Golden is now an attorney with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Atlanta and has worked as a public servant for almost all of her career since law school.

Golden’s office is responsible for enforcing regulation of multifamily housing developments insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)and making sure owners keep their property in decent, safe and sanitary condition for the tenants.

“Before going to New York I had somewhat of a background and life experiences that indicated that civil rights would be something I’d be interested in,” Golden said. Golden watched her parents and neighbors carpool to go to the polling place to vote for John F. Kennedy. “There was security in going to the poll together.”

Golden was born in 1951 in segregated Moultrie, Ga., and lived there until moving to New York in 1963. Since graduating from the UF College of Law in 1976, she has held numerous government jobs including assistant attorney general for Florida, assistant public defender for Orange County and Orange County judge.

Although Golden had done well in the segregated schools in Moultrie, many in her new home of New York did not expect her education to be up to par.

“When I first came, they said, ‘Oh these A’s can’t be representative of what her educational level is,’” Golden said. “They tested me and found out, in fact, that they were. They placed me in gifted classes, called special progress classes up there… Things changed for me after that.”

Golden attributed her success throughout school to both her parents and her teachers back in Moultrie. She was taught by an all-black faculty in Moultrie that pushed her to work her hardest.

“They didn’t accept that because you were black and poor that you couldn’t learn – that you came from poverty, so you weren’t worth the effort,” Golden said. “Everybody was challenged; everybody was expected to succeed, and the majority did.”

When Golden transferred to UF Law after her first year at Brooklyn Law School, she had a new obstacle to face – gender discrimination.

Although she was raised in the South during segregation, the gender discrimination was bad to her because she was older and more conscious of it.

“When you’re young, you kind of know that you’re being slighted, but you’re not sure,” Golden said. “Of course, some things were very obvious. Every summer we went to the vacation reading club at the public library. There was a Negro section and there was a white section when I was in elementary [school.] Every year, I got my little certificate for completing all of the vacation reading for the summer, and I was always very proud of that.”

At UF, a couple of professors were openly sexist to her, but that was relatively common in the early 1970s, she said.

“When I went to the University of Florida, it was kind of scary because I had never had some of the challenges that I faced there,” Golden said. “I went to school at a time when we’d (women) walk into the library, people would shuffle their feet because I was a woman.”

Golden, who was married, got pregnant in law school and continued through law school pregnant. An employment law professor constantly questioned her in class about pregnancy discrimination laws, and an evidence professor did not give her a research position because she was pregnant.

“He said that I should be home knitting blue booties, not knitting booties, but blue booties for the baby,” Golden said (Golden has two grown daughters). “So I had some interesting experiences there, but overall, the faculty was very fair and I enjoyed property classes, so I ended up doing property. Even though the professor was horrible to me, I enjoyed employment law.”

Although Golden did not notice any obvious racial discrimination toward her at UF, it has come up in her career.

“When I was a judge, it was weird, there were people that didn’t like me because I was black and I was a judge, and they didn’t mind showing me,” Golden said. “Here I have the power to put you in jail, and you’re disrespecting me. It was a total disconnect. I found that interesting. But in most of my career, I can’t say that, even though I felt there were some judges that I felt were discriminatory, I can’t say I suffered tremendously from that.”

Golden began working for HUD in 2000 as Attorney Advisor in the Departmental Enforcement Center (DEC) before a stint in the Fair Housing Division, where she assisted in clearing up a backlog of pending fair housing complaints. In July, she moved back to the DEC.

“It’s a lot calmer over here, but at the same time, when you have to abate the housing assistance payments to an owner and relocate a 400-unit development, it can get crazy,” Golden said. “Because you have to move the people out if the place isn’t decent, safe and sanitary and then work with other parts of the agency to find places for them to go.”

For all of Golden’s success in life, she is grateful for her parents encouraging her to get an education.

“My parents, who were not high school graduates, were very educated in their own way (voracious readers of newspapers and magazines) and were very supportive of us getting the best education possible,” Golden said. “They always stressed, ‘If you get an education, nobody can take that away from you.’ They can take away your property, they can take away all kinds of things, but they can’t take away your education, and that was always stressed in our home.”

Weyrauch’s teaching and scholarship focus on family law, business organizations, comparative law, law and society, legal philosophy, and autonomous informal lawmaking, and he has been widely published in these areas.

