FlaLaw » 2007 » April » 02

Scholarship and Activities: William H. Page

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:59:35 +0000

Marshall M. Criser Eminent Scholar in Electronic Communications and Administrative Law

• Spoke on remedy in the face of technological change during the March 29 sessions for the FTC/ Department of Justice’s hearings on the implications of single-firm conduct under antitrust laws.

Top Attorneys Bring Real-Life Experiences to Teaching Business Document Drafting Course Aronson Conti

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:58:28 +0000

Law students at the Levin College of Law are getting a taste of the life that awaits them at a corporate law firm thanks to a new business document drafting course taught by top attorneys who travel to Gainesville to teach the innovative class. The course was developed by Professor Stuart Cohn and Daniel H. Aronson, an attorney with Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod in Miami. With support from UF Law Dean Robert Jerry, Cohn and Aronson enlisted three prominent business lawyers as adjunct professors: Lou Conti, a partner with Holland & Knight who splits his time between Orlando and Tampa; Gardner Davis, a partner in the Jacksonville office of Foley & Lardner; and Gregory C. Yadley, partner in the Tampa office of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, and co-chair of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. “There are very few law schools that offer anything like this,” Aronson explained. “There was no precedent for what we wanted to do. We knew Georgetown and NYU offered similar courses, but nobody else had anything close. The heroes are the 20 students who went through a brand new course, four different professors, and a ton of work to do in a nutshell probably what junior corporate executives do over a three-year period in terms of glimpses at and working with the most important area that corporate securities and M&A associates work in.” The two-credit course went well beyond just simple issues of how best to draft a document, Cohn said. Writing assignments included drafting employment agreements and representations and warranties in a merger agreement, among other documents. “The students very much appreciated seeing top attorneys come in and talk about their experiences,” Cohn said. “This wasn’t a class with a lot of war stories. It was a class in which they heard these attorneys talk about real-life drafting problems and real-life situations in terms of dealing with clients, finding out exactly what the clients have in mind, and negotiating differences between competing interests.” The course was limited to 20 students, most of whom were in their third year and plan to go into corporate practice. “Most of these lessons are little microcosms of the things that for years we’ve been passing along to our colleagues and our junior associates when we try to train them on whatever ad hoc basis we have,” Aronson said. “We just tried to string all those pearls together and put them in a cohesive segment.” Feedback from the course has been very positive, and plans are underway for development of additional skills-based offerings in the business law curriculum, including mergers & acquisitions and advanced corporate finance. Aronson said the course allows students to hit the ground running after graduation and distinguish themselves immediately at a law firm. Conti, who knew Cohn through their work on a number of legislative drafting projects for The Florida Bar, said the students displayed surprisingly good drafting skills throughout the course. “Most of the young associates in our office keep saying they wish they had something like this when they were in law school, because when you come into practice you literally do not know where to start in many cases, particularly in a transactional practice,” said Conti, who previously taught as an adjunct at Widener University and Temple University. It’s easy to look at form documents and see what somebody else has done before, Conti explained, but it takes experience to understand why provisions are there or not there, and how to negotiate the relative tweaking of those provisions. Without a senior lawyer to mentor them and take the time to sit down and explain a lot of the drafting and language issues, he said, young associates typically have to learn business document drafting on “a catch-as-catch-can basis.” “This course is a much more cogent way to get a perspective of all of the issues in a transactional practice, put them in some kind of context and framework, and then hopefully when you go into practice you’ll be at a distinct advantage, I think, over students who haven’t had this kind of preparation.”

Career Spotlight: Sandra Chance (JD 90), UF’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:55:00 +0000

If Professor Sandra Chance had her way, every state government would be “in the sunshine.” That is how access advocates describe a government environment that allows public access to courtroom proceedings and government records and meetings. The ultimate goal, Chance said, is government transparency and the public’s right to know.

“First, as citizens, everyone should support freedom of information,” said Chance, executive director of UF’s Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. “We have a right to know about our government and how our government officials are spending our tax dollars. This information allows us to hold our elected officials accountable and protect against government waste, abuse and corruption.”

The Brechner Center is recognized internationally as one of the leading academic institutions dedicated to conducting research and education about open government laws and the importance of transparency in governmental operations and decision-making. Students range from undergraduates and graduate students at the UF College of Journalism and Communications and law students to judges at the National Judicial College. Chance also serves on the advisory boards of the Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Center for Governmental Responsibility, the First Amendment Foundation, and The Florida Bar Media Law Committee.

“While most people think our ‘right-to-know’ laws are for journalists, studies show that businesses are the biggest users of freedom of information laws, so even corporate lawyers find these useful and beneficial,” said Chance, who was named National Teacher of the Year in 2006 by the Scripps Howard Foundation. “Any attorney who works for or with the government in Florida needs to understand the state’s public record and open meetings laws. In fact, anyone who does business with or for the government benefits from government-in-the-sunshine laws.”

Faculty to Tackle Law, Science and Politics of Global Climate Change

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:53:48 +0000

A report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicting a dramatic increase in extreme weather, rising sea levels, acidic oceans and deadly heat waves around the world has drawn heavy attention from the media and public alike in recent weeks. With that in mind, members of the University of Florida Levin College of Law faculty will gather in Holland Hall room 345 at noon Wednesday, April 4, for a brownbag presentation on “Climate Change: An Overview of the Law, Science, and Politics.”

Professors Mary Jane Angelo, Tom Ankersen, Alyson Flournoy, and Christine Klein will present a quick look at the myriad issues and try to link together the various aspects of the debate, including the state of the science, the international context, domestic policies being considered, and potential impacts for other areas of policy.

“For the first time,” Flournoy said, “Congress seems ready to tackle this problem and is holding hearings to really explore the status of what we know and the policies that we might pursue to try to reduce the future impact that our emissions of greenhouse gases will have.”

Gators Bring Home National Title from NBLSA Trial Team Tourney

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:52:24 +0000

One Gator team has already brought home a national title from Atlanta. The University of Florida Levin College of Law Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Trial Team earned the national title in Atlanta March 21-25 at the NBLSA Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition in Atlanta. The team defeated Georgetown in the semifinals, and Georgia State in the final round.

“We are extremely proud of these students,” said UF Law Trial Practice Program Director Jennifer Zedalis. “The competition was tough, but our students worked extremely hard to win the title.” The final round was won by Jessica Anderson and Alicia Phillips (defense), and the UF Law government team, which also did an outstanding job in the tournament, was made up of Camille Warren and Ronisha Beasley. The students thanked everyone who helped them, including Zedalis, Dean Robert Jerry, Professors Pedro Malavet, Mike Seigel, Kenneth Nunn and Michelle Jacobs, and others in the local legal community.

“After months of hard work and frustration this has turned out to be an amazing experience that we as a team are very proud of,” Anderson said. “The women I competed with are phenomenal litigators and I’m humbled to share this honor with them.”