by Andrew Friedman

Twelve Levin College of Law students got their hands dirty on Saturday at Rooterville Animal Sanctuary. They helped with farm chores like repairing fences and enjoyed the sunny, blue-skied afternoon with more than a hundred animals, including pigs, chickens, turkeys and a goat. Most of the animals were rescued from factory farms, circuses and other merciless conditions. The sanctuary is located in Archer, about a half-hour southwest of campus, and is home to more than 100 animals. The event was organized by the Animal Law Association. ALA aims to educate the public about animal abuse and how litigation and other legal means can protect the lives of animals. The group is planning more events throughout the semester. For more information contact Jamie Klapholz at animallawassociation@gmail.com.

Joint degree informational meeting Feb. 5

Did you know that you can earn your law degree and a graduate degree at the same time? Did you know that pursuing both degrees at the same time can actually save you time and money? In fact, in most situations, under a joint degree program, a student can obtain both degrees in approximately two semesters less than it would take to obtain both degrees if pursued separately. The joint degree programs are credit-sharing arrangements that allow qualified students to combine their legal studies with graduate work, resulting in two degrees earned in a reduced amount of time. Joint degree programs can be established in nearly any area, such as: agribusiness, anthropology, building construction, business administration, counselor education, criminology, decision & information sciences, doctorate of medicine, educational leadership, electrical & computer engineering, environmental engineering, exercise and sport sciences, food and resource economics, forest resources & conservation, history, interdisciplinary ecology, Latin American studies, mass communications, materials science & engineering, medical sciences, pharmacy, political science, psychology, public health, real estate, sociology, urban and regional planning. If you are interested in learning about this opportunity, students are invited to attend an informational session about joint degree programs on Thursday, Feb. 5, in HOL 285C and visit at http://www.law.ufl.edu/programs/joint/. Assistant Dean of Students Kari Mattox, mattoxk@law.ufl.edu, will address the requirements of the program and answer questions.

ELULP informational meeting Feb. 13

The Environmental and Land Use Law Program offers many opportunities for you to become involved and learn about these important areas of law. There will be an informational meeting at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 13, in HOL 283. At the meeting, you’ll learn critical information about the ELUL program, including the requirements for earning a Certificate in Environmental and Land Use Law, and details about the curriculum, including the Conservation Clinic, summer externships, and the summer study abroad in Costa Rica, and find out about the Environmental and Land Use Law Society, the Environmental Moot Court Team, the Public Interest Environmental Conference, and our new LL.M. in Environmental and Land Use Law. Students who attend will also have the chance to meet and talk with some of the ELULP faculty and to get individual advice on course selection for summer and fall and career development guidance. This is an excellent opportunity for currently enrolled certificate students to get answers to questions about certificate requirements, course availability, etc. All students with an interest are encouraged to attend, but especially first- and second-year students – this is the ideal opportunity to get the best possible information to plan your academic program for your remaining semesters. Contact ELULP Program Assistant Lena Hinson at hinson@law.ufl.edu.

Trial Team makes semifinals at mock trial competition

The UF Trial Team sent two teams to The Florida Bar mock trial competition this year in Miami on Jan. 14 & 15. The first team included four advocates, Ranaldo Allen, Kailey Evans, Connie Jones, and Maulik Sharma (all 3Ls). They defeated Stetson and Miami in the initial round. The second team was composed of two advocates who argued both the plaintiff and defense side of the trial, 3Ls Elizabeth Manno and David Mitchell, along with witnesses played by 2Ls Allison Kirkwood and Jamie Stephens. This team defeated FSU and Barry in the initial round. Manno and Mitchell qualified for the semifinal round, but lost in a 5-4 split of the judges. The team was coached by Nick Zissimopulos (JD 02), former UF Trial Team member who is currently a criminal defense lawyer at the Gainesville firm Rush & Glassman. Pictured from left: Elizabeth Manno, David Mitchell, Jamie Stephens, Kailey Evans and Ranaldo Allen. (Not pictured: Connie Jones, Maulik Sharma and Allison Kirkwood)

Fall 2010 Financial aid renewal reminder

For those of you who have not already done so, now is the time to apply for aid for the 2009-2010 academic year. I encourage you to apply by April 1 using FAFSA on the Web. Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and follow the instructions on the site. After applying via FAFSA/Renewal FAFSA on the Web, you can check the status of your application and/or make corrections online. You will need to use your Federal Access Code (PIN) to complete the 2009/2010 FAFSA.

