Competitors from left, Andrew Labbe, Dylan Shea, Kelsey Veitengruber, Leigh Anne Siddle, Jordan Peterson and Dan Lazaro stand in front of judges from left, Bradford L. Thomas, Stephanie W. Ray, William Terrell Hodges and Thomas B. Smith.

The 28th annual Maguire Appellate Advocacy Competition impressed law students and legal professionals alike on Friday, Feb. 17, in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center courtroom.

Among the many in attendance was a distinguished panel of judges, including Senior United States District Judge William Terrell Hodges (LLB 58) from the Middle District of Florida; First District Court of Appeals Judges Stephanie W. Ray and Bradford L. Thomas (JD 82); and United States Magistrate Judge Thomas B. Smith (JD 77) from the Middle District of Florida.

The fictional case brought on appeal, Ryan Reed vs. Oliver Porth and Pluribus Health, challenged a state’s power to limit Medicaid coverage to autistic children.

Dylan Shea (2L), and Andrew Labbe (3L) represented the petitioner, while Daniel Lazaro (3L) and Jordan Peterson (3L) represented the respondent. The competitors were also supported by alternates Leigh Anne Siddle (3L) and Kelsey Veitengruber (2L).

While the petitioner and respondent presented their arguments, the judges interjected with questions; a challenge that showcased the oral advocacy abilities of the competitors.

To conclude the competition, Judge Hodges announced Peterson as best oralist and the respondent as best team.

“The presentations were excellent,” Judge Hodges said before announcing the winners.

The Maguire competition is named after Raymer F. Maguire Jr. (JD 15), managing partner of Maguire, Voorhis & Wells, P.A., and UF Law alumnus. In 1998, Maguire, Voorhis & Wells, P.A. merged with Holland & Knight LLP, who continues the tradition of sponsoring the competition.

Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law and director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University School of Law will present the Wolf Family Lecture Tuesday at 11 a.m.

The fifth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property will explore pertinent issues facing land use regulation tomorrow.

Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law and director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University School of law will present, “Who Controls Land Use Regulation: The Urban Growth Machine versus Homevoters,” Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

“Professor Been is a leading land use scholar whom we’re fortunate to have as our Wolf Family Lecture speaker,” said Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Alyson Flournoy. “Her topic is one that has particular resonance here in Florida where the debate over growth management and citizen participation in the process has been so prominent.”

Been’s Furman Center recently received the MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The prestigious award recognizes the Furman Center as being one of the leading institutions addressing land use and housing issues in progressive and creative ways. Been specializes in land use regulation, property, and state and local governments.

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

The Wolf family’s strong ties to the University of Florida date back to the 1930s, when Professor Wolf’s father, Leonard Wolf, was a UF undergraduate. Since that time, two more generations of his descendants have made their way to Gainesville to study and work.

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; Lee Fennel, Max Pam Professor of Law at the University of Chicago; and Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School.

The Wolf Family Lecture is free and open to the public.

Carol Browner (JD 79) spoke of her work experiences under the Clinton and Obama Administration and of the importance to protect the environment during her keynote address at PIEC Friday. (Photo by Marcela Suter)

Forty years ago, drivers could buy a gallon of gasoline with just a few coins, the Cuyahoga River smoldered rather than flowed and the two most significant water laws in our state and nation — the Florida Water Resources Act and the Clean Water Act — took effect.

“No question. The waters are cleaner. We’re closer to the goals of the Clean Water Act,” said Jonathan Cannon, a PIEC panelist and former Environmental Protection Agency general counsel, said. “But we seem to have hit a plateau.”

More than 300 registrants attended panels and events held Thursday through Saturday at UF Law’s 18th annual Public Interest Environmental Conference, “Fishable, Swimmable? 40 Years of Water Law in Florida and the United States.” The conference brought together land use lawyers, journalists, legislators, authors, historians and water warriors from across the nation.

Speaker after speaker, including keynote addresses from Richard Ausness (JD 68) and longtime federal environmental policymaker Carol Browner (JD 79), came together for a weekend with one unified message: We’re not swimming; we’re sinking.

“It’s sort of like a midlife crisis,” said Richard Hamann, another PIEC panelist and assistant director of UF Law’s Center for Governmental Responsibility. “That’s where we’re at now.”

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of former UF Law Dean Frank Maloney drafting the Florida Water Resources Act (FWRA), an act that created a statewide system of five water management districts to govern the Sunshine State’s water, this year’s PIEC fell smack dab in the middle of a political whirlpool over what to do with the state’s water.

In what would be the largest change to the FWRA in 40 years, the Florida Legislature is debating a bill that would redefine state water rights.

Florida law subjects all state waters to permitting based on “beneficial use in the public interest.” The bill before the Legislature would remove reclaimed water, wastewater that is treated for reuse, from consideration as a “water of the state” and give ownership of that water to the utility companies who control its distribution. The water management districts would, if the bill passes, lose control over reclaimed water.

