“You have control over your career and what you do with your life. So many of us go to college and law school because it is ‘the thing to do’ or the next logical step in your education. Don’t approach your career that way—don’t just look for work or take a job because it is ‘the thing to do.’ Consider all the career choices that are available ultimately when you graduate. Your law school degree can open so many doors for you, but you have to do the work not only to find them, but also to consider what you really want to do with your life. There really are a lot of possibilities.”

As executive vice president, Powhatan Kelley is responsible for all legal issues impacting The Weather Channel ® and its subsidiaries, and she is also a member of the executive committee, which meets regularly to resolve strategic and operational issues. As general counsel, she heads the legal team, functions as an internal legal advisor, manages outside legal resources, identifies and implements improvements to legal processes, and participates in negotiating major contracts, including distribution agreements, strategic relationships, technology agreements and acquisitions.

Powhatan Kelley, who earned her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida, spent her first two years following law school with Akerman Senterfitt, followed by eight years as a business litigator in two other firms. One of her clients, Landmark Communications, Inc., a private media company and the parent company of The Weather Channel, asked her to join as corporate counsel. After eight years of working closely with outside corporate lawyers and learning the media business, Powhatan Kelley joined The Weather Channel in 1996. She is serving her second year on the UF Law Board of Trustees.

That sentiment was uttered by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer in “A Conversation on the Constitution: Judicial Independence,” a May 2006 event in which he, along with fellow Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor (retired), took questions from high school students and discussed the ways that the Constitution safeguards the role of judges so that they in turn can safeguard the rights of minorities and those with unpopular views.

A DVD of the event served as the launching pad for a Constitution Day panel discussion in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom on Sept. 15 with three distinguished guest panelists: The Honorable Frederick D. Smith, Chief Judge, Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida; The Honorable Stephan Mickle, District Judge, U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida; and Fletcher Baldwin, Jr., Chesterfield Smith Professor and Director, Center for International Financial Crime Studies. Sharon E. Rush, Irving Cypen Professor, moderated the discussion.

Chief Judge Smith addressed the problem created by politicians and others labeling members of the judiciary “activist judges” in an effort to intimidate them. He cited the treatment of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer, who presided over the Terri Schiavo case and was villified when he allowed the brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube to be removed in March 2005. Smith called Greer a “role model for the rest of us to resist pressure and obey the rule of law.”

Smith said the role of the judiciary has been “de-mystified,” leading to a lack of respect for judges among members of the public, which is less likely to accept their decisions. “We have to get out there and engage in the debate,” Smith said.

Mickle stressed the importance of judicial independence in a democratic society for maintaining balance between the major- ity and the individual citizen’s rights in court. He said the fear of how their decisions will be received in the media should not effect judges’ decisions.”I would like to think I would make the same decisions whether or not that threat was there,” Mickle said.

In teams of two, the competitors will present oral arguments in front of judges from the Florida Supreme Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeals. The arguments are open for observation by fellow students, alumni and faculty.

The Fall Final Four is sponsored by the Orlando law firm of Zimmerman, Kiser & Sutcliffe, and is the culmination of a five-week tryout competition, which requires interested students to write an appellate brief and then present two oral arguments before a panel of judges.

One of the foremost national moot court teams, the Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court Team competes each year at over a dozen tournaments throughout the country. The team was founded in 1961, and was named after the prominent Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice. The team’s mission is to promote excellence in appellate advocacy.

Director, Law & Policy in the Americas Program

• Published 2006 Latin American Business Environment Report with Terry McCoy.

Alyson Craig Flournoy

Professor; Director of Environmental and Land Use Law Program; UF Research Foundation Professor

• Received a Seed-Funding Grant from UF’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment for her proposal “Next Generation Environmental Law: Incorporating Experience, Science, and Technology to Develop Sustainable Environmental Laws.” The purpose of the grant is to support the development of a major extra- mural grant proposal that would provide the full funding needed to undertake this multi-year project. The seed-funding grant of $17,500 will go towards supporting preliminary research and organizing a roundtable symposium at UF with scholars from around the country next spring.

