Law school intramural basketball team wins championship
The law school’s intramural basketball team “Operation Repeat” won the intramural graduate league finishing the season 11-0, beating the fraternity champions (60-51) and the men’s competitive team champions (61-59) to capture the All-Campus Men’s Championship. This was the first time the law school has won the All Men’s Campus Intramural Championship. Team members from left to right are: Robbie Shields (2L), Manny Ramirez (2L), Bhavik Patel (2L), Martin Strauch (3L), Kimon Korres (2L), Jordi Kushner (2L), Rishi Parikh (2L), and Andy Layden (2L).

JLSA hosts Rabbi Goldman and elects new board
Rabbi Berl Goldman, director of the Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student Center, recently spoke with students from the Jewish Law Students Association about topics in Jewish law. Also, JLSA recently elected its new 2010-2011 board: President, Jay Levin; Vice-President, Alan Meyerson; Secretary, Jen LeVine; Treasurer, Ben Friedman; VP Communications, Brittany Jacobs; VP Social, Adam Hersh; VP Community Service, Eric Feld; and VP Community Affairs, Jacob Rimon.

Gators in London visit Supreme Court
UF Law students studying in London this spring had the opportunity to tour the new Supreme Court building and learn about the differences between the U.S. Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. They also spoke with law clerks and learned how their role in the court system differs from American clerks; most notably, they play no role in writing opinions.

Summer research assistant needed for criminal law project
Needed: 2L/3L summer research assistant for criminal law project. Please submit brief cover letter and resume to Professor Katheryn Russell-Brown or call (352) 273-0912.

Environmental law research assistant needed
Professor Flournoy is accepting applications from students to work as a research assistant this summer for 10-15 hours per week during May and June. The research will focus applying insights from the social sciences to environmental law. It may include collecting and summarizing materials from fields such as behavioral economics, environmental psychology, sociology, and management. Interested students should e-mail Professor Flournoy a C.V. and unofficial transcript, along with a short cover e-mail highlighting any relevant coursework, research or other experience in social science. The deadline for applications is Monday, April 26.

FJIL congratulates Miredys Gonzalez, Jennifer Thomas and Shaza Quadri
The Florida Journal of International Law would like to congratulate Miredys Gonzalez and Jennifer Thomas, winners of the 2009-2010 Shelley Smith Best Edit Awards. FJIL would also like to congratulate Shaza Quadri, winner of the 2009-2010 Best Note Award. Quadri’s note currently titled, “An Analysis of the Effects and Reasons for Hazardous Waste Importation in India and its Implementation of the Basel Convention” will be published in Volume 22, Issue 3 of FJIL this December.

• Speaking on AG McCollum’s lawsuit challenging the recently passed Patient Protection and Care Affordability Act (April 7, 2010, WOKV Radio)
  McCollum’s suite argues Congress has overstepped it’s authority in mandating states to pay for costs involved with reform and states the tax on individual’s who don’t purchase health coverage is unconstitutional, and are in violation of the 10th amendment and the commerce clause. University of Florida law professor Joe Little said these are questions that need to be asked. “I think it is possible that there could be some portions of it that might be held to be beyond Congress’s power,” Little said that is because the law is so broad. He thinks that most will be ruled within their power. He wouldn’t predict which way the court would rule on McCollum’s specific lawsuit, only predicting is that some suit will end up in Supreme Court.
• “UF experts describe Stevens as centrist, defender of rights” (April 10, 2010, Gainesville Sun)
  UF law professors discuss how Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens will be remembered after his retirement. Joe Little, professor emeritus and constitutional law expert at UF’s Levin College of Law, said Stevens’ retirement will inevitably alter the composition of the nation’s highest court. It’s too early to predict exactly how, in Little’s view. By liberal, I mean people who care about the rights of the individual and who try to defend the individual against the state,” Little said. Even though Stevens was appointed by a Republican president, Little added, “he was what we would now call a moderate Republican … something that’s pretty much gone out of existence.” In Little’s view, Stevens’ legacy will be one of “turning away from the extreme lurch to the right on the court during the latter part of his term.” “I think President Obama will be very careful to pick someone who will not slide over into the other camp,” Little said. “It will probably be someone whose views are left of center, but not too far.” Little added, “Whoever he selects, he will want to get the appointment through.”