In most states, the issue of who owns cleaned sewage would be a rather unimportant question. But for Florida, the state leading the nation in reclaimed water use with 10 percent of the state’s daily water needs, a state often plagued by droughts and saddled with watering restrictions, the issue of who owns sewage is vital.

“The decision makers have lost sight of what doctors take an oath on, and that’s ‘Do no harm,’” said Daniel Fernandez (JD 76), an assistant professor at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Lugert School of Business.

And in the nation’s fourth-most-populous state with a population that’s nearly tripled since the Clean Water Act and the FWRA became law, the issue of water has only grown in importance over the years.

“We have three times as many people as we did 40 years ago. We have to create all this water,” said Henry Dean, former executive director of both the St. John’s River Water Management District and the South Florida Water Management District. “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken feathers.”

Even Browner, one of the conference’s keynote speakers, a former secretary of Florida’s Department of Environmental Regulation, EPA administrator during the entire 1990s and White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy director during the first half of the Obama administration, had a sobering view of Florida’s watery narrative.

“Water is Florida’s lifeblood; it’s what our economy is based on,” she said in her keynote address. “Imagine if Texas was treating its oil like we treated our water. We’d be horrified.”

But Browner also provided hope to conference attendees at the annual PIEC banquet.

“The responsibility of environmental protection is one that will always be with us,” she said. “We must rededicate ourselves to solve these challenges. I’m not suggesting that this will be easy, but we have to get started.”

Professor Stuart R. Cohn, left, is stepping down as associate dean of international studies and passing the torch to Professor Michael L. Seigel.

Professor Stuart R. Cohn is a major developer of the international study programs offered at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. However, in August, Cohn is stepping down from his position as associate dean of international studies and passing the torch to Professor Michael L. Seigel.

Cohn, John H. & Mary Lou Dasburg Professor of Law, has been responsible for the supervision and development of the many international law programs found at UF Law, expanding international legal connections for UF Law with over 30 countries.

Dean Robert Jerry explained Cohn’s contribution via e-mail.

“We now have 11 semester-exchange opportunities for our students on four continents, three summer-abroad programs (and a pilot forthcoming in China), the foreign-enrichment-class program, which brings nine to twelve foreign scholars for residential teaching annually, five faculty exchange programs (Germany, Poland, Brazil, South Africa, China), the Warsaw program, the LL.M. in Comparative Law, and a steady stream of visiting foreign teachers and research scholars,” Jerry said.

While Cohn leaves the responsibilities of associate dean and continues his full teaching load, there are perks to the position he will miss.

“I will miss the personal interactions with students who go abroad,” said Cohn about the satisfaction he gets from students reaping the benefits of study-abroad programs.

After 11 years of leadership, Cohn’s work through UF Law’s International Studies program has also earned him praise from around the world.

“His scholarship, his loyalty and warm personality have made him well known in Brazil and throughout the world,” said Professor Attila Andrade Jr., a visiting law professor with the Foreign Enrichment Program.

Meanwhile, Seigel expressed his excitement about taking over in August as associate dean.

“I am honored that Dean Jerry has asked me to take on the role,” said Seigel. He is currently shadowing Cohn to prepare for the demands of the position.

Seigel plans to continue expanding the International Studies Program with the world’s economic climate in mind, including a possible expansion into Latin America and other countries that have close economic ties to the United States.

“I do not have any question that he will do a great job,” said Cohn about Seigel’s impending succession to associate dean.

UF Law’s Conflict Resolution Initiative (CRI) earned the Innovation Award; UF Law alumnus Chris Loschiavo (JD 98) received the Donald D. Gehring Award for his exceptional contributions to student conduct administration; and the University of Florida’s Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution won the top honor of Award of Excellence for an Institution.

“The IDR is very honored to have the Levin College of Law recognized by the Association for Student Conduct Administration’s Innovation Award for its creative collaboration program with Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution,” said Robin Davis, director of the Institute for Dispute Resolution.

The IDR’s mission includes actively encouraging and enhancing knowledge and service in the field of alternative dispute resolution, Davis said, and the CRI program helps to fulfill this mission.

“One of the things the University of Florida student conduct program has been known for is its cutting edge work as it relates to conflict resolution,” said Student Conduct Director and UF’s Associate Dean of Students Chris Loschiavo. “Without the Conflict Resolution Initiative, Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution would not be able to offer as many conflict resolution options as we’re currently able to.”

The Conflict Resolution Initiative – sponsored by the IDR – is an innovative program that benefits the Gainesville community, University of Florida students and UF Law students by providing free mediation services in a wide range of disputes.

“The law school program trains participating students to be Supreme Court Certified County Mediators,” Davis said. “These students are then able to serve as neutral third parties who coordinate structured sessions which give the parties an opportunity to resolve conflicts without need of having to resort to court or other more formal processes in addressing their disputes.”

The student mediators are trained to handle cases from dorm room conflicts and landlord-tenant disputes to bad break-ups. Last year, the CRI began offering services to UF students, but has since expanded and welcomes cases from the general public – a service previously unavailable in Alachua County.

