Nunn was a radio broadcaster for a weekly news and affairs show on KZSU, which aired Sunday mornings on the Stanford campus. Nunn says it was a great experience that allowed him to appreciate the importance of speaking in public.

Fast forward to the present—Nunn now finds himself using those skills learned nearly 30 years ago to present current legal issues to citizens of north central Florida on “Law Matters.” The TV program is taped once a month, excluding summers, and is run on the last Thursday of every month with additional viewing when time slots are available, Nunn said.

“We are mainly topic driven and try to run shows that are focused on current issues affecting those in the area,” Nunn said. “My role as the host is to be the traffic cop and make sure no one monopolizes their time on the air.”

With more than five years of legal practice and 17 years of teaching, Nunn’s experience brings true insight of legal issues to the show and allows him to understand the importance of shaping questions to highlight his panel of guests. Nunn’s expertise is in criminal law, criminal procedure and law and cultural issues related to race.

Nunn (pictured left, with fellow UF Law professors Michael Friel, center, and Martin McMahon, right) said he enjoys volunteering his time for this program because of the interaction with fellow colleagues, scholars and experts. He said the producers contacted him about hosting the show because they felt Nunn provided an “in” to an academic approach that could take the show in a new direction.

“Now, the show is focused more on policy questions and concerns more so than the nuts and bolts of a typical legal show,” Nunn said. “Bringing in different scholars allows broader concerns to be explored.” Nunn’s active involvement in the law school and on main campus coupled with his wife’s interest in film studies has set the foundation for Nunn’s success outside of law school.

Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn, Nunn’s wife, has been a strong influence in Nunn’s involvement and interest in serving and educating audiences through the media, Nunn said. She currently teaches “Blacks and Film” as an adjunct instructor in the African American Studies Program at UF, and she previously taught a similar class focusing on African American Women in film at the UF Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research.

They both have appeared on talk radio programs as commentators discussing race and community issues, and received a grant in 1999 to produce radio spots aired locally in Gainesville that addressed the history of African Americans. Hilliard-Nunn focuses a large portion of her time studying film (independent and mainstream) and the history of African Americans in Florida. At the same time, she runs her own film production company in Gainesville. She currently serves as the president elect of the WUFT-TV Board of Directors.

Whether filming in the studio, broadcasting over the radio or teaching in his fields of scholarship, there is no question that his areas of expertise overlap in ways that have not only created a bond with his wife, but helped to propel Nunn’s undergraduate hobby into a popular TV program broadcasted to nine counties.

On the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 27, the PIEC opens with a pre-conference keynote speech by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit climate change and human rights activist and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. The speech will be held at the Reitz Union Ballroom and is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m. Co-sponsored by UF Office of Sustainability, the conference is free for all UF students, faculty and staff. The PIEC pre-registration fee is $85, and the on-site registration is $100. Both fees include all program activities except the banquet, which is an additional $35 for all Conference attendees. The post-mark deadline for pre-registration is Feb. 22.

The opening reception will be held at the President’s House, 6-9 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 28, with with welcoming remarks by UF Law Dean Robert H. Jerry, II, as well as a keynote speech by Shannon Estonez, governing member, South Florida Water Management District.

The conference resumes at the Levin College of Law Friday, Feb. 29, with an entire day of panel discussions involving dozens of participants on such topics as sea-level rise, climate change, agricultural challenges, water resources, community land management, carbon markets, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the impact of war on the environment, and Florida’s needs for sustainable energy. The conference banquet, 7-10 p.m., will feature keynote speaker David Hunter, assistant professor of law and director, program on International and Comparative Law at American University Washington College of Law.

Saturday’s schedule starts at 9 a.m. with a workshop on “Walking Small: Reducing Your Personal Footprint,” featuring Michelle Adamski, sustainability extension agent, Wakulla County, UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). The day’s panels begin at 10:30 a.m. and cover such topics as environmental injustices and dams, biodiversity loss, and communication between scientists and policymakers. A two-hour closing plenary, entitled “The Focus on Florida,” begins at 1:30 p.m.

Since its inception in 1994, this student-organized conference has attracted top practitioners, legal scholars and scientists from around the state and beyond to discuss Florida’s most pressing environmental issues. Now in its fourteenth year, the PIEC has enjoyed a continual increase in reputation, attendance and popularity. Contact Andrew Beckington (abeck82@ufl.edu) or Yee Huang (lyh@ufl.edu) or visit www.ufpiec.org.

As the former deputy chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security and practicing privacy attorney, Mortensen brings expertise not only in protecting and safeguarding privacy and civil liberties, but also integrating those protections and safeguards into an operational framework for law enforcement and national security. Within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, he determines appropriate privacy and civil liberties processes collaborating in the development of policy supporting the mission of the department.

In his position, he serves as the primary policy advisor to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General on privacy and civil liberties matters and oversees the implementation of privacy and civil liberties policy throughout the Department, including agency components, such as the FBI, DEA, ATF, Criminal Law Division, and Justice Management Division.

As the Senior Agency Official for Privacy, he reviews the Department’s mission operations to ensure effective compliance with appropriate privacy and civil liberties authorities. This includes implementation of privacy compliance through the approval of Privacy Impact Assessments. Additionally, he enhances the Department’s protections for individual civil liberties, specifically in the context of counterterrorism and law enforcement efforts. He coordinates privacy and civil liberties oversight concerning law enforcement and national security information sharing.