His publications since 1999 include Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Culture, University of California Press, Berkeley, (Los Angeles and London, 2001); Das Recht Der Roma Und Sinti: Ein Beispiel Autonomer Rechtsschöpfung, Vittorio Klostermann Publisher, (Frankfurt Main, Germany, 2002); “Nonrational Sources of Scholarship: Remembering David Daube (1909-1999),” 19 Rechtshistorisches Journal 677 (2000); “A Theory of Legal Strategy,” 49 Duke Law Journal 1405 (with Lynn LoPucki, 2000); “Unwritten Constitutions, Unwritten Law,” 56 Washington and Lee Law Review 1211 (1999) (also republished in Charles W. Collier, Basic Themes in Law and Jurisprudence, Anderson Publishers, 2000); and “Unconscious Meanings of Crime and Punishment,” 2 Buffalo Criminal Law Review 945 (1999).

Symposium speakers included Professors Inga Markovits, Friends of Joe Jamail Regents Chair, University of Texas School of Law; Lynn M. LoPucki, Security Pacific Bank Professor, University of California-Los Angeles School of Law; Alison Barnes, Marquette University Law School; and W. Michael Reisman, Myres S. McDougal Professor of International Law, Yale Law School. The four spoke eloquently on the far-ranging influence of Weyrauch’s scholarship and how it has swayed their own views and studies.

Inga Markovits

“I don’t think I know anyone as curious as Walter Weyrauch,” began Professor Markovits. “He has the investigative curiosity of a three-year-old. He is interested in not only what happened, but how and why it happened. That is what law is all about.”

An internationally renowned expert in comparative law, Markovits’ research has concentrated on socialist legal regimes, and more recently, on law reform in Eastern Europe. She commented that she, like Walter, is an immigrant to America, and spoke on the value of examining a culture through the lens of another.

“Walter is fascinated by the law outside the realm of the mighty and the decision-makers,” she said, and praised his use of qualitative versus quantitative research and analysis.

Professor Lynn M. LoPucki focused his presentation on Weyrauch’s unique view of legal strategy. In addition to his position at UCLA Law School, LoPucki is the Bruce W. Nichols Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School each fall semester. He teaches Secured Transactions and Empirical Analysis of Law at both schools, and has engaged in empirical research on large public company bankruptcies for 25 years.

Lynn M. LoPucki

He worked with Weyrauch in 1975 on a two-step presentation strategy: persuade the judge (without legal doctrine) and provide the doctrinal bridge to that result. He said Weyrauch’s work with the Gypsies eventually led to a 2000 theory of legal strategy where lawyers, not judges, determine outcomes, and where lawyers choose and constrain judges. The article he co-authored with Weyrauch, “A Theory of Legal Strategy,” in the Duke Law Journal examined the conventional versus the strategic view. He illustrated his point with a detailed analysis of the Pennzoil v. Texaco case, which exemplifies that strategy determines outcomes.

“Strategic practice is so much more effective than traditional practice, it is going to sweep worldwide,” said LoPucki.

The April 2008 issue of the Florida Law Review begins with an article by LoPucki, “Walter O. Weyrauch, the Observer.” The issue was dedicated to Weyrauch on the occasion of his retirement.

Professor Alison Barnes has written extensively in areas of aging law and policy, including the first law text in the field, Elder Law. She is co-author and editor of Counseling Older Clients and the Health Law Desk Reference (American Bar Association/American Law Institute), and founded and is faculty advisor of the law review Elder’s Advisor. She teaches and develops curriculum in health law and aging law and policy, and is faculty sponsor for the Health Law Society.

The April 2008 issue of the Florida Law Review begins with an article by LoPucki, “Walter O. Weyrauch, the Observer.” The issue was dedicated to Weyrauch on the occasion of his retirement.

Professor Alison Barnes has written extensively in areas of aging law and policy, including the first law text in the field, Elder Law. She is co-author and editor of Counseling Older Clients and the Health Law Desk Reference (American Bar Association/American Law Institute), and founded and is faculty advisor of the law review Elder’s Advisor. She teaches and develops curriculum in health law and aging law and policy, and is faculty sponsor for the Health Law Society.

Alison Barnes

She explored a number of aspects, including the use of ritual, in public versus private law, and the role of observers who can “attest that something took place.” This is particularly important in times of change, she said, but can also reinforce the status quo.

Barnes has been senior policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and the George Washington University Health Policy Project and Scholar in Residence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. During four years at the University of Florida College of Law Public Policy Project, she chaired The Florida Bar Committee on the Elderly and was vice chair of the Commission on the Elderly. She and Weyrauch are working together to examine unwritten laws and rules in long-term care, and how they impact quality.

“There is so much more to be said about informal, unwritten law, from the micro to the macro level,” she said. “There is so much more to say in a multi-cultural world, where so many more interact.”

Professor W. Michael Reisman, Myres S. McDougal Professor of International Law, Yale Law School, is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science and president of the Arbitration Tribunal of the Bank for International Settlements. He has published widely in the area of international law and has served as arbitrator and counsel in many international cases.

