UF Law Black Law Students Association (BLSA) has been declared the chapter of the year for medium-sized chapters in the southern region of the National Black Law Student Association (NBLSA). (Photo by Haley Stracher)

By Felicia Holloman
Law student writer

The UF Law Black Law Students Association (BLSA) has been declared the chapter of the year for medium-sized chapters in the southern region of the National Black Law Student Association (NBLSA).

Chapter of the year is the NBLSA’s highest recognition. The distinction is given to the most outstanding chapter in terms of programming, community service, and leadership within the community.

“It really is the biggest honor and award,” said Laselve Harrison (2L), director of communications for BLSA.

The group, led by president Brandon Campbell (2L) and vice president Tabitha Taylor (2L), earned the honor through their tireless activities throughout the year, including canvassing about Florida amendments during election season, restoring civil rights of felons, and mentoring undergraduates.

“During the semester, you are doing these programs and activities, but you are not getting any credit. When it is all put down on paper though, it is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Harrison.

UF Law BLSA competed against 44 other chapters in the southern region of NBLSA. All regional chapters who receive the award go on to compete for the national chapter of the year title at the national convention in March. During the past three years, the national chapter of the year recipient has come from the southern region.

The regional award follows on the heels of BLSA’s participation in the trial advocacy and moot court competitions. The BLSA trial team advanced to the quarterfinals of the regional trial competition. Melanie Rolle (2L) was awarded Best Oral Advocate and received a perfect score during all three rounds of the competition.

For the rest of the semester, BLSA will work to uphold its regional chapter of the year title by competing in negotiations at the national convention, tabling during admitted students day, and hosting a panel on a recent U.S. Supreme Court case involving affirmative action.

Walkin’ Lawton is an in-depth biography of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles (JD 55). Author John Dos Passos Coggin conducted more than 100 interviews with Chiles’s family, friends, and coworkers, and also utilized a wide variety of news sources, political papers, and even the governor’s own progress reports from his 1,000-mile walk. A full review of Walkin’ Lawton has been published by the Tampa Bay Times and is available online at http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/review-john-dos-passos-coggins-new-biography-focuses-on-walkin-lawton/1271175.

The Legal Information Center has two copies of the book, which may be requested through its online catalog.

Sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture March 13

The topic of the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property on March 13 at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center is “Property Law and the Rise, Life, and Demise of Racially Restrictive Coveneants.” The lecture will feature Carol Rose, the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law and Organization and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School.

The lecture is free and open to the law school community and general public.

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.

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; Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School; and 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.

UF Journal of Law and Public Policy hosts symposium on media law on March 14

Should false statements of fact be protected under the First Amendment? That was the question at issue in United States v. Alvarez, a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case overturning the Stolen Valor Act, which attempted to criminalize individuals for lying about receiving a military medal.  More recently, however, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a new version of the Stolen Valor Act, creating penalties for individuals who lie about receiving military medals and who profit from the deception.

This is the topic of the 2013 Journal of Law and Public Policy’s Annual Symposium, which will be hosted March 14 in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the UF Levin College of Law. Panelists include UF Law Professor Lyrissa Lidsky, attorney Craig D. Feiser and Colonel Michael L. Smidt, staff judge advocate of U.S. Special Operations Command.

The event will begin with a reception at 11:30 a.m., a panel discussion at noon and a question-and-answer session. It will be open to students, professors and practitioners.

Come and hear what these experienced professionals have to say on this controversial issue. CLE credit will be offered. Click here for more information on the symposium or here for more information on JLPP.

Dean hosts Music Night March 17

Got a hidden musical talent? Show it off at the upcoming Music Night 2013 to be held Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and his wife, Lisa. All students and faculty are invited – but the “ticket” to attend is that you must bring a dessert and agree to perform a musical piece (play an instrument or sing a song). A piano will be available. Each participant can bring one guest. Space is limited, so sign up is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To register, stop by the Dean’s Office and see Doris Perron.

CSRRR spring lecture, panel examines Trayvon Martin case on March 20

The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations’ 10th annual Spring Lecture & Panel Discussions, “At Close Range: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin,” will feature New York Times visual op-ed columnist Charles Blow. The event is March 20 in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180.

Participants include UF faculty and graduate students from history, journalism, African-American studies, sociology, anthropology, law, education, political science, English, philosophy and health services research. Panelists will discuss a range of topics including racial bias and media perspectives and they will recommend policy changes.

Blow joined The New York Times in 1994 as a graphics editor and quickly became the paper’s graphics director, a position he held for nine years. Blow went on to become the paper’s design director for news before leaving in 2006 to become the art director of National Geographic Magazine.

