The Center on Children and Families needs immediate research help for an amicus brief on Florida’s anti-gay adoption statute. Several distinct projects exist, most of which need to be completed in the next 2-3 weeks. Contact Joe Jackson at jjackson@law.ufl.edu if interested.

Earn pro bono hours with VITA program

The Volunteer Income Taxpayer Assistance program begins this semester and is a great way to earn pro bono hours toward your pro bono certificate. Volunteers in VITA prepare tax returns for low and middle income taxpayers in Gainesville. Many UF students also use VITA as well. Once a tax return is prepared, an experienced coordinator will review the return. You also obtain first-hand experience interacting with taxpayers and learning more about our tax system. No prior tax experience or knowledge is required. The training materials will provide you with the basic information you will need to prepare tax returns. There are two basic tests that must be passed by the end of January before you can volunteer for VITA. You only have to volunteer one day a week (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.) during the spring semester, excluding spring break. For more information contact Christopher Pavilonis at cpav2@ufl.edu.

2009 Haitian Lawyers Association Scholarship

The Haitian Lawyers Association (HLA) is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications for the 2009 scholarship awards. Every year HLA awards monetary aid to a student of Haitian descent. Since the award’s inception, the amount has increased to a total of $8,000, and HLA has expanded the offer from the South Florida area law schools to law schools statewide. The application deadline is Jan. 19, and each recipient is eligible to receive up to $2,000. Recipients are invited to attend the association’s annual gala on Feb. 7, 2009. The student must be of Haitian descent and must be in good academic standing. The student must submit an official transcript, and a one page (maximum two pages) personal statement describing involvement in the community, financial need for the award, as well as reasons why the student is better qualified to receive the award. The entire submission shall be postmarked no later than January 19, 2009 and mailed to the attention of Kertch J. Conze, Esq., at 801 N.E. 167th St., Second Floor, North Miami Beach, FL 33162. For more information contact Kertch Conze at 305-455-2040 ext. 245.

Moot Court Board wins in Atlanta

Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court Board members Andrew Hoffman, Michael Friedman, Lorna Cobb and coach Meghann Wolfe won the Best Brief award at the Region Five National Moot Court Competition held in Atlanta, Ga. on Nov. 21-22, 2008. The team also advanced to the semi-final round, surpassing six other teams. Mercer University School of Law defeated Florida by a narrow margin, and later finished as the Region Five champion. Andrew, Michael, and Lorna argued the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and as a separate issue, whether the Individuals with Disabilities Act requires a student to enroll in public school before becoming eligible for private school tuition reimbursement. The team received valuable assistance from professors Little, Fenster and Pflaum. The Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court Board represents UF Law in numerous state and national appellate advocacy competitions throughout the year. The Board was founded in 1961, and was named after the prominent Florida Supreme Court chief justice. The board’s mission is to promote excellence in appellate advocacy. Comprised of students from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, the board has received numerous state and national awards. New members are selected each year from all third semester students who try out for the team. (Photo: Lorna Cobb and Michael Friedman. Not pictured: Andrew Hoffman)

Students form Faculty Recruitment Committee

In fall 2008, the Faculty Recruitment Committee was formed with the help of the Office of Student Affairs. The committee is led by founder David Kerner (2L) and Kali Feinman (2L) and consists of 16 diverse members of the law school community, ranging from 1Ls to members of the LL.M. tax program. The committee, which works under the Faculty Appointments Committee, was designed to interact with professorial candidates who were invited to interview for a tenure track faculty position. “It is the FRC’s hope to put the student body’s best foot forward during this important function and to let the candidate know that our student body is involved and invested in the affairs of the law college,” said Kerner. “We believe that student body input is vital to the faculty recruitment process, and with the help of the members of the committee, I know we were able to fulfill the committee’s mission of doing just that.” Kerner also noted that the success of the committee would be impossible without the encouragement and assistance of the faculty, and in particular, Professor Hernandez and Professor Wright, who head the faculty hiring process. The current student members of the Faculty Recruitment Committee are: Andrew Comiter (LL.M.), Jenny Perkins (3L), Charles King (3L), Jonathan Blocker (3L), Clay Carlton (2L), Kali Feinman (2L), David Kerner (2L), Stephen Liverpool (2L), Gaston Fontela (2L), Darren Heitner (2L), Rebecaa Sable (2L), Ashley Beaman (2L), Jennifer Hartzler (2L), Harlan McGuire (2L), Wayne Atkinson (2L), Sara Casey (1L) and Kyla Tan (1L). (Photo: Pictured from left to right, Darren Heitner, David Kerner, Professor Candidate Dr. Noa Ben-Asher and Ashley Beaman during one of the committee’s breakfast interviews.)

