Apply now for externships
Many opportunities are available in the Gainesville area for Spring 2011 externships. Go to the externships page to view locations and apply. Externships provide practical experience and permit you to earn course credit while you take other classes. The deadline for applications for most externships is Thursday, Oct. 14.

UF Law welcomes Luis Maria Palma
We would like to welcome Luis Maria Palma of Buenos Aires, Argentina to the College of Law. He is here with his wife, Paula. He will be teaching a foreign enrichment program on Latin America Judicial System & Reform from Oct. 4 to Dec. 1. Palma teaches at the University of Buenos Aires, and works for the Argentine Supreme Court as General Coordinator of the National Judicial Management Commission. He also works as a consultant for the U.S. Embassy on judicial reform issues. He has taught and consulted on these issues throughout Latin America and at the National Judicial College in the U.S. Palma’s office is located in HOL 362, or you can reach him by email at lmpalma@ufl.edu or by phone, 352-273-0995.

A Global Approach to Legal Education – Semester exchange programs deadline Oct. 13
The Levin College of Law offers numerous opportunities for semester study abroad. We encourage all students to consider these programs, as lawyers today have increasing global responsibilities for both domestic and foreign clients. Students can transfer up to 16 credits from the 10 one-semester exchange programs, including the two newest exchanges in Israel. Program eligibility is based on completion of first year and good academic standing. Grades are pass/fail and are not factored in to GPA. Students pay tuition only to UF and are responsible for all travel, housing and other costs. Financial aid may be used for study abroad. It does not cost anything to apply and be considered. Just fill out the UF Law application for the exchange programs; if accepted, we will forward your information to our partner institution and there will be some additional paperwork for them. Then, the only application fee is the $250 UF International Center (UFIC) fee, which you can pay after you know you are accepted. Links to our partner institutions and the application for the exchange programs can be found here. To discuss any of these programs, please contact Michelle Ocepek in the Office of Student Affairs in HOL 164 or e-mail her at ocepek@law.ufl.edu or call 352-273-0620.

Find out about Environmental and Land Use Law opportunities
The Environmental and Land Use Law Program offers students many opportunities to learn about this exciting area of law and develop relevant skills, by earning a Certificate in Environmental and Land Use Law, or enrolling in any of the wide array of course offerings, including the Conservation Clinic, summer externships and the Summer Study Abroad in Costa Rica. A one year post-J.D. LL.M. is also offered through the program. In addition, students can gain experience and knowledge, broaden their networks, and get to know fellow students and faculty by participating in the Environmental and Land Use Law Society (GreenLAW), the Environmental Moot Court Team and the Public Interest Environmental Conference. This year, the program will also offer several fellowships for students involved with the program. To learn more about these opportunities, students should attend the ELULP informational meeting Tuesday, Oct. 12, from 12–12:50 p.m. in HOL 345. If you want to learn more now, please visit our website, or contact Lena Hinson at elulp@law.ufl.edu if you have specific questions or want to set up an appointment with Program Director Alyson Flournoy.

Enrollment deadline for Environmental and Land Use Law Certificate Program
Students interested in enrolling in the Environmental and Land Use Law Certificate Program for this semester are encouraged to do so before Monday, Oct. 18. Through the Environmental & Land Use Law Certificate Program, students can graduate from law school with a valuable credential that indicates both concentration and accomplishment in these two fields. If you have recently enrolled, or plan to do so, please contact Lena Hinson at hinson@law.ufl.edu to set up an appointment with Program Director Alyson Flournoy to discuss your course of study for Spring 2011. For more information on the ELUL Certificate Program, please click here. Enrollment forms are available online or in HOL 319. Students enrolled in the certificate program will receive e-mail notification regarding priority pre-registration for core courses.

Anti-Defamation League Fellowship in Boca Raton
The 2011 Yegelwel Fellowship provides a $4,000 stipend to a UF Law student to participate in a Summer Fellowship Program at the Anti-Defamation League Florida Regional Office in Boca Raton. A generous gift from UF Law alumnus Evan Yegelwel, who graduated in 1980, has made this Fellowship possible. Yegelwel is a partner in the Jacksonville law firm of Terrell Hogan Ellis Yegelwel, PA.
Fellowship duties: The fellowship will last eight to 10 weeks, with the student committing to a minimum of 35 hours per week. The fellow will be supervised by the ADL Southern Area Counsel. Previous fellows conducted legal and legislative research on a broad variety of subjects including freedom of speech and association, religious freedom and separation of church and state, and employment and public accommodations discrimination. The fellow also handled constituent discrimination complaints and participated in ADL meetings, functions and events.
Eligibility:The Yegelwel Fellowship is limited to UF Law students who have successfully completed the first-year required curriculum, including Constitutional Law, and who are in good academic standing prior to beginning the fellowship. “Successful” completion of the first-year required curriculum means earning a passing grade in each course and maintaining an overall GPA of at least 3.0. First-year students are encouraged to apply for the fellowship, subject to verification of successful completion of their first-year courses prior to the start of the fellowship term. The student must also pass a background check. To apply, please submit the following: (1) a personal statement of 500 words or less outlining any past experiences or qualifications that indicate your interest in and commitment to public service; (2) a resume; (3) two references (including names, addresses and phone numbers); (4) an official transcript and (5) a letter verifying good academic standing. Please submit a hard copy of these items to Patricia Hancock in HOL 340. Deadline to apply is Nov. 1. Questions? Come to the Yegelwel Fellowship Open House. Past Fellows will discuss their experiences and answer questions about applying for the Fellowship, Wednesday, Oct. 13, at noon in HOL 350. Open to 1Ls, 2Ls and 3Ls. Pizza and refreshments will be served. For more information, please contact Melissa Bamba (CSRRR Assistant Director) at 352-273-0614 or bamba@law.ufl.edu.