Blow often appears on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, Starting Point and AC360. He has also appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and Hardball with Chris Matthews, Headline News’ The Joy Behar show, Fox News’ Fox and Friends, the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as numerous radio programs.

32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law

The Florida Law Review welcomes Professor Randy Barnett as the 32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecturer in Law. Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will discuss the recent United States Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 22, in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Barnett has written and commented extensively on the Affordable Care Act and represented the National Federal of Independent Businesses as its case against the ACA was presented before the Supreme Court last spring. Barnett will discuss the general implications of the court’s landmark decision, as well as fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

For additional information, contact the Florida Law Review at www.FloridaLawReview.com or 352-273-0670.

Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case April 4-5

The University of Florida Levin College of Law and Electronic Discovery Reference Model are pleased to announce the first-of-its-kind conference devoted to “Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case.” The conference will be held April 4 and 5, 2013, at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and will be broadcast live. Students may view the webcasts free of charge.

The conference will focus on solutions to the difficulties, issues, and decisions that attorneys face in competently and cost-effectively handling e-discovery in small and medium cases. The conference will feature demonstrations of a new generation of right-sized e-discovery software and tools for each phase of the e-discovery process in small and medium sized cases and include starter e-discovery toolkits for each in-person attendee.

The toolkits will contain trial licenses for e-discovery software used to preserve and collect electronically stored information (ESI) from desktops to the web; convert collected ESI to usable forms; perform rapid, powerful searches; and facilitate production of relevant, responsive ESI. Representatives from AccessData, Catalyst, Digital WarRoom, iConect, kCura, LexisNexis Litigation Solutions, Nuix, Pinpoint Labs, X1 Discovery and others will be on hand to demonstrate the ease and accessibility of their products – helping attendees test-drive their toolkits.

Online attendees will receive a limited version of the e-discovery toolkit; for the full toolkit you must attend in person.

Whether you attend in person or watch the live stream, don’t miss this chance to learn how to translate e-discovery challenges into a winning strategies.

For more information:

• Conference Website
• About ICAIR & the E-Discovery Project
• Conference Agenda

President-elect of The Florida Bar Eugene Pettis (JD 85) will speak about law and justice to area youth. (Photo by Elise Giordano)

By Matt Walker
Senior writer

President-elect of The Florida Bar Eugene Pettis (JD 85) will speak about law and justice to student participants in the second annual Josiah T. Walls Bar Association’s Law and Justice Youth Conference. The conference will take place at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. More than 70 local middle and high school students, along with more than 40 local lawyers, law professors and law students will attend this daylong conference to discuss legal issues affecting area youth.

Pettis will speak to the students about his legal career, leadership in the community, and personal ethics. His comments will encourage students to view the law as an integral part of their lives.  He will also touch on the role of lawyers, judges and law enforcement officers in young adults’ everyday lives.

The Law and Justice Youth Conference will give area youth the tools they can use to become active and affect positive change in their community. Using resources from Street Law, a nonprofit organization which creates teaching materials for law, democracy and human rights, the conference participants will first discuss issues relating to the police in their communities.

“This year’s conference will highlight the importance of civic action and provide a forum in which youth of Gainesville are shown how the law can be a vehicle of self-empowerment and positive change. As local lawyers, it is important for us to continually encourage our youth to positively contribute to the community and create opportunities for them to interact closely with legal professionals,” states Sheree Graham, president of Josiah T. Walls Bar Association.

“As local lawyers, it is important for us to continually encourage our youth to positively contribute to the community and create opportunities for them to interact closely with legal professionals.”

Pettis, who will be sworn in as president of The Florida Bar in June, will be the first African-American in the bar’s history to serve in this position. A co-founder of Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm in Fort Lauderdale, Pettis focuses his practice in the areas of medical malpractice, personal injury, commercial litigation and employment law. Pettis has served in numerous leadership positions, including chairman of the Judicial Independence Committee of The Florida Bar and vice-chairman of the South Florida Water Management District’s governing board, and currently serves on the board of trustees of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. Throughout his career, he has earned numerous legal awards and accolades, including being selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2010 and 2011 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in the specialties of medical malpractice law and personal injury litigation. Pettis has earned Martindale-Hubbell’s top “AV” rating for his high professional and ethical standards.

The Law and Justice Youth Conference is presented by the Josiah T. Walls Bar Association, in partnership with UF Law’s Black Law Student Association, Caribbean Law Student Association, Criminal Law Association, Association of Public Interest Law, and The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Law Student Division.