W. Michael Reisman

“It is very important to remember the perspective you are taking in legal research,” he said. “It is vital to engage in this process of self-scrutiny.”

Reisman remarked on the groundbreaking nature of Weyrauch’s work on what has come to be known as group law. “Wherever there are social groups, there is law,” he said. “Much of that law is held at such low levels of consciousness we are unaware of it. When consciousness of that law is raised, there is conflict.”

Walter Weyrauch joined the UF Law faculty in 1957 as associate professor. He became professor in 1960, was Clarence J. TeSelle Professor 1989-94, and became Stephen C. O’Connell Chair in 1994 and Distinguished Professor in 1998. He was named an Honorary Professor of Law at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Germany, and has been visiting faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, Rutgers University School of Law and University of Frankfurt.

“The law school has been a wonderful environment, and was a fascinating environment for empirical study,” said Weyrauch in his remarks at the symposium. “There have been tremendous changes in the 51 years I have been here, including dramatic shifts in the diversity of the faculty and student body.”

The symposium concluded with several presentations, the first from a group of Weyrauch’s former students, now practicing attorneys, who announced a contribution in his honor. The second was a gift from the International Society of Family Law from Boston College Law School Professor Sanford N. Katz, who came back to Gainesville for the first time in more than 40 years to attend the symposium. Katz has been chair of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association and president of the International Society of Family Law.

“Walter treated the University of Florida as his laboratory,” said Katz. “He followed the tradition of all great family law scholars in the world, all—like Walter—German in origin.”

The Levin College of Law faculty and administration express their gratitude to the members of the Florida Law Review, who assisted with arrangements for the symposium.

Joshua Lukman, counsel for the plaintiff, presents a enlarged version of a jury verdict form during closing arguments, but the explanations would not be enough to sway the jury in the plaintiff's favor.

The University of Florida Trial Team marked the end of its four-week selection process by holding its annual Final Four competition Oct. 3 in the Bailey Courtroom.

Final Four advocates, Amanda Brus, Katrina Gavette, Joshua Lukman and Kara Wick, who were chosen from a pool of almost 100 students, presented their arguments for the fictitious civil case Smith v. Lighter Corporation.

Brus and Wick, counsel for the defendant, were awarded the title of “Best Overall Team.” Wick was also named “Best Overall Advocate.”

The plaintiffs, represented by Katrina Gavette and Joshua Lukman, sued the defendant, a manufacturer of cigarette lighters, represented by Brus and Wick, for damages arising from a fire that occurred in their mobile home in the imaginary state of “Sunshine.”

As a result of the fire, the plaintiffs’ 8-year-old daughter was severely burned and their 5-year-old son died.

“This is a case about the defendant’s lighter, which caused the family a devastating loss,” Gavette said.

The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant manufactured a defective lighter that caused the fire. Brus argued that the lighter was equipped with 17 perfectly safe parts as well as a label that warned parents to keep the lighter away from children.

“The best child-proofing device is the watchful eye of a parent,” she said.

The Honorable Judge Stephan Mickle served as the presiding judge. At the end of the competition, Mickle congratulated both sides on their dynamic closing arguments.

“It did my heart good to hear those arguments,” he said.

Both sides’ arguments matched or exceeded some of the arguments heard in actual courtrooms, Mickle said.

Jennifer Zedalis, advisor for the trial team, also expressed her satisfaction with the team’s quality.

“I am so proud of these students that I could pop,” Zedalis said.

Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, P.A., a litigation firm with offices in Florida and Alabama, sponsored the tournament. The jury was composed of J. Scott Kirk, James A. Edwards, Sara J. Burton and LaShawnda K. Jackson, all attorneys at the firm.

(Left to right) Joshua Lukman, Katrina Gavette, Judge Stephan Mickle, Kara Wick and Amanda Brus.

Wick, a second-year law student, said that it was important to remain calm under pressure and to imagine that the distinguished judges were just normal jurors, she said.

“It was definitely intimidating,” Wick said.

Gavette, who plans to be a litigator in the future, described the experience of trying out for the elite team as “exhilarating.”

“It’s such an honor, especially knowing the number of students that tried out,” she said.

Brus, who has a strong background in theater and was involved in a mock trial team in high school, heard about the team last semester.

“I told myself ‘I am making the trial team,’” she said. “I couldn’t wait to start.”

Enrolling in a trial practice course with Zedalis helped Lukman prepare for competing with the trial team. It is important to avoid overcomplicating legal arguments, he said.

“Simplify the communication with the bench,” Lukman said. “Don’t get too caught up in it.”

Lukman, who is interested in litigation and foreign legal issues, looks forward to meeting the expectations of the team.

“I don’t want to let them down,” he said. “I know they picked me because they saw that I had potential.”