Barbara Bennett Woodhouse

David H. Levin Chair in Family Law; Professor; Director, Center on Children and Families and Family Certificat eProgram; Co-Director, INstitue for Child and Adolescent Research And Evaluation (ICARE)

• Participated in a roundtable of experts from a wide rage of disciplines convened by Rutgers University in New Jersey to debate the Future of Childhood Studies.

In the News

Thomas T. Ankersen

Director, CGR Conservation Clinic and Costa Rica Law Program; Legal Skills Professor

• Key West Citizen, Sept. 18, 2006. Quoted in an article, “Islamorada Sturggles with Saving Marinas,” about a CGR Conservation Clinic study that suggests that enticements alone won’t be enough to curb the conversion of working marinas into waterfront condos, especially in areas like the Keys where market pressure is particularly high.

Fletcher N. Baldwin, Jr.

Chesterfield Smith Professor; Director of UF Center for International Finiancial Crime Studies; Honorary Fellow, Society for Advanced Legal Studies, University of London

• Monterey County Herald, Sept. 20, 2006. Quoted in a story  aout the continuing debate over the death penalty that reignited over the execution of convicted cop killer Clarence Hill.

George R. “Bob” Dekle

Legal Skills Professor; Director, Criminal Law Clinic-Prosecution

• Palm Beach Post, Sept. 19, 2006. Quoted in story about a 2005 Florida law that allows residents to use deadly force if they feel threatened. Dekle’s interpretation of the law was, “It’s open season on anyone that comes on your property.”  

Mark A. Fenster

Associate Professor

• US News & World Report, Sept. 11, 2006. Quoted in a story about the growing popularity of the “9/11 Truth” movement which maintains that 9/11 was a government conspiracy.

• South Florida Sun, Sept. 10, 2006. Quoted concerning America’s generalized mistrust of the government in a five part 9/11 story. He cited “populist tendencies” and “discontent with a secretive Bush administration” as reasons why.

• The Toronto Star, Sept. 10, 2006. Quoted in a sory about 9/11 conspiracy theories that continue to grow instead of diminish as time goes by.

Alyson Craig Flournoy

Professor; Director of Environmental and Land Use Law Program; UF Research Foundation Professor

•The Gainesville Sun, Sept. 18, 2006. Quoted in a story on the effect hurricanes have had on law practice and the need for lawyers to realize that “development in high-hazard areas is not something that can just be looked at and taken for granted.”

Christopher L. Peterson

Associate Professor

• Washington Post, Sept. 10, 2006. His research was used in an article about payday lending and its connection to the military. According to Peterson and research partner Stephen Graves, it is statistically impossible for the amount of payday lenders around military bases to be random.

Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom Dedication Coverage

• Media coverage of the Sept. 21 dedication of the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom included the Associated Press, ST. Petersburg Times, Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), The Bradenton Herald, The Gainesville Sun, The Ledger (Lakeland), The Independent Florida Alligator, WRUF-FM and AM Radio, and WCJB-TV 20.

On Friday, Oct. 6, the Graduate Tax Program presents its Second Annual Symposium in International Taxation, 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Room 270, Holland Law Center.

The program features:

• James R. Hines Jr., Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan.

• Paul R. McDaniel, James J. Free-land Eminent Scholar in Taxation and Professor of Law, University of Florida College of Law.

• Jacques Sasseville, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” says Glover, a third-year student in the Levin College of Law. “It affected me in a very personal way. It was an incredible opportunity to see how people really live there.”

Today, Glover is back in law school, where he recently was awarded a fellowship at the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations.

Originally from Port St. Lucie, Glover earned his undergraduate degree in legal studies from the University of Central Florida in 1994. His interests in law school are in civil rights and employment discrimination law.

He also worked last summer at the law school’s Virgil Hawkins Civil Clinic, which allowed Glover to gain a lot of practical, hands-on experience working under a supervising attorney on real cases for indigent clients.

Glover said he initially learned about the Center for the Study of Race and Relations when the center’s director, Dr. Katheryn Russell-Brown, spoke at one of his classes.

“I have always been interested in race and race relations,” says Glover, who hopes to work following graduation in Atlanta, where his family now resides. “I have had a very diverse group of friends and have always been interested in reading about sociology and history. So Professor Russell-Brown just sparked an interest that was already there. So when I saw the fellowship opening I thought the chance to work under her would be a great opportunity for me to do what I love, and network as well.”