The article examines the issue through the doctrine of insane delusion. This doctrine doesn’t often come up in regards to family law, but Ronner said it “tends to come up a lot in wills and trusts, when individuals seek to invalidate wills on that basis.”

While Ronner has done a good deal of scholarship in this area of the law, having written articles and books on homophobia, she used the first part of the presentation to explain the somewhat unorthodox inspiration for this article.

“This article started with a phone call and two stories,” Ronner said. The phone call was from the FSU College of Law’s Public Interest Law Center, who asked Ronner to participate in an amicus brief for a recent homosexual adoption case.

“What about the stories?,” she asked, rhetorically. “I happened to be re-reading William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. In that short story, Emily Grierson has been sleeping with her dead lover’s rotting corpse for 40 years.”

Grierson, Ronner explained, believed her husband to be alive, despite being surrounded by his unused possessions and unworn clothing. “She clung to this false conception of reality, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.”

The second story was the one of Martin Gill, his partner, and the two young boys they had recently tried to adopt. The two boys came to Gill and his partner when the eldest was 4 years old, and the other just 4 months old. They had been badly neglected, but found a comfortable home with Gill. When he decided to take the next step and adopt the children, he was denied based on the Florida statute that keeps homosexuals from adopting

Gill sued to overturn the decision, and after making a compelling argument based on accepted science and fact, Judge Cindy Lederman sided with Gill, ruling the bar against homosexuals unconstitutional. Ronner quoted Lederman’s opinion, in which Lederman wrote that when taken into Gill’s home, the children “left a world of chronic neglect, emotional impoverishment and deprivation to enter a new world, foreign to them, that was nurturing, safe, structured and stimulating.”

“So what does all this have to do with Emily Grierson?,” Ronner said, as she began to tie the two vastly different stories together. “The narrow thesis in the article is that any court reversing Judge Lederman’s ruling has a lot in common in with Faulkner’s Emily Grierson. That is, that court is laboring under what fits both the psychiatric and legal definitions of an insane delusion.”

Ronner described the experts that appeared in the Gill case as further support for her argument. The government put only two experts on the stand. One wound up more or less siding with Gill, and Lederman found the other less than credible.

For a court to accept the state’s argument, despite all the evidence introduced by Gill, would require more than a differing opinion, Ronner said. It would require the court to be under an insane delusion.

“My thesis is that the only way a court can disagree is if it adheres to a false perception of reality despite being bombarded with overwhelming facts to the contrary,” Ronner said.

Jerry started the discussion by sharing the recent results from the February Bar exam, which were much improved from last year’s results. The pass percentage for UF first-time takers was 81.1 percent (30/37) against an overall pass rate of 72.2 percent (586/812). Another product of the school’s hard work was the employment status of the UF Law class of 2009. As of February 2010, for graduates who wish to work and who are working or those pursuing a graduate degree from the class of 2009, the employment status was 99.5 percent; all but three members of last year’s graduating class are employed.

Jerry was pleased to be able to report the good news, and was very grateful for the help given by past graduates of the law school.

“Our alumni really stepped up in finding and helping create those positions for our students,” Jerry said.

Much of the meeting was devoted to issues that had already been raised, and while the solutions to many of them were still being sought, the issue of paying for exam-taking software had been solved.

Previously, students who wanted to use their computers to take exams were forced to pay a fee in the range of $25 to register the ExamSoft program. Jerry said that fee would soon be taken care of by the school.

“Starting next year, and I think this is the right answer, we are going to use private unrestricted gifts to pay for a school-wide licensing fee,” he said.