Alyson Flournoy
Professor of Law,
Director, Environmental & Land Use Law Program
Flournoy coordinated and served as editor for a report that was released recently on regulatory failures in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and how to avoid future catastrophes. The report – “Regulatory Blowout: How Regulatory Failures Made the BP Disaster Possible and How the System Can Be Fixed to Avoid a Recurrence” – was written under the auspices of the Center for Progressive Reform and can be found here.

“Study shows BP oil spill could have been prevented by regulation” (Sept. 30, 2010, Inhabitat.com)

The oil spill regulations report coordinated and edited by Flournoy was used as the basis for this article, which presents some of the report’s findings.

From the article:
“‘BP is responsible for this disaster, without question,’ said study co-author Alyson Flournoy, CPR Member Scholar and law professor at the University of Florida. ‘But the Minerals Management Service’s permissive approach to its regulatory responsibilities together with inadequate legislative mandates for safety and environmental protection, and Congress’s inadequate funding of MMS created an environment that allowed BP to take shortcuts with safety, with disastrous results.’”

“Greater oversight from feds needed to avoid another BP oil spill” (October 4, 2010, The Examiner)

Flournoy was interviewed about the CPR study that was released last week about the ideas presented in the study.

An excerpt from the interview:
“So, to another point cited in the report, why in the world is the big business of oil so cozy with those who regulate the industry? And while CPR is calling for changes now, why didn’t they occur sooner?”
“Flournoy laughed heartily. It seemed so obvious, and yet she said ‘the sad fact is when you read the current statute that governs drilling for oil and gas — our public natural resources — there is very, very little attention to health, safety or environmental protection …And over time that helped to create an environment with a weak agency with little or inadequate funding and lack of a mandate to protect the public, and the environment became a captive of industry and dependent on industry. So now, it is abundantly and sadly, tragically obvious that we need this kind of independence.’”

Fletcher N. Baldwin, Jr.
Emeritus Professor
Baldwin is currently on a three-week lecture series on the subject of international financial crimes and money laundering at Beijing University and the University of Shanghai.

Nancy Dowd
David H. Levin Chair in Family Law and Director, Center on Children & Families
Dowd just received reprints for her recently published article, “The “F” Factor: Fineman as Method and Substance” for a colloquim celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Feminism and Legal Theory Project, 59 Emory Law Journal 1191 (2010).

Shani King
Associate Professor
King presented “The Ethics of Representing Children” with adjunct professor Gabriela Ruiz to the Children’s Legal Services Grantees Conference, a statewide conference of children’s legal services advocates. The intent was to explore some of the complex ethical issues that arise in the legal representation of children.

Lyrissa Lidsky
Stephen C. O’Connell Chair
“Deltona ‘gigolo’ says his online ads are legal” (Oct. 4, 2010, Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Lidsky commented on an article about online ads on websites like Craigslist.org and Backpage.org where escort services are advertised. Although Craigslist.org has banned the ads, Backpage.com has not; and they are not screening the ads.

From the article:
“Lyrissa Lidsky, a professor of law at the University of Florida, said commercial speech proposing a transaction gets less protection than other types of speech.”
“‘(An ad) has to be lawful. It has to propose a lawful transaction,’ she said. ‘It seems to me if these are transparently ads for illegal activities, then the First Amendment protection is not there.’”
“The question of what liability media outlets incur when publishing ads suggestive of illegal behavior remains open, Lidsky said, pointing to two pre-Internet cases involving the magazine Soldier of Fortune. In the 1980s, the magazine published classified ads for mercenaries that led to two cases that resulted in murders.”

Joseph Little
Emeritus ProfessorLaw shields Volusia from beach-driving suits” (Oct. 3, 2010, The Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Little comments in this article that examines cases where pedestrians have been hit or killed by cars driving on the beach in Volusia County, and why there have been few cases of the county facing lawsuits because of it. One main reason is the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which in Florida, extends to planning-level decisions, but not operational-level actions.

