits and that judges have a minor role in this process. The factors that are decisive are largely based on unwritten law that cannot openly be argued. This essay is an outgrowth of his earlier studies on tribal law, also based on unwritten legal traditions.

Dowd appointed Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:06:18 +0000

Professor Nancy E. Dowd, a nationally recognized legal scholar specializing in workplace and family issues, has been appointed a Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law. In making the announcement, Interim Dean Jon Mills said, “We are very pleased to honor another one of our outstanding faculty members with this appointment. Professor Dowd is a talented teacher, as well as a noted author and scholar, and extremely deserving of this honor.” The Chesterfield Smith Professorships were established through an initial $100,000 from the Holland & Knight law firm, plus $50,000 donated by individuals within the firm, as well as Holland & Knight clients and friends of Smith. Additional donations and matching state funds fully funded the professorship at more than $300,000. Smith, a 1948 UF law graduate, is a past president of the American Bar Association and The Florida Bar, and former Holland & Knight board chairman. Professors Michael W. Gordon and Fletcher N. Baldwin Jr. also hold Smith Professorships, which provide salary supplements and support for scholarly activities. Dowd, a UF Foundation Research Professor and Trustee Research Fellow, specializes in workfamily issues, gender and workplace law, and civil rights law. She began her academic career at Suffolk University Law School, after clerking for Judge Robert Sprecher on the U.S. Court of Appeals and practicing labor and employment law with the Boston firm of Choate, Hall and Stewart. In 1987-88, she received a Rockefeller Foundation grant for a project entitled, “The Work-Family Conflict: Restructuring the Workplace.” She is author of Redefining Fatherhood (New York University Press, July 2000), and In Defense of Single Parent Families (New York University Press, 1997), as well as leading law review articles. Twice in the ’90s, Dowd received the Clara Gehan Award for Advancement of Women’s Issues from UF’s Law Association for Women. As a UF faculty member, she earned a Professional Excellence Program Award, a Teaching Improvement Program Award, and was voted a College of Law Teacher of the Year. She is a member of the American Association of University Professors’ Subcommittee on Status of Women in the Academic Profession. “It is an honor and a privilege to hold this professorship in light of the distinguished career of Chesterfield Smith,” Dowd said. “I deeply appreciate the support and recognition of my work by the College of Law.” Dowd is a frequent guest lecturer and panelist. She spoke twice in November, to a faculty seminar at Marquette University Law School on her new book, Redefining Fatherhood, and at a conference on “family law at the millennium” cosponsored by University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Dowd received her B.A. with high honors from the University of Connecticut, her M.A. from the University of Illinois, and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she graduated first in her class and was editor-in-chief of the law review.

Stapp dies at 44

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:03:28 +0000

We note with sadness that the law school’s Electronic References Services Librarian, Barbara Stapp, died Nov. 16 from complications of a recent illness. She was 44. Stapp was a bright and friendly presence around the law school, and will be greatly missed. LEXIS ran a promotion following Barbara’s death to create a fund in her name to provide shoes for homeless children.

No Need for Recount Historic presidential election makes law school big winner

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 27 Nov 2000 17:00:24 +0000

Thanks to one of the nation’s heaviest and longest news media blitzes in recent years, the University of Florida and its Fredric G. Levin College of Law have been declared big winners in connection with the Bush-Gore presidential election turmoil. Starting Wednesday, Nov. 8, the day after national voting day, and continuing through this past weekend (Nov. 25-26), national and international news media representatives counted on UF experts on a daily basis to add expertise, interpretation and analysis. Two prominent national spokesmen have been Interim Dean Jon Mills and Professor Joe Little, with Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Mike Seigel providing assistance. Members of UF’s Political Science Department also were quoted extensively. John Lester, UF’s Associate Director of News and Public Affairs, commented that, “this is quite a time in U.S. political history, and we’re delighted UF experts are playing a role in it.” Law school Communications Director Stan Huguenin estimates more than 300 media representative calls were handled Nov. 8-Nov. 26, “and thanks to the tireless efforts of Dean Mills and Professor Little, including nights and weekends, we made a tremendous number of news media outlets happy and gained valuable additional recognition for one of the country’s top law schools and universities.” Among major newspapers calling for and receiving information from the law school, most on a repeat basis: Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Times (reporters and the editorial board), Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, News Day, New York Daily News, Boston Herald, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Examiner, Sunday Telegraph (UK), USA Today, Houston Chronicle. Also checking in were national representatives for Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service, Gannett News Services, Reuters News Services and Associated Press. National Public Radio, Public Radio International, Black Entertainment Television (BET), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Economist, British Broadcasting Corporation and ABC, NBC, CBS networks were heard from, as were news media in Japan, England, Brazil and Australia. Radio stations in Oregon, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, California, New York, Washington, regional NPR outlets, and stations throughout Florida called frequently. Time Magazine, Business Week, CNN, Forbes.com, CNN.com, ABCnews.com and MSNBC were among those seeking comments multiple times. And Dean Mills appeared live one or more times on national broadcasts by “Fox and Friends” on Fox-TV News, “Jim Lehrer News Hour” on PBS, CNN News (one an interview by Wolf Blitzer), CNN’s “Burden of Proof,” NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and CNN’s “The World Today.”