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Bill Page spoke on a range of issues, but most of his time was spent answering students’ questions about scheduling. Scheduling issues ranged from what to do with the noon period that is usually free, the possibility of more classes focusing on Florida law, and the possibility of a certificate program in criminal law.

Assistant Dean for Career Development Linda Calvert Hanson spoke to the school’s efforts to help students get jobs, externships and other opportunities. While Career Development does much to aid students, being perhaps the most rural of Florida law schools can make things more difficult, Hanson said. “One of the challenges that we have is the geographic limitations of Gainesville.”

Finally, Associate Dean for Students Rachel Inman discussed a few more issues, including the idea of introducing hot lunches to the cafeteria. Solutions discussed included getting the current vendor to add items, or have main campus vendors bring sandwiches or other items to the law school. While a final solution has not been reached, Inman said that they are committed to finding one, saying “We’ll do our best to have some sort of schedule for hot food options for you in the fall.

Five UF Law students will be inducted into the UF Hall of Fame this week for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the University of Florida.

Since 1921, the University of Florida Hall of Fame has recognized seniors and graduate students who have consistently demonstrated an outstanding commitment to improving the University of Florida through campus and community involvement, participation in organized campus activities, and scholastic achievement. It is one of the most prestigious honors awarded to students by the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Florida.

Please join us in congratulating these exceptional law students on their dedication to the university:

• George Eppsteiner
• Camila Pachon
• Amber Seay
• Olga Shraybman
• Kimberly Thomas
• Melissa Welsh

Law students who exhibited their dedication to public service through pro bono and community service work were awarded with certificates of recognition at a ceremony in the Rare Book Room on Thursday. Students who volunteered 35 hours or more to the Pro Bono Project or Community Service Project were recognized.

“We wanted to throw this party for you to show how much we appreciate what you do, over and above your legal curriculum,” said Kristen Bryant, coordinator of the projects and assistant director for Career Development. “To dedicate volunteer time on top of that is incredible.”

This year’s graduating 3L students had a total of 2,763 hours of community service, compared with 1,038 from last year. They also accrued 9,204 hours of pro bono work, compared with 8,096 from last year. The combined volunteer hours for the class totaled 11,967.

“You blew last year’s graduating class out of the water,” said Bryant.

Christopher First was announced as student of the year for leading the class with the most pro bono hours by working with the 12th Circuit Public Defender’s Office. And Penny Taylor-Miller received student of the year honors for the most community service hours through her work with Fort White Elementary School and the Girl Scouts.

Dean Robert Jerry commended the students for their accomplishments and for demonstrating leadership qualities.

“One of the traditions at this law school is the preparation of our graduates for leadership positions,” said Jerry. “And by leadership we mean broadly giving back to the community, giving back to the state, the region and serving other people. And what these students have done is demonstrate that in their lives right now and are already projecting the professional values that the Gator Nation has celebrated for quite a long time.”

The certificates were divided into three categories: the first category was for students who dedicated 35-69 hours of volunteer time in either program, the certificate of excellence was awarded to students with 70-104 hours and the certificate of outstanding achievement was given to those who volunteered 105 hours or more.

There were approximately 100 certificates awarded this year, said Bryant.

The University of Florida Alumni Association , Inc. has established the Outstanding Young Alumni Award to recognize alumni who are 35 years of age or younger and have distinguished themselves in their profession and community. The Levin College of Law is proud to announce two UF Law graduates, J. Grier Pressly III and Gregory S. Weiss, recognized this year as Outstanding Young Alumni.

J. Grier Pressly III (JD 99), who was recently recognized as a “Rising Star” by Florida Super Lawyers magazine, is a litigation and trusts and estates attorney with his family’s West Palm Beach firm, Pressly & Pressly, P.A. Pressly, his father, James G. Pressly Jr. (JD 72), and his uncle, David Pressly (JD 79), are all double Gators and long-time supporters of the University of Florida and the Levin College of Law.