2009 Vis-Pre Competition Feb. 28

The International Law Section of the Florida Bar will bring together law students, practitioners, and scholars for the 2009 Florida Pre-Competition for the Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Orlando on Saturday, Feb. 28. Every year over 200 law schools from all over the world gather at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria and Hong Kong, China, to argue a case based on complex aspects of international commercial law. For many years, Florida’s law schools have strongly acquitted themselves at these premiere moot events, consistently ranking among the top teams. This year, the International Law Section continues this tradition by inviting members of the bar and public to learn about and participate in the event. The 2009 Florida Pre-Competition will be held at the Florida A&M University College of Law located at 201 Beggs Ave. in downtown Orlando. The competition will begin at 9 a.m. Contact Arnie Lacayo at alacayo@astidavis.com for more information.

The Frederick W. & Grace P. Brecht Scholarship

The Frederick W. & Grace P. Brecht Scholarship ($1,000) is available to students who meet the following criteria: Home and place of residence must be in Brevard County, Florida or must have graduated from a Brevard County high school; accepted for admission to a community college or university in the state of Florida; enrolled as a full-time, degree seeking student in an undergraduate, graduate, or professional program; demonstrate financial need as determined by the 2009-2010 FAFSA; minimum 2.0 GPA; and good moral character and habits. The deadline to apply is May 15. Scholarship recipients are selected annually; renewal is not automatic. To be considered for renewal you must submit a new application and complete each step listed in the procedures section of the new application instructions. Applications are available at www.sfa.ufl.edu/pub/forms.html#apps

“I got to read my ‘Hardy Boys’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ even though they were in the secondary school area,” Schneider said. “I guess some people are destined to go to law school.”

Schneider would go on to study English literature at Tulane University and then enlist in the navy, where he continued to travel with some of his favorite books. For Schneider, law was a natural extension of his educational background.

“To me the law is literature,” he said. “Ultimately, both disciplines are functions of and reflective of society.”

Schneider finds a strong literary quality in the legal opinions of justices Brandeis, Holmes and Cardozo. Eighteenth century jurist William Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England” reads much like Shakespeare, Schneider said.

“It’s amazing seeing this literature, true literature that is now part of the legal canon, part of where we derive our system of jurisprudence.”

Literary devices, such as simile and metaphor, are frequently used in legal reasoning and legal argument. In one of Schneider’s classes, Professor Jeffrey L. Harrison explained judges’ use of foreshadowing to prepare the reader and make the subtle distinctions that determine the outcome of a case.

“He would often point out, ‘Does anybody see anything in this opinion that kind of tipped it off before you even got past the first paragraph of the first page?’” Schneider said.

Schneider, an avid writer, draws inspiration from his experiences studying law. In one of his poems, he mentions “the smell and feel of a freshly shaven pencil,” and “books touched by the oils of many hands.” He has shared some of his poems with professors, who have responded well.

The law has left its mark on literature. For example, the protagonist of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” asks, “What is justice?” Shakespeare also explored legal issues in “Othello” and “The Merchant of Venice,” Schneider said.

The law has affected and formed the personalities and characters in a large variety of literary works.

“One of my favorite novels is ‘A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway’,” Schneider said. “This is a person who is genuinely affected by the military law of the times in World War I.”

Schneider is drawn to both law and literature because of both disciplines’ profound influence on society.

“There really is a subset of law that represents really every function of human experience and I think that literature does the same thing,” he said.

One of Schneider’s favorite quotes is a statement by the writer Marianne Moore that “poetry is real frogs in fake gardens.” The concept can be applied to legal professionals’ task of balancing the law (the garden) with the rights of the individual, Schneider said.

“We know that this ‘garden’ isn’t always real, but we’re always dealing with real issues that touch lives. We’re dealing with real pain and real interests and real people.”

In an advice, honesty and laughter-rich panel discussion sponsored by the Law Association of Women titled, “A Conversation with the Judiciary: Perspectives of Women Judges,” each of the five judges discussed her unique experiences as a student, a lawyer, a judge, and as a woman.

The advice from the ladies ranged from serious—“be responsible and take responsibility; make yourself indispensible to your employer,” to humorous—“don’t wear wedding hair to court.”

When the Honorable Jacqueline R. Griffin (JD 75), a district court judge for the 5th District Court of Appeals began her legal education at the University of Florida, only a miniscule seven percent of the law school student body was female. She became fast friends with one of her classmates, now the Honorable Anne C. Conway (JD 75), chief U.S. District Court judge for the Middle District of Florida.

