Anushree Nakkana (JD 11) was interning at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida when the judicial assistant to the judge sent her an email that changed her life. The email was for the White House internship program.

“In the email she said, ‘you absolutely have to apply for this,’” Nakkana recalls. “She had a lot of faith in me, even when I didn’t know it myself. So I applied and six months later I got an interview.”

Nakkana was born in India and moved with her mother and sister to Detroit at the age of 7. She moved to San Diego at age 12 and Florida at 16, where she now resides in West Palm Beach. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s in anthropology in 2008.

At UF Law, Nakkana was involved in the Law College Council, Gators for Alternative Dispute Resolution and the South Asian Law Society. Upon entering law school, Nakkana intended to pursue international business law but slowly became interested in federal laws. Her interest led her to intern in both district court and bankruptcy court.

Almost immediately after receiving the email for the internship program, Nakkana began the intensive application and interview process.

The first part of the application is an online resume and two essays. Once submitted, a White House employee reviews the resumes and directs them to different channels. A member of a certain branch of the program will then get in touch with the applicants. Nakkana was contacted by the Domestic Policy Council’s justice and regulatory policy channel. Following the process, the internship program lets the students know in one month.

“I kept my fingers crossed and I really hoped I got the internship,” she said. “I just remember my mom telling me ‘you got it, you got it,’ and I said, ‘Mom, this is the White House.’”

Nakkana found out she got her internship in late November. She moved in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 1, 2012, and began the internship on Jan. 3. She worked in a variety of areas of the law including civil rights, criminal justice, food safety and open government.

“I really enjoyed working in the judiciary and then the executive branch at the White House,” Nakkana said. “I worked on a lot of interesting, intellectually challenging issues in the legal world. Rather than one particular area of law, I worked on a broad range of issues. It was a lot of fun, every day was a challenge.”

Though the internship is 10 hours a day and unpaid, Nakkana said it had many benefits. She enjoyed the challenges of having to think on her feet and not knowing what each day would bring.

“It’s an incredible experience,” she said. “It’s fun, it’s exciting and you meet tons of people. It’s not just work; it’s making a difference.”

Nakkana encourages students who are ambitious about achieving their goals to apply. She believes students can achieve anything by thinking outside the box and taking untraditional paths like she did. She suggests that students give their all to the tasks they embark on, and that they be team players, self-starters and keep open minds.

“Law school at UF helped me make sure I could do the things I wanted to do,” she said. “If you have an interest area, you can develop it. Not to mention how great the professors are. I still keep in touch with some of mine.”

Nakkana also encourages any students applying to the White House internship program to contact her with any questions they may have. Her email address is anushree.nakkana@gmail.com.

Currently, Nakkana is in the job market and just finished volunteering for the presidential campaign. She hopes to get a federal clerkship in the near future and she is also looking to work in a law firm in government and regulatory affairs.

“I’m open to any and all opportunities,” she said. “I just want to see what presents itself. I’m looking forward to what’s next.”

Two positions are now available at the Florida Supreme Court for the Spring 2012 semester. They are each a five-credit externship, running Jan. 14 – April 26, 2013, and require 20 hours per week. You must have a clearance letter from The Florida Bar to participate. For more information or to apply, contact Tim McLendon in CGR in 230 Bruton-Geer, by email at mclendon@law.ufl.edu or by phone at 273-0835.

Applications open for 2013 Evan Yegelwel Summer Fellowship

The Evan Yegelwel Summer Fellowship award permits one UF Law student to participate in a paid Summer Fellowship Program at the Anti-Defamation League, Florida Regional Office in Boca Raton. The Yegelwel Summer Fellowship award is $4,000. The ADL is a premier national civil rights organization that fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry in the U.S. and abroad, combats international terrorism, probes the roots of hatred, comes to the aid of victims of bigotry, develops educational programs, and serves as a public resource for government, media, law enforcement, all toward the goal of countering and reducing hatred. A generous gift from Evan Yegelwel (JD 80) has made this fellowship possible. Yegelwel is a partner in the Jacksonville law firm of Terrell Hogan Ellis Yegelwel, P.A. Click here for more fellowship and application information.

Spring Semester Foreign Enrichment Course and Spring Break Field Course will feature international development law and policy

The UF Levin College of Law Environmental and Land Use Law Program will offer conservation and development practice related courses for spring semester. Students are eligible to enroll in either or both:

• Contemporary International Development: Law, Policy and Practice (1 credit) (spring semester on campus)
• Sustainable Development Field Course: Law Policy and Practice (2 credits) (spring break in Belize)

Contemporary International Development: Law, Policy and Practice (1 credit) addresses the international and comparative law framework within which international development is carried out. The course will explore models of international development and development assistance as these have evolved since the Post-WWII Breton Woods accords that created the World Bank Group and regional progeny. Topics that will be addressed include, but are not limited to, free and fair trade, environmental security, human rights and global health. The course will be coordinated by UF Law faculty and taught by law and policy practitioners from Costa Rica, Argentina and Jamaica. Course instructors include Otton Solis, a Costa Rican development economist, former minister of the economy and presidential candidate; Oscar Avalles, an Argentine attorney and World Bank country director for Guatemala; and Danielle Andrade, a Jamaican environmental and human rights attorney with the Jamaica Environment Trust. The one-credit course will meet for one hour on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 a.m. and conclude on Feb. 27 before spring break.

