Warren M. Cason and D. Burke Kibler III will be inducted posthumously into the Heritage of Leadership Society during a ceremony Friday.

By Richard Goldstein

Two distinguished graduates of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, Warren M. Cason and D. Burke Kibler III, will be inducted posthumously into the Heritage of Leadership Society during a ceremony Friday.

Cason, once a partner with the Florida-based law firm Holland & Knight, and Kibler III, who served as the firm’s chairman from 1983 to 1995, will be inducted into the Heritage of Leadership Recognition Society in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom (HOL 180).

Cason and Kibler’s images and a few of their most significant accomplishments are etched into glass on the second floor of Holland Hall as a permanent tribute to their contributions to the nation, the state and the university. An electronic interactive display accompanies the glass etching.

The event will be sponsored by Holland & Knight.

Kibler, 1924-2009, served as second lieutenant during World War II in Europe where he was a forward artillery observer and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was a tireless advocate of higher education and served as chairman of the Board of Regents, governing body for Florida’s university system.

Cason, 1924-2010, served during World War II in the Pacific Theater, was chairman of the Law Center Association Board of Trustees, director of the UF Athletic Association and president of the UF Foundation. He was a State Road Board member, Tampa city attorney, Hillsborough County attorney and senior partner with Holland & Knight.

Cason and Kibler join 27 others in the Heritage of Leadership Recognition Society, representing illustrious personalities in the history of the University of Florida College of Law, since it was founded in 1909. Members are pre-eminent graduates and others who have been involved in the college in very significant ways. They assumed national leadership positions and distinguished themselves in legal, governmental, academic and corporate sectors. They labored to improve the administration of justice and received the highest commendations for contributions to the profession and service to education, civic, charitable and cultural causes.

Members of the Heritage of Leadership Recognition Society are selected by the Heritage of Leadership Committee, which presents the slate for discussion and approval to the full membership of the University of Florida Law Center Association, Inc. Board of Trustees.

Music Law Conference attendees were able to give tastemakers a sample of their music at last weekend's conference. From left are Michelle Fantas of Sony/ATV, producer Paul Trust, Alex Ploegsma, Esq. and Jeff Levin of Atlantic Records. (Photo by Vincent Massaro)

By Gillian Leytham
Special to FlaLaw

Over the past decade, the music industry has transformed significantly due to a number of advances in digital technology, as well as changes in policy, law and attitudes within the industry. On March 26, the University of Florida Levin College of Law Music Law Society addressed these issues at the Ninth Annual Music Law Conference.

The conference, entitled “DON’T PANIC: Navigating the Changing Universe of the Music Industry,” focused on the marked shift in the fundamental tenets of the music industry. The conference brought musicians, lawyers, students, academics, policy makers and entertainment professionals together for a conversation on how to handle these shifting dynamics.

“Today, we hope to shed some light on new developments in copyright law, explore what potentially lies in the future, tackle do-it-yourself in a digital landscape, identify new challenges in legal ethics, and look at the ins and outs of operating in today’s market,” Music Law Conference Executive Director Stephanie Falcon said during the opening statements of the conference.

The conference hosted a variety of panels and breakout sessions that were comprised of experts and professionals from many areas of the music industry, from entertainment attorneys and record label owners to producers and recording artists.

A few of the topics discussed in the panels included online music sharing, do-it-yourself techniques versus traditional commercial avenues, contract negotiation, changes and adaptations of the copyright law and a demo listening panel.

The first panel focused on the emergence of do-it-yourself techniques in the primarily digital landscape. Jeff Levin, an A & R manager for Atlantic Records; Vlad Vludovek, a co-founder of RocketHub; and Seth Horan, a singer/songwriter, participated in this panel, which was moderated by Falcon. The panelists discussed the use of Apple iTunes and social media to advertise, as well as a method to attract fans and followers.

“Is the record label dead?” Falcon asked.

“No, it’s not dead. It’s just evolving,” Levin said. “As long as we own catalogs, and as long as we have a bank of music, publishing companies and record labels can’t die. To take a band internationally is almost impossible without a major label. It’s just changing. It won’t go away.”

Horan disagreed about whether musicians need support from a record label in order to be successful internationally.

“You definitely need investment behind you if you are going to go international,” Horan said. “You need some form of infrastructure, and you do need somebody doing your events work. But it doesn’t necessarily have to come from a (record label). It could come from five college interns who just want to be a part of something and who have the energy and the time. It could come from a company that’s not necessarily a record company … I capitalized on companies that make musical instruments … People see me do it and they go ‘now we wanna buy it.’ It’s marketing by example.”

The second panel, led by UF Law Negotiation and Mediation Professor Jill Womble, focused on contract negotiations and discussed parts of a typical record or “360″ contract (a deal that gives the record label touring, merchandising and publishing rights as opposed to strictly rights to the music itself). The panel also emphasized the importance of having a lawyer and advised musicians and professionals to have a friend (who is also a lawyer) or an attorney who may agree to work pro bono, since it is not advisable for musicians to handle legal issues on their own.

During the third panel, a variety of industry players discussed perspectives on the future. While some believe that the major label is going to die, others suggest that it is merely changing and embracing a new method of profit. The panel also discussed the emergence of the 360 deal.

Greg Galloway, an entertainment attorney from Orlando who has represented many high-profile clients including Matchbox 20 and Taproot, was the keynote speaker for the conference and focused on what others in the industry are saying. When he suggested that social media is not the “end all, be all” of online networking, some audience members disagreed and brought up Susan Boyle, Justin Bieber, and Rebecca Black – sensations who have garnered worldwide attention mainly because of social media venues.