“The CRI is a unique opportunity to assist both UF students and the Gainesville community to solve their disputes in a free, friendly and less intimidating atmosphere than the courtroom,” said Rachael Bruce, a second-year law student and a CRI coordinator. “We really look forward to new cases coming in because it gives us a chance to put our mediation skills into action and to facilitate compromise amongst the parties, which is all too often a rare thing in the law.”

The University of Florida’s Levin College of Law has played an active role in the development of alternative dispute resolution in Florida. The IDR was the first of its kind established at a law school in Florida, as a result of state legislators enacting one of the first laws in the country giving judges broad authority to order mediation in all types of civil lawsuits.

Mediation and other alternative dispute methods are becoming increasingly more common in civil law. According to The Florida Bar News, the number of federal civil dispositions increased from 258,876 to 501,320 between 1962 and 2002, while the number of jury trials went down from 5,802 to 4,569. Alternative dispute resolution is cited as one of the contributing factors to this decrease.

For more information, visit the CRI website.

Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Sasha Lohn-McDermott (JD 09) discusses Feb. 22 recent cases prosecuted under Florida's RICO statute. (Photo by Nicole Safker)

By Francie Weinberg

Sasha Lohn-McDermott (JD 09) and Daniel Weisman (JD 07) are facing one of Florida’s most under-acknowledged yet prevalent problems head on.

“When I started this job, I had no idea we had a gang problem in Florida,” said Lohn-McDermott. “The state is facing a mounting crisis. We are in a battle for the safety of our streets.”

As assistant statewide prosecutors, UF Law alumni Lohn-McDermott and Weisman work to abolish growing gang violence.

In a presentation Tuesday at the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center called “A Battle for our Streets: Using RICO to Prosecute Criminal Gangs in Florida,” presented by the Criminal Justice Center, Lohn-McDermott and Weisman discussed how they have worked relentlessly to use the racketeering law to bring gangs to justice.

“Racketeering is society’s way of telling us what you can do individually is impressive but limited,” said Weisman. “But what you guys do when you treat crime like a team sport goes far beyond what someone can do on their own and it scares the hell out of us.”

In order for RICO, the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, to be effective, the crimes committed must be targeting the same or similar groups and there must be continuity between the crimes, according to Weisman and Lohn-McDermott.

“RICO cases are about ongoing patterns of crime, crimes over years and years and years,” said Weisman. “It’s about bad stuff people do that tends to prove they really are together in an enterprise.”

Lohn-McDermott went on to explain how gang life has changed since the enactment of RICO in 1970. No longer is it the white-suited mafia men looking for money but rather a group of people inflicting violence and terror on a community. Many times, the actual amount of gang violence is downplayed by local government because it’s bad for business.

“We don’t hear about gang violence because it’s not creeping around the law school,” she said. “Instead, it’s terrorizing our communities.”

Lohn-McDermott further explained that as statewide prosecutors, she, Weisman and other associates finally have the tools necessary to at least quell, if not stop altogether, much of the gang violence that goes on in cities around the state.

Weisman, who will try a homicide case in two weeks against a west Florida gang called Sur 13, discussed the many ways in which gangs identify themselves. Common methods are through tattoos, styles of dress and rap songs.

“Don’t feel guilty, when the song gets going, if you find yourself tapping your feet a little bit,” he said. “They’ve got some good production values.” He then played a rap song by one of Sur 13′s rival gangs, Third Shift, who was tried by Weisman in 2009.

Weisman and Lohn-McDermott use these types of identification as evidence when they try racketeering cases. It is through these identifying factors that they have been so successful in convicting gangs.

Weisman, who was hired into the Statewide Prosecution Office immediately out of law school, has tried four gang-related RICO cases in the past 2 ½ years. Lohn-McDermott, hired to be an assistant statewide prosecutor after working as a law clerk, has tried several cases since graduating in 2009. They both graduated from what used to be the criminal law program.

The presentation was sponsored by UF Law’s new Criminal Justice Center, which serves as a platform to bring criminal law faculty together with interested students, enhancing the students’ law school experience by providing them with mentorship, area-specific education, and criminal practice training. The CJC houses the Criminal Justice Certificate Program, which is a way for students who are interested in criminal law and procedure, either as an area of academic study or as one of practice, or both, to demonstrate special competency in the area. More information can be found here:http://www.law.ufl.edu/centers/cjc/.

Weisman and Lohn-McDermott gave information regarding a summer externship program in which students can gain up to six credits. Applications are available in the career services department and must be turned in with a resume and transcript by April 14, 2012.

The presentation ended with Lohn-McDermott and Weisman encouraging students to apply for the externship. They added a few parting words about the benefits of the RICO Act and working as a statewide prosecutor.

“A lot of (community officials) completely disavow that gangs exist, while their citizens and their police officers will tell you something completely different,” said Weisman. “Statewide prosecutors have the courage to tackle this problem head on.”