Clockwise from left: Erick Smith, Stephen McCullers, Rachel Bruce, Henry Perlstein and Vivek Babbar continue to make progress on the Law School Woods Restoration Project, which they hope will enable students and faculty to enjoy the area as a comfortable, natural environment.

By Henry Perlstein
Special to FlaLaw

University of Florida Levin College of Law student volunteers from GreenLaw participated in the Law School Woods Spring Cleanup Day led by GreenLaw’s Law School Woods Coordinator Henry Perlstein. The group worked nearly four hours March 20 using wheelbarrows, pitchforks and rakes to apply mulch to the western perimeter of the woods. Mulching the paths that channel sediment-laden storm-water toward Lake Alice reduces erosion. The students also worked with Erick Smith, the law school woods consulting restoration arborist, to remove invasive exotic species from the woods area.

On Thursday, nearly a dozen members of UF Law’s Conservation Clinic mulched a path from the entrance of the woods to the pavilion/study area, and planted new plants along the path. Smith also provided tools and consultation for this event. The objective in the second mulching is to encourage students to use the newly acquired park benches in the woods.

In addition to the Fall and Spring Cleanup Days, the Law School Woods Restoration Project has worked with the UF Department of Parking and Transportation to have the parking space in front of the entrance to the woods (along Village Drive) designated a no-parking zone. The project’s leaders believe it will increase visibility of the woods and improve the safety of students entering the woods from the other side of the street.

Through the university Physical Plant, members of the project have arranged to acquire additional park benches and picnic tables, and make repairs to ensure the stability of pavilion. Despite its sturdy condition and new look, the pavilion is actually quite old.

Project leaders believe that upon the completion of these plans, the woods will be an area where students can study, relax or gather in a serene, beautiful, natural and comfortable area. They hope that groups (and even classes) will be able meet there, enabling students and faculty to enjoy the woods, while carrying out their regular law school business.

Elinor Robin, Ph.D., a practicing mediator and certified primary trainer with the Dispute Resolution Center for the Florida Supreme Court, conducted mediation training last week for nearly 30 law students. (Photo by Nicole Safker)

By Nicole Safker
Law Student Writer

Trustworthiness. Honesty. Persuasiveness. Compassion. Objectivity.

These are qualities of a good mediator identified by the 27 Levin College of Law students who took part in the first Mediation Training Program held March 18-21 at UF Law.

The training was hosted by the Conflict Resolution Initiative (CRI), a newly founded group sponsored by the Institute for Dispute Resolution (IDR), under direction of Legal Skills Professor Robin Davis, and Gators for Alternative Dispute Resolution (GADR).

The training was conducted by Elinor Robin, Ph.D., a practicing mediator and certified primary trainer with the Dispute Resolution Center for the Florida Supreme Court. To kick off the training, students attended registration and were provided breakfast before taking part in training sessions until 6:30 p.m. The weekend part of the training consisted of all-day training sessions with Robin.

Robin shared amusing anecdotes and stories with the group, drawn from her firsthand experience in dealing with diverse clients and disputes, and placed a strong emphasis on student participation in the training sessions. In the Friday afternoon session, students broke into groups and shared what they thought were qualities or characteristics that an effective mediator must possess. The small groups then collaborated to form a cumulative list.

Participation in the intensive training was the first step for the first group of 27 students to become Florida Supreme Court Certified County Court Mediators. They must also complete observation hours and submit applications to the Dispute Resolution Center of the Florida Supreme Court.

“Our main goals at CRI are to provide excellent and professional mediation services to the UF community while giving UF Law students the opportunity to become Florida Supreme Court Certified County Court Mediators,” said Quentin Harris, a 1L and CRI member.

Harris said that in addition to helping students attain certification, the Institute plans to work closely with the Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Center on main campus in partnership with Chris Loschiavo, assistant dean of students for UF. The Center has already referred several disputes for mediation to the law-student mediation group.