Labarga (JD 79), of Wellington, Fla., was a state circuit judge who Crist appointed to an appellate court position just last month. He was named to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Harry Lee Anstead.

A Cuban-born lawyer and double Gator, Labarga has been a circuit judge since 1996 and was a public defender and prosecutor before that in a legal career that has spanned 28 years.

“It is a great honor to serve the people of Florida in a position that will have lasting impact on our judicial system and on society,” Labarga told the Associated Press.

Labarga was initially nominated as a Supreme Court candidate a few weeks ago, but Crist instead appointed Justice Charles Canady, a former Republican congressman and state lawmaker, to fill the spot created earlier this year by the resignation of the Supreme Court’s only Hispanic member.

After complaints that Crist had politicized the nominating process, the governor reinstated Labarga as a nominee. Other nominees included Frank Jiminez, who worked for former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and for U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.; 5th District Court of Appeal Judge C. Alan Lawson of Daytona Beach; and circuit judges Kevin Emas of Miami, Waddell Wallace III of Jacksonville and Gill Freeman of Miami.

Labarga played a role during Florida’s historic 2000 presidential recount, ruling Palm Beach County elections officials could not necessarily disregard irregular chads that had not been fully punched out on ballot cards.

The U.S. Supreme Court terminated the recount before it could be completed, giving the Florida vote to Republican George W. Bush.

Governor Makes Interim Appointment to District 4 Seat

Charlie Crist appointed UF Law alumnus Phil Mays (JD 91) of Ponte Vedra to fill the St. Johns County District 4 Board of County Commissioners seat that has been open since Oct. 17, when Crist removed Commissioner Thomas Manuel from office.

Mays will serve for the duration of the suspension. He will take the oath of office before the next board meeting Jan. 6.

Mays is the principal owner of Mays Equities Inc., and before that worked as legal counsel in both corporate positions and law firms. He is a member of The Florida Bar and The Georgia Bar.

Mays also serves on the Ponte Vedra Coalition and the West Augustine Community Redevelopment Area Advisory Board.

“My desire to serve the citizens of St. Johns County through this appointment to the St. Johns County Commission is sincere,” Mays said in a statement announcing the appointment.

“As a member of the business community, I am determined to see a strong surge in economic opportunities for our work force.”

Kinney secured for his client a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Virginia, applying the fugitive disentitlement doctrine in an international child abduction case. The doctrine holds that a fugitive from justice “cannot seek relief from the same judicial system whose authority he evades.”

Kinney, an attorney at Hunton & Williams LLP in McLean, Virginia, along with litigation partner Stephen M. Sayers, accepted the case pro bono publico. Kinney’s client had exhausted her financial resources fighting for custody of her three-year-old son.

The legal dispute began when the client’s ex- husband, a Mexican citizen, made a unilateral decision to prevent her from returning to the United States with the parties’ son, Kinney said.

“When my client discovered her ex-husband’s intention to reside in Spain, instead of returning together to the United States as they had agreed, she confronted him and he said, ‘It’s not going to happen. You’re stuck here.’”

The client’s ex-husband then hid the child’s passports and cut off his wife from her financial resources. She was forced to make her way alone in a country where she did not speak the language and had no way to earn a living, Kinney said.

After the U.S. Consulate issued a replacement passport, Kinney’s client returned with her son to Fairfax, Virginia. Her ex-husband then filed a petition under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a treaty to which the United States and Spain are signatories. The General District Court of Fairfax County initially granted the petition and permitted the child’s return to Spain.

“Ultimately the Circuit Court ruled against the father and required him to return the child to the United States for further proceedings,” Kinney said.

Despite appealing the Circuit Court’s order, the father did nothing to suspend enforcement of those orders pending his appeal.

“He simply disobeyed the Court’s orders,” Kinney said.

The case would become a two-year appellate odyssey that ultimately resulted in the mother gaining custody of the child. The landmark case led to the first application of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine in Virginia State courts. The decision sends an unambiguous message to litigants in Virginia courts, Kinney said.

“Any litigant who wants to be heard by a Virginia appellate court must be in compliance with the trial court’s order,” he said.

Kinney attributes his interest in appellate practice to experiences as a judicial law clerk for Judge Earle Zehmer with the Florida First District Court of Appeals.

“Judge Zehmer always stressed the importance of counsel’s preparation for oral argument,” Kinney said.

“Every case raises something new and you’re given the opportunity to educate yourself on different areas of the law, different aspects of human experience.”