Mortensen is the co-author with Nuala O’Connor Kelly, CPO for General Electric and former CPO of DHS, of the chapter entitled “The Privacy Act of 1974 and Its Progeny” in the legal treatise called Proskauer on Privacy, edited by Christopher Wolf. He is co-author of the chapter entitled “Civil Litigation: Security,” which is in the book Data Security and Privacy Law: Combating Cyberthreats.

Mortensen has served as an adjunct professor at Villanova University School of Law for over 10 years, where he has taught three different courses—Digital Law, Electronic Commerce Law, and Security and Privacy Law. At West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Mortensen has taught a course on Cyber Criminal Law in the Criminal Justice Department.

“It has been way too long,” said White, who is a shareholder in the firm Richman Greer in West Palm Beach. With the role of leading one of the largest bar associations in the country, White says he’s looking forward to the challenge of continuing to improve ethics and professionalism among the more than 80,000 lawyers in Florida.

“The Florida Bar spends more than $12 million on lawyer discipline every year,” White said. “We’re really trying to make it a more efficient disciplinary process.”

White wants to focus on educating attorneys when it comes to ethics, professionalism and diversity. He said The Florida Bar is exploring the possibility of creating mentoring projects similar to ones in other states.

“Right now we’re in the initial stages of looking into a professionalism program for new lawyers, which will also help encourage diversity,” White said.

White’s strong connection to UF has not faded since getting both his law and undergraduate degrees in Gainesville. He chose to attend UF Law because it’s an excellent school, he said.

“Choosing to go to UF Law was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” he said. “I really enjoyed my six-and-a-half years in Gainesville and obtained a great education there.”

One of the best things about having gone to UF Law is the fact that he can locate fellow UF colleagues anywhere he wants to get help or legal information, he said.

“I can pick up the phone and call Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tampa, Miami or Tallahassee and speak to an old friend from my days at UF Law,” he said. “It’s amazing that 10, 15 and 20 years later, the relationships from law school are still so strong.”

The team of Eric Nowak (pictured left), Tim Haughee (pictured second from left), Lorna Cobb (pictured second from right), and Jeffrey Hurcomb (pictured right), took first place, defeating the University of Virginia in an exciting final round Feb. 16. A second team from UF Law consisting of David Rottman, Meredith Barrios, and Dana Israel, also had a strong showing at the competition.

The competition required teams to analyze an antitrust lawsuit brought by the government against two merging premium, natural and organic grocery stores. In preparation for the competition, the teams wrote an appellate brief and spent many hours practicing their oral arguments. The winning team was coached by Tim Haughee (pictured second from left) and had assistance from Professors William Page, Jeffrey Harrison, Michael Siebecker, Leanne Pflaum, and Henry Wihnyk.

One of the foremost national moot court teams, the Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court Team competes each year in appellate advocacy contests 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. Comprised of students from UF Law, the team has received numerous state and national awards. New members are selected each year from all third semester students who try out for the team. An informational session for interested new members will be held later this semester.

Upcoming competitions include the American Bar Association Law Student Division National Appellate Advocacy Competition to be held in Dallas Texas Feb. 27–March 2 and the St. Johns/Duberstein Bankruptcy Competition to be held in New York City March 8-10.

A third-year law student, DeBriere was recently awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship to work with Florida Institutional Legal Services (FILS) to advocate for developmentally disabled offenders in Alachua County for two years after graduation in May 2008.

While at UF Law, DeBriere has worked with FILS to help advocate for the rights of prisoners. She has spent the past two years doing informal advocacy, legal research and conducting client interviews in order to address individual client problems as well as tackle general problems within Florida prisons.

In addition to her work with FILS, DeBriere has involved herself with other public interest activities at school. She was a Law College Council representative for the Association of Public Interest Law, which works to increase awareness of public interest law and raise scholarship money for students who work in non-paying public interest jobs during the summer.

After interning with FILS in May 2006, DeBriere quickly felt as though she fit well within the organization and was pleased to work with people with a similar passion for legally representing individuals in institutional environments. After working with the organization during the summer, DeBriere knew she wanted to work closely with the organization throughout law school and hopefully after graduation, she said.

DeBriere’s passion for social justice came about from her lifelong tie to the mental health care system as a result of both of her parents working within state hospitals. Seeing firsthand the stigmas associated with developmental disabilities and the abuse of power that occurs when individuals’ lives are shut away from the public, DeBriere became passionate about taking on this non-traditional public interest job.

While many students veer away from public interest jobs because of the income and lifestyle stigma attached to them within the legal community, DeBriere insists that students can have the best of both worlds. Public interest lawyers can make a sufficient living wage and pay off student loans while having a rewarding job of helping those who cannot otherwise afford legal services, she said.

To be considered for this post-graduate fellowship program, DeBriere had to create a public interest project for a population underserved and underrepresented. She continued her commitment by choosing to work with developmentally disabled offenders whose disabilities are unaccommodated by the criminal justice system and thus have an increased risk of incarceration, she said.

To address this abuse, DeBriere plans to develop and provide education and resources to key people within the criminal justice system and caretakers of developmentally disabled individuals, who then will be connected to relevant community organizations.

The goal of her project is to test and implement successful strategies in Alachua County and then recreate the successful components of the project in other counties, she said. DeBriere realizes the importance of securing accommodations in the criminal justice system for the developmentally disabled all over the state, not just in Alachua County.

She believes that her legal education has certainly helped prepare her for taking on this public interest fellowship but knows that creating programs for her clients will be a learning process. DeBriere is excited to work one-on-one with clients because “they know best” when it comes to creating programs that work with their needs, she said.