The Conflict Resolution Initiative has also embarked on an outreach campaign aimed to inform students and Gainesville residents of the mediation opportunity. The Initiative students who attended the training will seek out roommate disputes from the residence halls and other undergraduate disputes referred from the Center, as well as potential criminal claims from the UF and Gainesville Police Departments, disputes from apartment complexes and “a multitude of other disputes,” Harris said.

H. Max Wihnyk, a 1L and member of the inaugural training group, recommends that students attend the training – as it is a great opportunity to not only improve mediation skills, but also will help prepare students to be better lawyers. He also emphasized the value of the service CRI mediators will provide to students. “Through mediation, we will be able to help students resolve their issues in a way that both can walk away knowing that their interest was treated equal to the other’s,” he said.

The Initiative plans bi-annual Mediation Training sessions for law students interested in serving as Certified County Court Mediators. UF Law students interested in participating in a future training session or who desire more information can email cri@law.ufl.edu or go on the Web at http://www.law.ufl.edu/idr/cri.

Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree spoke Thursday at UF Law on race issues in America today. (Photo by Nicole Safker)

By Nicole Safker
Law Student Writer

People don’t normally expect to be arrested on their front porch on suspicion of burglarizing their own home.

But that is precisely what happened to a prominent African-American Harvard law professor in 2009.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested for disorderly conduct on the porch of his Cambridge, Mass., home after a confrontation with a police officer. The police officer had responded to a dispatch call made after a woman observed two men attempting to force a door open. The two men were Gates and his driver, and they were struggling to open the door because of a faulty lock.

The case raised issues at the intersections of race and class, and the constitutionally required presumption of innocence by the justice system. Gates’ situation also cast serious doubt on the notion of America as a post-racial society.

It is the validity of that assumption – that Americans are treated the same regardless of the color of their skin – that served as fodder for Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr.’s talk last Thursday at UF Law. Ogletree was invited to campus to give the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations’ (CSRRR) 8th Annual Spring Lecture.

About 120 students, faculty, staff and community members gathered in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom as Ogletree shared his unique perspective in his lecture, “Are We in A Post-Racial Society? Race in America Today.”

Not only has Ogletree made a name for himself as a prominent legal theorist, criminal defense attorney and an influential champion of civil rights, he has written and lectured widely on issues of racial profiling, capital punishment, reparations and juvenile justice. He is currently the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and the director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard.

Ogletree first discussed the issue of a post-racial America in the context of his relationship with President Barack Obama and future wife Michelle Obama (born Robinson) while the two were Ogletree’s students at Harvard Law School.

“(President Obama) had a vision that everyone has a voice in government ,” Prof. Ogletree said. “That same idea that everyone’s voice counts; that became part of his legend.”

The year 2008 was a turning point for social and political relations in America. But, Ogletree said, Obama’s election prompted the birth of a risky argument – furthered by politicians, lawmakers and citizens alike – that since Americans now have a black president, “we have overcome the vestiges of the past, and now we’re in a post-racial America,” and this new America can now safely abolish hard-fought protections and benefits intended to help place minorities on equal ground – such as the Voting Rights Act.

Obama also espouses the ideal of a post-racial society, but for a different reason. “It’s amazing to see how race becomes a conundrum that undermines most of what he hopes to do because his campaign was based on (the idea that) race doesn’t matter,” Ogletree said.

Ogletree combined the experience of Gates with discussion of the possibility of a post-racial society in his most recent book, “The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America.”

After the talk, Ogletree met with students and others and signed copies of his book.

Professor Katheryn Russell-Brown, director of the Center of Race and Race Relations, said the objective of the spring lecture is to “celebrate and recognize scholarship that focuses unblinkingly on race.” She said that through Ogletree’s diverse body of work, “he shows not just that race matters, but how and for whom and why all of us should care.”

Russell-Brown said everyone involved was pleased with the turnout, which was the largest of any CSRRR spring lecture. The ability of Ogletree to speak to many different audiences and appeal to many different points of view was a main reason for the event’s success, she said.

“Professor Ogletree has the deep respect of his colleagues, students, friends and family and it’s a high compliment to say that someone speaks truth to power. It’s appropriate to say that he also speaks the truth powerfully, both to those in power and to those less than powerful,” Russell-Brown said.