Last week, as temperatures in Columbia, Missouri hovered near freezing, Riskin sat back in a chair in his office at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and smiled. Outside, the sun was shining and the temperature was rising toward 70 degrees.

“This is a terrific law school,” Riskin replied when asked why he came to UF Law. “There are lots of great people on the faculty, great students, a great dean.” Then, Riskin added: “And I like avoiding the ice and snow.”

A noted authority in alternative dispute resolution, Riskin began teaching his first classes at UF Law in January. He teaches the course “Negotiation, Mediation, and Other Dispute Resolution Processes,” and a one-credit pass/fail lab course attached to that course on “Mindfulness.”

Under his direction, the CSDR distinguished itself as the premier law school dispute resolution center in the nation. Riskin has written several books and numerous articles on alternative dispute resolution, articles on law and medicine and torts, and essays for popular magazines. In recent years, he has written about the benefits of mindfulness meditation for lawyers and mediators. He also has been chair of the sections on Law and Medicine and Dispute Resolution of the Association of American Law Schools.

Riskin has been teaching mindfulness meditation to law students, lawyers and mediators since 1999. He describes mindfulness as “a particular way of paying attention—moment to moment without judgment—to whatever passes through the mind or through any of the senses.”

It’s of particular value to lawyers and law students, he said, to help them deal better with stress and to help them perform better. Riskin noted there’s a great deal of anxiety and depression in the legal profession, from law students to lawyers and judges.

“It also can help people perform better by increasing their ability to be calm and to focus moment-to-moment while they’re doing any of the activities that a lawyer does like listening or negotiating or advocating,” he explained.

Riskin has taught mindfulness meditation to law students, law faculties, and lawyers throughout the United States and abroad. While he acknowledges meditation is not for everybody, greater awareness of meditation across society as whole has led to a growth in its use in many more areas in recent years, including medicine and athletics, as well as in large corporations and law firms.

Riskin said, “I was interested in trying to address a lot of the unhappiness and suffering that I saw in the legal profession—in law school and in practice. And I thought that some of the suffering was attributable to the adversary process, and to the fact that the adversary process was the model for law school education bred a lot of misery. Education in alternative dispute resolution and mindfulness can help address this problem.”

The prevalence of alternative dispute resolution in Florida was a factor that attracted Riskin to UF. Alternative dispute resolution has been utilized by the Florida Court System to resolve disputes for over 30 years, starting with the creation of the first citizen dispute settlement center in Dade County in 1975. Since then, the uses of mediation and arbitration have grown as the Florida Legislature and judiciary have created one of the most comprehensive court-connected mediation programs in the country. “Florida is a terrific laboratory for studying dispute resolution,” he said.

Riskin’s principal emphasis is on teaching courses in dispute resolution and mindfulness, in addition to writing a book on mindfulness for lawyers. In the meantime, he and his wife, Catherine Damme (she goes by the name of Casey), are enjoying their first winter in Gainesville, along with their two border collies, Barney and Matilda. Their house is just a 10-minute walk from the law school.

“I like it a lot,” Riskin said. “It’s been very friendly and stimulating. And the weather’s been terrific.”

The gift, announced last week, will be used to establish an endowment fund for the series to be named the Marshall M. Criser Distinguished Lecture Series at UF’s Levin College of Law.

“The goal of the speaker series is to host two prestigious national and international speakers annually on topics of particular interest to law students,” said Robert Jerry, dean of the law school.

Criser served as president of UF from 1984 to 1989 and was appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush to be a founding member of the newly formed UF Board of Trustees in 2001. He served as chairman of that board until he stepped down in 2003 to become chairman of Scripps Florida Funding Corp., where he served until Dec. 21, 2006.

During his legal career, Criser spent 31 years as an attorney in the Palm Beach law firm of Gunster, Yoakley, Criser & Stewart before coming to UF. After his presidency at UF he practiced law in Jacksonville until he retired as a partner of the national firm McGuireWoods. Criser now resides in Gainesville.

“Marshall Criser has devoted a major part of his life to the University of Florida,” said Schott. “As president, trustee, healthcare advocate, legal counsel, state regent and student he has played many roles. It is an honor to be able to continue his influence at UF by establishing this lecture series in his name.”

Criser earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from UF in 1949 and his law degree in 1951. He also has served as a trustee for the UF Law Center Association and as president of the Florida Bar. “The outstanding leadership Marshall Criser has shown throughout his career provides an example for the aspirations we want our students to hold,” said Dean Jerry. “In honoring Marshall with the named lecture series, Lewis Schott has also again enhanced the law school in a way that will enrich the academic experience of our students.”

Schott’s gift is eligible for matching funds from the state of Florida’s Major Gifts Trust Fund, which could increase the speaker series endowment to more than $1 million.

A longtime contributor to UF, Schott gave $100,000 to the law school in 2004 to honor his late wife, Marcia Whitney Schott. The two earned law degrees from UF in 1946. The college’s courtyard is named in her honor.

Today, in addition to being the liaison to UF for The Florida Bar’s Young Lawyer Division, Henry serves as the hiring attorney for his law firm, Burke, Blue, Hutchison, Walters & Smith, a position that provides him with insight into how law students can best position themselves to land a job when they graduate.

“Employers certainly look at any leadership or community involvement type position,” he said by telephone from his Panama City office. “One of the things that we do look at, in addition to people who did well in school, we also look for folks who are outgoing and are interested in becoming involved and taking those sort of leadership roles.”

Emphasis on community involvement and leadership continues for attorneys at the firm, Henry explained. While many firms base compensation and bonuses strictly on productivity, Henry’s firm takes a broader view and rewards attorneys who take on more community involvement activities. “It enhances your profile and provides recognition in the community which benefits the firm,” he said.

In addition to presenting programs at UF Law to help students prepare for entering the profession, The Florida Bar’s Young Lawyers Division annually awards scholarships, giving out 10 $2,000 scholarships to law students throughout the state last year. Information on these scholarships and other YLD programs is available on their website at http//www.flayld.org/.