Glover is also involved in the American Constitutional Society and is on the executive board of the Black Law Students Association. “My goal is to learn as much as I can from the people I work with. There are a lot of misconceptions about race, and they need to be talked about in an open forum so many of those may be laid to rest. I believe the center provides that forum.”

This program provides diverse curricula and faculty to help these students experience living and studying in a community tailored to each student’s interests.

Every year, there are less than 20 students admitted to this program. The LL.M. in Comparative Law seeks for the very qualified candidates to ensure the highest quality of interactive atmosphere.

This year, 15 students were admitted from different countries, including China, India, Brazil and France. These students join a talented student body of approximately 1,200 full-time J.D. students and about 100 lawyers in the Graduate Tax Program, all with diverse backgrounds, interest and experience. (Their class grades do not impact the grading curve).

The director of LL.M. in Comparative Law, Professor David M. Hudson, puts emphasis on making sure that each student’s needs and interests are addressed individually.

The Levin College of Law is affiliated with international universities and programs in 60 countries around the world. It ensures international emphasis throughout the curriculum and provides various resources.

• For those interested in pursuing a career in public interest law, experience and desire can outweigh grades. Public interest law employers always ask for candidates with a demonstrated commitment to public interest law work. Obtaining this experience also helps you become more competent. Your resume suggests competence, but working with particular organizations demonstrates it.

• The public interest law community is tight-knit. Experience will help you get to know the people and the organizations. Being known to the organization as a volunteer could lead to an opportunity to fill the opening when it becomes available.

• One of the differences in the public interest job search process is that jobs cannot be predicted very far in advance. Networking, putting yourself out there through volunteering, and being in the right place at the right time is key to obtaining a public interest job.

• If you are passionate about a particular issue, having experience with related organizations can also assist in your development of expertise in the particular area. All in all, experience helps develop maturity no matter what area of law you hope to pursue.

Public Interest vs. Pro Bono vs. Community Service

• Public interest law is the field of law encompassing service to the people through non-profit organizations, gov- ernment work, direct legal services and even policy and legislative work.

• Pro bono is legal work done in the public interest through volunteer efforts. Vol- unteering for a law firm, while a valuable experience, is not pro bono in that it does not reach the larger goal of pro bono: bringing services to an under-served or under-represented individual or group.

• Community service is a way to give back to the community. Community service can occur in a wide variety of locations and through a wide variety of work.

Pro Bono and Community Service Projects

The UF Pro Bono Project offers local placements, which provide valuable experience in assisting with children’s issues, prisoners’ rights, and the general concerns of people with low income, including access to public benefits, landlord tenant issues and more. There are also many other opportunities to do pro bono work in your hometown during breaks from school, or elsewhere.

To qualify for the Pro Bono Project, the following criteria must be met:

• You must be doing work that is legal in nature.

• Your work must be with a government agency, court, or non-profit organization.

• You must be supervised by an attorney.

• You cannot receive pay or academic credit for your work.

• Your work must benefit the under-served, under-represented, or those with limited resources.

• All other volunteer work that benefits the community falls under the Community Service Project. Consider participating in community service projects through APIL and CCS.

• To participate in the Pro Bono Project, check out the pro bono/community service links on the Career Services website or contact Assistant Director Sam Sarno in Career Services.

Fellowships: Post-graduate and During Law School

 • Historically, fellowships were only designed to provide law grads with employment for one or two years following graduation. Today, however, it is not uncommon to also find fellowships available to law students for summer or for a year-long program.

• These highly competitive paid fellowships are funded through various sources and typically match law students or graduates with public service organizations or law school programs.

• Concentrations can include: civil and human rights, legal services to the disadvantaged, children and women’s issues, immigrants and immigration, innocence projects, farm workers, environmental and wilderness issues and much more.

• Deadlines for many fellowship opportuni- ties occur during the fall. To learn more,be sure to check out the PSLawNet “Fellowship Corner.” This resource includes a calendar of fellowship applica- tion deadlines, a PDF version of Yale’s Fellowship Application Tips for 2006 and Fellowship and Grant Resources, as well as Georgetown University Law Center’s Post-Graduate International Fellowship Guide. Students can access the Fellow- ship Corner at the top of the menu on the www. pslawnet.org/.