From the article:
“‘Whether or not to put up a traffic light at a particular intersection is a planning-level decision,’ explained Joseph Little, emeritus professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. ‘Once you put it up and, say, the light burns out, and the city fails to replace the light … and a crash occurs, that would be operational.’”
“Ironically, Little pointed out, those signs [the county has recently put on the beach] could actually make the county liable.”
“‘If you put up a sign that people begin to rely upon, and someone knocks it down, and the county doesn’t put it back up again in a reasonable amount of time … there could be certain risks,’ he said.”

Jon Mills
Dean Emeritus Director, Center for Governmental Responsibility Rutgers University case highlights how advancing technology can easily be misused” (Oct. 4, 2010, Orlando Sentinel)

Mills commented on privacy in the digital age in an article that looks at technology and the law in relation to the case of the Rutgers University student who committed suicide.

From the article:
“‘The core problem is the technology has gotten so far ahead of our culture that we don’t realize collectively the impact,’ said Jon Mills, a law professor at the University of Florida, and nationally known expert on privacy. ‘It’s so easy to intrude … that intrusions are going to happen. We have to both realize that and we have to learn to punish too.’”
“Mills and prosecutors weren’t aware of any proposals to toughen the law in Florida.”

Winston Nagan
Samuel T. Dell Research Scholar Professor of Law Founding Director, Institute for Human Rights and Peace DevelopmentMarco Rubio’s Tea Party: A blank check” (Oct. 6, 2010, The Gainesville Sun)

Nagan contributed an op-ed article where he criticized Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio’s seeming lack of fresh ideas or willingness to express his position on issues. Nagan also criticized the Tea Party movement, citing racist motivations and misguided ideas about governance.

From the article:
“In the hope of finding something fresh in Rubio’s ideas, alas, I listened as he recited some old hackneyed phrases from the GOP headquarters in Washington. He was incredibly disappointing. So I wonder what it is that has energized the Tea Party community in their ardent support of him. I take three of the points he has made and try to show that candidate Rubio has almost no sense of what’s going on.”

Gabriela Ruiz
Adjunct Professor
Ruiz presented “The Ethics of Representing Children” with Professor Shani King to the Children’s Legal Services Grantees Conference, a statewide conference of children’s legal services advocates. The intent was to explore some of the complex ethical issues that arise in the legal representation of children.

Michael Seigel
Professor“Lawmakers seek to close corruption loophole” (Oct. 1, 2010, Security Management)

Seigel’s testimony during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing regarding the Supreme Court’s decision in Skilling v. United States was referenced in an article examining the case. The hearing was to discuss legislation regarding honest services mail and wire fraud.

From the article:
“Michael L. Seigel, University of Florida Research Foundation Professor of Law, agreed with Breuer, but also noted that Congress should make the new law specific in establishing what conduct would be illegal. Such precise language is necessary, said Seigel, to prevent erroneous interpretation.”

Michael Siebecker
Associate Professor
Recently presented “Corporate Social Responsibility and a New Discourse Theory of the Firm” at the EABIS 9th Annual Colloquium on Corporate Responsibility and Emerging Markets at St. Petersburg State University Graduate School of Management (Russia).

He also presented “Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law: An Alternative Career Path for Lawyers” for the Corporate and Securities Litigation Group and Association of Law & Business at the Levin College of Law.

Prof. Kenneth Nunn, right, with executive director of the Florida Innocence Comission, Lester Garringer, at an Oct. 4 organizational meeting. (Photo by Joey Springer)

Lester Garringer, executive director of the Florida Innocence Commission, discussed research opportunities with students on Monday, Oct. 4. The Commission was established by order of Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady to conduct a comprehensive study of the causes of wrongful convictions and of measure to prevent such convictions. The Commission is seeking 2L and 3L student volunteers to help research information related to the causes of wrongful convictions.

The Florida Innocence Commission is established to provide a mechanism to recommend to the Supreme Court of Florida solutions to eliminate or significantly reduce the causes for wrongful or erroneous convictions. The Commission brings together prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, legislative representatives, and victim advocates, to work together to identify the common causes of wrongful convictions, and to recommend procedures to decrease the possibility of these convictions in the future.

Garringer promises students “will find the work extremely rewarding.”

“It is not easy, but it is different,” he said.

Students interested in trial work will find the project especially interesting, and he believes the experience will follow them through the rest of their careers.

“We are all really excited to start working on this project,” said Samantha Newman, 3L one of four UF Law students leading the project at the University of Florida. “I think it’s great that Florida is working proactively with regards to the serious problem of wrongful convictions and trying to figure out what the causes are.”