The Josiah T. Walls Bar Association and the 8th Judicial Circuit Bar Association received funding from the Florida Bar Diversity Leadership grant to support the 2013 conference.

Established in 1977 and incorporated in 1997, the Josiah T. Walls Bar Association, Inc. is a voluntary minority bar organization that has grown from five to more than 30 attorneys from Alachua and surrounding counties. At its inception, JTWBA was a social networking organization, which culminated into a support system for African-American attorneys. In 2005, members decided to expand the organization by encouraging other minority attorneys to become members. Membership is comprised of attorneys, law professors, judges and law students who live or regularly practice in the 8th, 5th, and 3rd Judicial Circuits. In the spirit and legacy of Josiah T. Walls, the association is dedicated to promoting professional excellence, giving back to the community, and mentoring future lawyers. For more information, please visit http://www.jtwba.com/index.html.

The Florida Bar YLD Law Student Division provides law students from each Florida law school with a variety of activities designed to help connect students at Florida law schools with lawyers and leaders of The Florida Bar. Among such activities are networking and mentoring opportunities with Florida Bar members, ethics and professionalism training, pro bono and community service opportunities, and opportunities to participate in the activities and work of various sections of The Florida Bar. These activities are designed to enhance the law school experience and further the future interests of the legal profession. The division works to facilitate a smooth transition between law school and practicing law. For more information, please visit http://www.flayld.org/students/.

Professor Shani King is looking for a research assistant for a short-term project with the potential for more work in the future. Interdisciplinary work is a plus, as the project involves law, history, sociology, and political science. Of particular interest are individuals who have expertise in critical legal studies, organizational, structural and institutional discrimination, and LGBT legal studies. Submit a resume and cover letter and the name of two references (preferably one of whom is a UF law professor) to kings@law.ufl.edu.

Florida Gubernatorial Fellowship program applications due March 8

The director of the Florida Gubernatorial Fellowship program was on campus last week to recruit UF Law students. UF Law students have been strongly represented in this selective and non-partisan program over the past few years. Whitney Smith, a 3L, is currently serving as a Gubernatorial Fellow, and over the past three years, four UF Law students have been selected as Gubernatorial Fellows.

In addition to the professional and networking opportunities, fellows receive a tuition waiver for the year they serve in Tallahassee.

Students can visit www.floridafellows.com to learn about the expectations and requirements of the program, as well as read testimonials from alumni. Interested students must apply online.

Applications are due by Friday, March 8. The fellowship will follow the university calendar starting in August 2013 and ending in May 2014. The governor’s screening and selection committee will announce the program participants in June.

Applications due Friday for summer externships

Externships offer students for-credit, semester-long opportunities to leave the traditional classroom setting and assist lawyers and judges in the practice of law and the administration of justice. Externs earn course credit while working for judges, government agencies, public interest organizations and corporations.

Applications are now being accepted for summer externships. To apply go to the UF Gator Jobs homepage at https://jobs.ufl.edu. Applications for several externships are reviewed on a rolling basis so it is best to apply early. The application deadline for most externships is Friday at midnight. See the Summer Externship Program Guide, Part 2 on the UF Law Externship web page for more information. Contact Julie Barnes in the Center for Career Development with questions.

Public Justice essay contest awards $5,000 to winner

Public Justice is holding its annual Hogan/Smoger Access to Justice Essay Contest, which gives $5,000 to the winner. The intent-to-enter deadline has been extended to Feb. 28 to give students who may not have known about the contest initially or missed the January deadline a chance to enter. This year’s topic is “Is Democracy For Sale? Have Citizens United’s holdings run amok? Legal challenges left to Super Pacs? Can funding disclosure be required?”

The winner of the essay contest will receive $5,000, a free 2013 Public Justice Foundation Student Membership, and his or her essay will be featured on the Public Justice website and in the nationally disseminated Public Justice newsletter. The contest is open to all law students who are currently enrolled in a U.S. accredited law school. The essay submission deadline is March 31.

If you have any questions about the essay contest, contact Cassandra Goings at cgoings@publicjustice.net or 202-797-8600.

Amy T. Petrick (JD 00), senior assistant county attorney for Palm Beach County, and Michael O’Shea, professor of law at Oklahoma City University School of Law, discuss firearms regulation at the 12th Annual Richard E. Nelson Symposium on Feb. 8. (Photo by Haley Stracher)

By Richard Goldstein

Its 19^th century provenance is “sordid;” it is employed today in the service “political bullying;” and the best that a lawyer can hope for is to embrace “ambiguity,” while navigating this legal realm.

Such was the abuse heaped on the seemingly mild-mannered legal doctrine of preemption during UF Law’s Feb. 8 Nelson Symposium at the UF Hilton Conference Center.