“We had a tendency to clump for safety reasons,” Griffin explained. In the mid-1970s, when Griffin and Conway became litigators, they were two of three women litigating in Orlando at the time.

“We were the women,” Griffin recalled, only to have her statement promptly amended by Conway—“we were the girls.”

In the panel discussion, Griffin and Conway were joined by the Honorable Elizabeth A. Jenkins (JD 76), a U.S. Magistrate Court judge for the Middle District of Florida; the Honorable Carly E. Delano, a Bankruptcy Court judge from the Middle District of Florida; and the Honorable Marcia Morales Howard (JD 90), a U.S. District Court judge for the Middle District of Florida.

Howard earned her J.D. from the University of Florida in 1990, nearly a decade behind the other four women, benefiting from significant shifts in cultural attitudes toward women in the legal field that occurred during that decade. Howard emphasized the value of professional and polite conduct, stating that “one of the biggest mistakes that young lawyers make is confusing being a zealous advocate and being a jerk.”

She also warned against wearing too much perfume to court, too little clothing, or elaborate, intricate hairstyles, which she dubbed “wedding hair.”

Concurring with Howard, Delano cautioned that women should be aware that in court, their looks are not an issue and instead they should focus on being prepared, conducting themselves professionally, and treating paralegals, secretaries, and court staff with the utmost respect and courtesy, to which Conway added, “[there is] nothing a judge hates more than rude lawyers.”

The judges also dispensed advice on balancing family and career, encouraging female lawyers to seek help from outside sources and that “if you’re overwhelmed, you can change your practice and hours” and that if a lawyer is indispensible to her practice, her firm will usually be willing to work with her on arranging for a part-time schedule. Delano added, “there are so many different varieties of jobs that you can find a place where you’re comfortable. Your kids aren’t small forever.”

Addressing potentially sexist treatment or comments from colleagues, the judges advocated maintaining the utmost of professional standards and letting one’s work speak for itself. All agreed that in today’s legal world, such instances are rare, but not unheard of. As to how she handled sexist attitudes when she first practiced, Griffin explained, “We worked twice as hard, we were twice as prepared and we didn’t care if someone called us ‘little girl’ in the hearing, because we won.” Howard agreed, adding that “beating the pants off someone is better than picking a fight.”

With the 2007-2008 Levin College of Law entering class composed of 51 percent women and the 2008-2009 entering class close behind at 47.9 percent, there has never been a better time for a woman to become a lawyer, but as the judges emphasized, so long as she also remembers to stay a lady.

Career Services brought legal recruiting consultant Ann Skalaski to speak on Wednesday about how to manage job searches in this economy. Skalaski served as the assistant dean for career services at UF Law from 1991-1996 before starting her own company.

“You really have to adopt a new perspective,” Skalaski said. “The market is what it is; you need to understand what it is. You need to be prepared to work harder.”

Skalaski stressed a few essentials to help students in their job searches.

Students need to go into a job search with a positive attitude, Skalaski said.

“Your attitude is probably the most important thing when it comes to job searching,” she said. “I guess that’s the career counselor coming out in me or maybe the mom.”

Your attitude is also the only thing you can control about your job search, Skalaski said.

“Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it,” she argued.

“That means the current economy can only impact your job search by 10 percent if you do the rest.”

The right attitude starts in law school, Skalaski said. In addition to being positive, students need to look at their careers as a long-term plan, she said.

She advised against worrying about salaries or perks early in job searches, but instead to focus on what interests each particular student.

“I promise you, if you pursue the area of law that you are passionate about you really want to do, you will be successful,” she said. “The ideal job is one that positions you for the upturn to do what you want to do.”

In order to make a long-term career plan, Skalaski said students have to figure out how they’d like to use their law degrees. It is impossible to have an effective strategy if the student does not know what he or she would like to do.

Skalaski advised against mass mailings in this economy and instead advised students to try to develop more personal relationships through networking.

“Networking really is the best way to get a job,” she said. “It’s the most important activity you can engage in. There are countless studies out there that say 80 percent of jobs come from networking.” Skalaski repeatedly stressed networking as a means to get a job in this market. She also suggested earning an L.L.M. if that interests the student as a way to not enter the job market until it improves.

“The winning approach to all this is you have to just accept that the market has changed,” Skalaski said. “You can’t do anything about it; you just have to accept it and move on.

Develop a long-term view of your career. Work with the people in Career Services because they really, really want to help you. Take ownership of your job search and invest in relationships.”