The fourth panel, which focused on copyright law, was by far the liveliest of the academic panels and consisted of a number of copyright attorneys and professors. They discussed the role of Disney in shaping copyright law and how to combat claims of infringing.

The final event was the demo listening panel, which allowed attendees to play their music for professionals at the forefront of developing and promoting artists, including Michelle Fantus, an A & R director for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and Jeff Levin.

The conference also sponsored two nights of live music showcases on March 25 and March 26 with more than a dozen Gainesville bands playing at :08 nightclub, Common Grounds and Rum Runners. Some of the featured bands included rockabilly band Hollowbody Hellraisers, Big Boat, Pedagogy and the Kadets.

For more details on the showcase and conference, visit the Music Law Conferencewebsite.

Harvard legal expert Joseph Singer, a nationally recognized expert in property law, will deliver the fourth Wolf Family Lecture at UF Law tomorrow at 11 a.m. (Photo by Phil Farnsworth, Harvard Law School)

By Matt Walker
Senior Writer

The fourth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property will explore how American property law helped serve as the foundation for democracy in the United States.

Harvard Law School Professor Joseph Singer, a nationally recognized expert in property law, will deliver the lecture titled, “Property Law as the Infrastructure of Democracy,” tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

“The subprime crisis has confronted us with the problems that come from too little regulation,” Singer said. “But debates about how to prevent a reoccurrence are hampered by the libertarian idea that regulations inevitably take away our freedom. On the contrary, freedom is not possible without the rule of law.”

Singer said regulation is just another word for law: “To see how law promotes freedom, we have only to consider the legal framework of property in a free and democratic society.”

Singer argues that regulations do not take away our freedom, but are what make us free. He said markets work only because of consumer protection and other regulatory laws. The history of American property law and its protections are also important in understanding and appreciating the democratic society we live in today.

“The history and structure of property law give us a better understanding of the legal framework of a free and democratic society that aspires to treat each person with equal concern and respect.”

“We are delighted to have Professor Singer visit UF law,” said UF Law Professor Christine Klein. “His work is always thought-provoking and insightful, making him one of today’s pre-eminent property law scholars.”

The Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise,Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real property treatise in the country, which is regularly cited by the courts, including several citations in the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I am thrilled that Professor Singer will have the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with our impressive students and our first-class faculty,” said Wolf.

Past scholars who have delivered the Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property include Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; Gregory S. Alexander, A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; and Lee Fennel, professor of law at the University of Chicago.

This event is free and open to the public.

Renowned scholar Richard A. Epstein, the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University Law School, spoke to more than 100 guests March 25 at the 30th Annual Florida Law Review Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law. (Photo by Vincent Massaro)

By Margaret Rowell Good
Special to FlaLaw

A handful of judges, alumni of the Florida Law Review, law school professors and students filled the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom at the University of Florida Levin College of Law to hear one of the nation’s preeminent Law and Economics scholars give a lively and entertaining lecture on the Wall Street Reform Act.

Renowned scholar Richard A. Epstein, the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University Law School, spoke to more than 100 guests March 25 at the 30th Annual Florida Law Review Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law.

Epstein, prior to joining the faculty at NYU, was the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. Epstein has also served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution since 2000.

Although the lecture was entitled “The Constitutionality of the Wall Street Reform Act,” Epstein admitted that he had not read the entire “sprawling conglomeration of multiple provisions” and proposed instead that he discuss one section of the Act, a subject “dear to the hearts of everybody (at the lecture)” – debit interchange rates.

Section 1075, commonly known as the Durbin Amendment, is the only section of the Act that has been subject to constitutional scrutiny.

Epstein is a member of the legal team representing TCF Financial Corporation, the bank bringing the constitutional challenge. The case is scheduled for an injunction hearing in federal district court today in Sioux Falls, S.D. As the leading academic spokesman in support of a more vigorous interpretation of the property clauses of the Constitution, Epstein discussed the confiscatory nature of Section 1075, which deals with the debit card interchange system.

Through Section 1075, which was passed into law in July 2010, the Federal Reserve gained regulatory control over the fees that banks charge businesses when customers use debit cards. Walgreens initially lobbied for the Amendment, which would relieve retail businesses of some of the transactional fees charged in debit card transactions.

Epstein noted that in the last five or six years, debit card revenues have exceeded credit card revenues and debit card usage has continued to grow. Although Epstein would take that as a sign of a robust and thriving market, this is not the inference that Walgreens and Sen. Dick Durbin made. According to Epstein in this “topsy turvy economy and economic theory that we have today, the greater your level of success, the greater exploitation you have committed against the unsuspecting.”

The Federal Reserve, as the agency responsible for implementing the Durbin Amendment, will require the debit interchange fees be reduced by about 75 to 90 percent. As an example, Epstein explained that for a bank like TCF, with overall profits of $200 million, “the loss of interchange fees is about $80 million, which means that your profits go down to 20 percent of what they previously were.”

The government argues that banks can make up for the interchange loss by imposing higher fees on their retail customers, who, in theory, should be paying less for consumer items because of the transaction fee regulation. Epstein believes that this compensation is not sufficient, and hence the action constitutes a regulatory taking. As Epstein noted, “Nobody would ever say, in a case of land, that if you took a plot of land worth $1 million, it was OK because you gave somebody the right to lease a another plot of land from which you would get $10 even. The fact that there is an existence of a right to get some money as opposed to the full and perfect equivalent of what you’ve lost, which is the constitutional standard” is insufficient.

The Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law was established by the law firms of Dunwody, White and Landon, P.A. and Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody and Cole and the U.S. Sugar Corporation in honor of Elliot and Atwood Dunwody.