More than 400 students at Rawlings Elementary in Gainesville received gifts from EJCBA members and other donors, based on wish lists the children had written to Santa Claus (The EJCBA is a voluntary bar comprised of lawyers from Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy, and Union Counties in Florida).

Comfortable in a suit of any sort, Gainesville Attorney Carl Schwait gave each child a personal greeting and a collection of gifts.

Shoppers picked up bags, each containing a child’s wish list, name, grade level, and instructions to fill the bag with gifts whose combined value was $45 – $50 (to promote parity).

Some shoppers “adopted” children (agreed to fund the gifts); others shopped for so many children that they’ll need reimbursement from the EJCBA.

Eight Circuit State Attorney Bill Cervone allowed the EJCBA to store and organize gifts in his building.

All Holiday Gift Committee members, including chair Margaret Stack (EJCBA’s president) and President-Elect Becky O’Neill, spent spare time shopping for dozens of children and preparing for the event.

As well as doing massive shopping, Committee members Lua Mellman and Elizabeth Collins created a data base and an intricate system for making sure that every child received gifts. These ladies didn’t stop at checking the lists twice.

Rawlings’ principal Emery Bishop and school staff spent much of the day before Santa’s arrival loading the truck at the State Attorney’s office and unloading the truck at the school.

Rawlings’ staff and teachers devoted after-school time to checking lists and bags, which were color coded by grade level.

Stack, Santa’s chief elf, led groups of students in a chorus of Jingle Bells: the only effective way to bring Santa out. Other members of the legal community joined Santa at Rawlings to help pass out gifts, including local attorneys Nancy Baldwin, Sherrie Galambos and Liz McKillop, along with Judge-elect Denise Ferrero.

Administrators, faculty and staff from the UF law school pitched in to help shop for children and raise donations.

The children’s reactions were a blend of surprise and sheer elation. Many children applauded even when their classmates received gifts, excited by their friends’ good fortune.

The event kicks off at 11 a.m. with a discussion on recruiting, moderated by Professor Thomas Hurst followed by a panel on negotiation. The last two discussions will be on labor issues and the future of sports business, each moderated by UF Law Professors Nick Ohanesian and Jeffrey Harrison. Speakers will include sports law professors at various U.S. legal institutions, sports and marketing agents at top sports and talent agencies, public relations professionals and top wealth advisors.

Keynote speaker, Kevin Sullivan, was appointed by President George W. Bush as assistant to the President for Communications on July 11, 2006. In this position, he oversees White House message development and communications planning.

Previously, Sullivan served as assistant secretary for communications & outreach at the U.S. Department of Education, beginning in May 2005 and receiving Senate confirmation in July 2005. Before joining the Administration, Sullivan was senior vice president for corporate communications & media relations at NBC Universal, where he aligned strategic communications planning across the company’s many divisions and cable networks.

From Feb. 2000 to Oct. 2004, Sullivan served as vice president for communications at NBC Sports. In this role, he led NBC’s communications efforts for three Olympic Games and for properties such as the U.S. Open, PGA Tour and Ryder Cup; the National Basketball Association (NBA); Major League Baseball; NASCAR; Wimbledon; Notre Dame football; and horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Prior to NBC Sports, Sullivan worked for the Dallas Mavericks, where he was regarded one of the NBA’s top public relations executives. Sullivan joined the Mavericks at the inception of the franchise and spent 18 years with the organization, advancing to become vice president of communications, a role which included responsibility for the team’s charity foundation and radio and television broadcasts.

Sullivan won’t be the only expert speaking at the symposium. Bill Rasmussen, founder of ESPN and recently, the College Fanz Sports Network, will give the closing remarks at the symposium this year.

Bill Rasmussen and his team launched College Fanz Sports Network 28 years to the day after launching his most famous earlier creation, ESPN.

He has been called “The Father of Cable Sports” by USA Today (Sept. 1994). Rasmussen’s entrepreneurial daring led to the world’s first 24-hour cable television network, ESPN, where he pioneered such innovations as “SportsCenter,” wall-to-wall coverage of NCAA regular season and “March Madness” basketball, and NFL draft coverage.

Rasmussen was named to The Sports 100, honoring the 100 most important people in American Sports History. His place in sports history was recognized by Sports Illustrated in 1994 when he was honored as one of the “Forty for the Ages,” one of 40 individuals who has significantly altered and elevated the world of sport during the second half of the 20th century.

The symposium serves as an excellent opportunity for students to network and learn from those in the sports profession. The symposium is free and all are welcome.

For a detailed agenda, list of speakers and discussion topics, visit www.UFSportsLaw.com.

For more information, contact Darren Heitner at heitner@gmail.com.