Pressly graduated with honors from UF Law and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1999. Among his many accomplishments during his college career at UF, Pressly was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Florida Blue Key (and a producer of Gator Growl in 1997), and he was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame, which is the highest honor bestowed on undergraduate students.

Pressly continues to serve his profession, community and the University of Florida. He has served as a member of the University of Florida Law Alumni Council, and currently serves on the Gator Boosters Board of Directors. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Palm Beach County Bar Association, and is a past-president of the association’s Young Lawyers Section. Pressly also is a member of The Florida Bar, is a director on the board of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, and is a director on the board of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

Pressly co-authored updates to Florida Estates Practice Guide (LexisNexis), and the chapter, “Removal of the Personal Representative and Surcharge,” in Litigation Under the Florida Probate Code, 2000. He also co-authored the journal article, “Payment of the Student Athletes: Legal and Practical Obstacles,” Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal, 2000.

Gregory S. Weiss(JD 98) is a partner at the Palm Beach Gardens firm, Leopold~Kuvin, P.A. He focuses his practice on business, antitrust, commercial and corporate litigation, as well as select product defect, automotive crashworthiness and personal injury litigation.Weiss is a double Gator who completed the Army R.O.T.C. program and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army following earning his undergraduate degree in 1995. During law school, Weiss served as the chairman of the Justice Campbell Thornal National Moot Court Board and was selected to the Order of the Barristers.

Following graduation from law school, Weiss served as an officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps at the 82d Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, U.S. Army Forces Command, Ft. McPherson, Georgia, and the Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, Calif. In addition, Weiss completed a one-year deployment to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II, serving as the Chief of Military Justice for the 13th COSCOM in central Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq.

Before joining Leopold~Kuvin, Weiss practiced for several years as a commercial litigator, focusing on complex commercial and intellectual property litigation in both state and federal courts. He is a member of The Florida Bar, the California Bar, and the bars of the U.S. district courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern districts of Florida. Weiss is the chairman of the Martin County Bar Association Litigation Committee, is president-elect of the University of Florida Law Alumni Counsel and is an active member of the American Inns of Court.

This year’s symposium, “Threats to Freedom of Expression, Freedom of the Press and Access Laws throughout the Americas,” addressed the benefits, challenges and current status of these issues from several different perspectives. Professor Jon Mills, dean emeritus and director of the Center for Governmental Responsibility introduced and facilitated a panel of experts as they each made separate but complimentary presentations on the topic.

“One of the major roles of the press and free speech is to allow criticism, which is why it’s a fundamental principle of democracy,” said Mills during his introduction of the panel. He pointed out the wide range of ways freedom of expression suppressed, historically and currently, ranging from censorship to execution.

The panel consisted of Julio Muñoz, executive director of the Inter American Press Association, Sandra Chance, executive director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and Diana Daniels, trustee at Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds Complex.

Muñoz began with a presentation that focused on the challenges Latin American countries face regarding freedom of the press and the importance of access laws.

“We would like to emphasize very clearly that information doesn’t belong to the government; information belongs to the people,” he said, adding that while the issue is often taken for granted in the United States and other countries, it can be an obstacle in Latin America.

He explained that access laws are relatively new in Latin American countries and have been met with resistance in some cases because of cultural and institutional barriers. And the Inter American Press Association is working toward greater acceptance of access laws where there has been resistance.

“As long as we can have access to information, we can have a better world within the Americas,” Muñoz said.

Next, Chance addressed issues of free speech and free press issues in the United States, emphasizing the importance of freedom of information laws.

She pointed out that the press in the United States might not be as free as Americans often think. Citing a 2009 survey by Freedom House, which ranked levels of press freedom in 195 countries, she said the United States tied with Luxembourg for 20th. But it was an improvement over ranking 53rd in 2008.