SPRING BREAK FIELD COURSE IN BELIZE

Sustainable Development Field Course: Law Policy and Practice (2 credits) will provide students with an on-site, interdisciplinary understanding of the law and policy challenges associated with “sustainable development” in a developing country. Students will travel to and within Belize over spring break and delve into international and domestic law issues concerning protected areas, indigenous land rights, intellectual property in biological diversity, water, mining and energy development, fisheries and coral reef conservation – all within the context of national pressures for human development. In addition to domestic Belizean law and international development policy, students will be exposed to the unique legal framework of the commonwealth Caribbean. The course will include skills exercises based around ongoing projects of the UF Law Conservation Clinic. The course includes a Program fee that will cover in-country expenses and students must make their own international travel arrangements. Enrollment is capped at 12 students. Preference in given to students enrolled in the college of law’s Environmental and Land Use Law Program, but others may apply on a space-available basis.

Students interested in either course can contact Professors Tom Ankersen (ankersen@law.ufl.edu) Mary Jane Angelo (angelo@law.ufl.edu) or Research Assistant and Joint J.D./M.D.P candidate Gentry Mander (Gentry.Mander@gmail.com )

JMBA will host a Town Hall meeting today from noon to 1 p.m. in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom (HOL 180). Students can submit questions to jmba.townhall@gmail.com or at the JMBA table. (Note: This is not the Town Hall meeting hosted by the administration, which has been postponed to the spring semester).

Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics Howard Shelanski will discuss how antitrust agencies are dealing with the changing digital marketplace during the Bayard Wickliffe Heath Memorial Lecture Series at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. The lecture, “Information, Innovation, and Competition Policy for the Internet,” is on Friday at 10 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center courtroom. It is free and open to the public and is also available via webcast.

Shelanski will specifically examine the theory that under-enforcement of antitrust laws in the digital world results in much lower error costs than over-enforcement, and will look at how competition policy can improve on assessing costs, benefits and risks in digital markets.

Shelanski, who is also a professor at Georgetown Law, has co-written six books and contributed to myriad law reviews and scholarly journals. In 2004, he received Berkeley Law’s Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. Shelanski’s teachings and research focus on antitrust, regulation and telecommunications policy.

The Heath Memorial Lecture Series is made possible by a gift from Inez Heath, Ph.D., widow of Bayard “Wick” Heath. Before his death in 2008, Heath was the senior competition consultant with Info Tech, a Gainesville firm specializing in statistical and econometric consulting, expert witness testimony and antitrust law. Previous lecturers include Herbert Hovenkamp, William Kovacic and Joseph Harrington.

Judge William Terrell Hodges (JD 58) was honored Nov. 2 at the Thomas Center in Gainesville. (Photos by Haley Stracher)

By Richard Goldstein

When U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges (JD 58) was nominated to the federal bench in 1971, he assumed his robes in the middle district of Florida before the age of 40, and 41 years later he holds the same job, now as a federal judge on senior status in Ocala.

A remarkably stable career one might conclude.

But it was clear during a Nov. 2 reception at the Thomas Center in Gainesville sponsored by the North Central Chapter of the Federal Bar Association that Hodges did not stand still during his long tenure.

As protégé of former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Hodges rose to lead policymaking body for the administration of justice in the federal courts, becoming chair of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Hodges and District Judge Anthony Alaimo lodged the complaint that would result in the impeachment and removal from office of U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings, who had been acquitted by a jury of soliciting a bribe in a mob case. And he mentored decades worth of law clerks.

Those clerks were present in force at the Thomas Center to praise their former boss.

Scott L. Whitaker (JD 76), who clerked for Hodges from 1976 to 1978, said Hodges took seriously his duty to dispense justice and to guard against abuse of power.

“I watched him struggle every time he had to pass sentence,” Whitaker said. “His humility in all things is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. He always used to say, every time you use a little power, you lose a little power. I’ve never seen him abuse it once.”

Judge William Terrell Hodges (JD 58) was honored Nov. 2 at the Thomas Center in Gainesville. (Photos by Haley Stracher)

Still, one story of the way Hodges exercised power elicited knowing laughter from the audience that included UF Law students.

Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals explained that Tampa maintained a bus stop immediately in front of the courthouse steps while Hodges was chief judge of the middle district during the 1980s.

“The city of Tampa had a bus system and they had a monstrous bus stop at the base of the old federal courthouse in Tampa. All the buses came there and the jurors would have trouble getting up there” to the courthouse, Tjoflat said.

Hodges sent a letter to the mayor demanding that the bus stop be moved. When no action ensued, Tjoflat said, federal marshals dismantled the offending public transportation facility with blow torches.

Sitting on a dais with Tjoflat, Hodges accepted laconically the stories and praise offered during the “Toast to Judge Hodges” event.

“That was the result of deputies who volunteered; no order was given so it was unappealable,” Hodges deadpanned.

Last year Hodges served as the Peter T. Fay Jurist-in-Residence at UF Law speaking with students and faculty about judicial clerkships, trial advocacy and legal careers.

Hodges was appointed by President Richard Nixon in 1971. He served as chief judge from 1982 to 1989 and has maintained senior status since 1999.

Marian recently presented “Jurisdiction to Tax Corporation” at the University of Kentucky College of Law as part of the faculty workshop series.

Joseph Little
Emeritus Professor

“Undercover mother: Lee mom seeks teachers’ ‘true colors’ with secret recording” (Nov. 5, 2012, Naples News)

This article is about a Fort Myers woman who secretly recorded teachers in the classroom to find out why her autistic son was so miserable at school. It brings up the controversy of whether parents have the right to hear what happens in the classroom without the teacher’s consent.

From the article:
In Florida, all parties must consent to audio recordings if there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. It comes down to whether the teachers have that expectation in the classroom, said Joseph Little, a University of Florida law professor. And that could be argued either way.

Elizabeth A. Rowe
Feldman Gale Term Professor in Intellectual Property; UF Research Foundation Professor of Law; Director, Program in Intellectual Property Law

Rowe served as a panelist discussing the theft of intellectual property through cyber attacks at the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.