The Florida Innocence Commission is currently funded with a one-time legislative grant of $200,000. The Florida Bar Foundation has provided an additional grant of about $115,000.

For more information on the Innocence Commission, please visit their website.

IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins discussed the service's evolving adaptation to today's world. (Photo by Joey Springer)

Adaptation to one’s environment is key to survival, and while that may have first been observed in the animal world, it holds true in many circumstances. The IRS faces the same challenge, and on Thursday, Oct. 7, IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins described to students what the service is doing to adapt to the changing circumstances of today’s world.

One of the themes of current practice that Wilkins described was how to best leverage the staff of his office into favorable results. Many people might be surprised to learn that the Office of Chief Counsel has around 2,500 employees, which is no small number. But when that number is compared with the approximately 300 million Americans in this country, not to mention the millions of businesses, it becomes apparent that Wilkins must use his staff wisely to get the necessary results.

He described one successful use of leverage that emerged from the fallout of the UBS scandal.

“You may remember,” Wilkins said, “that UBS was caught promoting tax evasion as a business model, and that was leading to the disclosure of a lot of secret accounts within that organization.” Afterward, the IRS decided to let others who had stashed income in overseas accounts fess up, under what the service termed the Voluntary Disclosure Program. Those who came clean could settle their tax matters, and would not have to face the harsher penalties that would be waiting for them if they kept silent.

“The outcome exceeded all the hopes,” Wilkins said. Instead of spending years or decades trying to catch and punish these tax cheats, the Office of Chief Counsel was able to use their resources efficiently and recover the unpaid tax dollars that were due. “We were able to leverage a few hundred practitioners into 15,000 disclosures,” Wilkins said.

The average middle-class taxpayer knows a couple things about filing taxes: tax forms are difficult to decipher, and private accountants don’t come cheap. With this in mind, it’s not surprising that tax preparation offices that cater to the middle-class have become widespread and successful. However, taxpayers have recently come to also understand that the person behind the desk may not know much more about taxes than the customer.

One of the service’s future goals is to regulate those who are paid to prepare anyone’s tax return. “Later on,” Wilkins said, “preparers will need to pass a test and do continuing education to maintain their eligibility to be a paid preparer. The goal there is to try to elevate the quality of the tax preparer.”

He also detailed that the IRS has become much more than a tax collector. With the economy in a slump, the government has notably used the service to implement strategies to improve the economy. One that just about everybody has heard of is the first-time house-buyer credit, which gave the public a tempting financial incentive to buy a house. While filling out one tax return may seem cumbersome, handling hundreds of millions of them, while trying to correctly implement new and creative measures like the home-buyer credit, is quite a difficult task.

Nevertheless, the IRS was up to the task. Wilkins was proud of how well it was handled, and also thought it was a good demonstration of the breadth of the current service. “The IRS really did a remarkable job in rolling that out,” he said, “and it shows the robustness of the organization in terms of its ability to interact, at the retail level, with lots and lots of people.”

Civil clinics afford students the opportunity to gain valuable legal practice experience. (File photo)

“I don’t know why anyone would want to graduate law school without having taken a clinic,” said Christiane Rossi, 3L.

The Virgil D. Hawkins Civil Clinics at the Levin College of Law are substantial learning experiences that afford students the opportunity to gain valuable legal experience with real people and real cases.

Most clinics offer Certified Legal Internship (CLI) for client representation under the Student Practice Rule. CLI status can be recertified for up to 12 months to allow graduates working in certain public sector jobs to represent clients while studying for the Bar.

Rossi fought to get in the IPVAC (Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic) not only because of the experience of the clinic, but also because of her life experiences as a domestic violence survivor.

Rossi is not shy about her life experiences, and also has a son with autism. He is 15, and she has been fighting to protect him and his rights his whole life, she said.

“He is the reason I wanted to go to law school. I came to law school because I wanted to be an advocate for children. I have not lost sight of that goal,” she said.

Rossi appreciates that the clinics offer clients in need an opportunity for legal representation and advice, and the opportunity for students to experience face-to-face interaction with clients who are able to communicate to students their struggles, passions, secrets and goals.

“I have had a really full law school experience,” said Rossi, who has had externship and volunteer experience. “I can honestly say that the clinic experience is the closest to actual practice, and I feel the best way to prepare for actual practice.”

Rossi said that in an externship, a student only gets to observe, and maybe participate minimally to get an understanding of the practice of law.

“But in a clinic, the clients are yours. You work with real people with real problems, and the consequences for a lack of preparation are not only yours,” she said.

“The knowledge we learn in the classroom is important, and it is in the clinics that we truly see if we can apply that knowledge to actual practice,” she said. “As I come close to graduating, I feel comfortable with getting a job and practicing right out of law school.”

To learn more about the clinics, visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/centers/hawkins/.