While there are laws, such as the Freedom of Information Act, to help safeguard the right to information, there have been recent challenges to press freedoms, particularly since Sept. 11. Press freedoms have regressed in some ways through increased privacy issues making access to information more difficult; journalists being jailed, subpoenaed and threatened; and through the government questioning the patriotism of journalists who ask questions.

Chance said currently the biggest challenges for openness in the United States include, “a passion for personal privacy that occasionally borders on panic,” software copyright issues, private business interests and the government’s need to recover the cost of making information available.

The greatest benefit to effective freedom of information laws is more accountability in government, she said.

Lastly, Daniels looked at how power and money affect freedom of expression in the Americas.

“In Latin America, I think it’s fair to say that many of the threats to freedom of expression and freedom of the press arise from an abuse of power and a profound and destabilizing corruption,” said Daniels. Instances of this type of abuse range from official policies of censorship to more subtle methods, such as government backed campaigns against traditional media and attempts to disrupt the supply and distribution of information.

Daniels said threats to freedom of expression are minimal in the United States when compared with Latin America, but are still present. The greatest obstacles include consolidation of media outlets and new media issues, such as local governments posting notices online, but not in print. This can result in less public scrutiny, access problems for people in rural or poor areas and issues regarding the reliability of publishing permanent versus alterable information.

Peer and lawyer/judge assessment scores place UF Law in the top 40 on both counts: 38th overall and 17th among publics in peer assessment, and 39th overall and 18th among publics in lawyer/judge assessment. Assessment scores are often regarded as the most accurate rankings categories, since they do not rely on self-reported financial and placement data that may be subject to manipulation and are unverifiable.

“Compared to last year, the college rose in both assessment scores and our internal calculations showed improvement in nearly all areas covered by the U.S. News rankings formula,” said UF Law Dean Robert Jerry. “I emphasize, however, that any improvements are due to our ongoing efforts to become an even better law school, and not in response to external rankings.”

“I reiterate each year my concerns about the validity of rankings, but I have also always said we ignore them at our peril,” said Jerry. “I am pleased that the U.S. News ranking reflects our longstanding status as the state’s premier law school.”

The University of Florida Levin College of Law was also ranked first in Florida, eighth overall and fourth among public schools by Super Lawyers in 2009 in the first national ranking of law schools to consider “output,” i.e. the caliber of a school’s graduates.

“Our school has been preparing its graduates for significant leadership roles for more than 100 years,” said Jerry. “Our 18,000-plus alumni include numerous leaders in law, business, government, public service and education at the state and national level. No other law school has produced as many presidents of the American Bar Association in the past four decades — five including 2010-11 president Steve Zack.”

UF Law graduates also are represented by the majority of The Florida Bar presidents, including its immediate past president, John G. White III, and president-elect, Mayanne Downs; four governors of Florida; and hundreds of state senators and representatives and Florida Cabinet members. Nine graduates became college presidents, including at UF. More than a dozen have served as deans of law schools. It ranked fourth among public law schools in 2008 (eighth overall) in the number of its graduates serving as federal district and circuit court judges; more than 250 graduates serve as state appellate and trial judges in Florida, and many serve in those roles in other states as well.

The school also boasts an impressive list of distinguished visitors to campus, including five Supreme Court Justices in the last five years. A series of major renovation and new construction projects in recent years has transformed the college’s physical space and placed it at the forefront of major law schools providing students with state-of-the-art facilities.

A major $25 million expansion and renovation project that concluded in 2005 made the UF Law library the largest in the Southeast and among the top 20 in the country, and added two “towers” with state-of-the-art classroom space. The first phase of construction on the 20,000 square-foot Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center was completed in time to host the October 2009 oral arguments for the First District Court of Appeals. The facility houses a fully functional trial and appellate courtroom with a 100-seat gallery, bench for seven judges, judge’s chambers, jury box, deliberation room and attorney’s tables. Construction on the second floor is expected to begin in fall 2010, with completion expected in spring 2011.