“Preemption Puzzles: Firearms, Fracking, Foreigners, Fuels and Farming” explored some of the hottest legal and political issues as they sift through.

Preemption is the doctrine for establishing which level of law takes precedence – local, state or federal – when they come into conflict.

UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf, host of the Nelson Symposium and the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, noted that the history of preemption tends to involve early 20^th century railroads when sorting out when the federal government’s authority overrides that of states. A railroad gets out of safety standards for cabooses because the caboose was a mail car and the Supreme Court ruled in 1919 that the federal rules overrode the state’s (Pennsylvania Rail Road Co. v. Public Service Commission). In a 1917 case, a man had to pay back his railroad worker’s compensation award because the federal government didn’t cover cases in which negligence played no part even though the state allowed for such compensation (New York Central Rail Road Company v. Winfield).

But the granddaddy of all preemption cases, and the reason Wolf calls the history a sordid one, was the 1842 Prigg v. Pennsylvania in which the Supreme Court ruled that the state could not prosecute a man who captured and returned a black woman to the heirs of her original slave owner. She had been living as a free woman in Pennsylvania and was returned to slavery in Maryland after her owner died. The state convicted the man who transported her against her will to Maryland. But the court ruled that Congress had preempted the authority of the state to prosecute people under its fugitive slave law. The Congress had legislated slaves as property under federal law and in accordance with the U.S. Constitution.

Much of the conference focused on the collision between local law and state laws. Amy T. Petrick (JD 00), senior assistant county attorney for Palm Beach County, explained the difficulties that local officials in Palm Beach County have encountered as the Legislature has attempted to enforce preemption of local firearm regulations by threatening local officials with fines and removal from office. Petrick is lead counsel in a case pending in Leon County, Marcus v. Scott, which challenges the Legislature’s ability to punish local officials for passing laws regulating firearms. Commissioners can be fined $5,000 and removed from office by the governor

Petrick called the law “political bullying with no proper purpose.”

The 2011 state law came in part as a response to the county’s attempt to ban high-capacity magazines. Petrick said the commission put that idea on the shelf after Gov. Rick Scott signed the legislation into law in 2011. But in response, Palm Beach County sued the Florida governor, the Florida Legislature as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying that the effect of the law was to “chill” commissioners’ lawmaking. Petrick said the threatened penalties has led her to advise commissioners to steer clear of even some zoning questions because of uncertainty about what precisely remains under local authority.

More conflicts between local and state government were brought out by Professor John R. Nolon, of Pace University School of Law in White Plains, N.Y. He described attempts by state governments in Pennsylvania and Ohio to preempt local government zoning when it pertained to fracking, the method of extracting gas using high pressure streams of water. Courts in both states have sided with local governments’ rights to dictate the location of industrial operations within their jurisdictions.

Nolon argued that state and local governments should cooperate in the decision-making on the use of the technology so that fracking can proceed and its benefits to society in the form of energy generation are realized even as local interests are taken into account.

Uncertainty, or “ambiguity,” as Wolf put it, was a theme of the conference. Wolf advised law students and lawyers to get used to it.

Surveying recent cases, Wolf noted that preemption cases can fall on either side of the political divide or even divide the same side. For example, the Republican-dominated Chamber of Commerce called for federal law to preempt Arizona immigration law, while the state’s elected Republican administration fought against preemption.

“Maybe we can actually have a level playing field because ideology … doesn’t point us in the direction of preemption or non-preemption.” The solution, said Wolf, is to embrace ambiguity.

Speakers at the symposium included Professor Michael O’Shea, Oklahoma City University School of Law; Associate Professor Rick Su, SUNY Buffalo Law School; Assistant Professor Hannah Wiseman, Florida State University College of Law; environmental and land use law attorney Robert N. Hartsell, Fort Lauderdale; Dave Mica, executive director, Florida Petroleum Council; as well as Samantha Culp (3L) and Eric Fisher (3L).

The symposium is named in honor of Richard E. Nelson, who served with distinction as Sarasota County attorney for 30 years, and his wife, Jane Nelson, two UF alumni who gave more than $1 million to establish the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, which is responsible for the annual event. Their support of the Levin College of Law’s Environmental and Land Use Program has been key to the program’s success and national recognition for excellence.

Suffering in law school is an unfriendly reminder that the high stress of conflict resolution can often get the best of a student. But a leading researcher and professor in alternative dispute resolution at the University of Florida Levin College of Law recognized this problem many years ago and researched an alternative tool to deal with even the trickiest of problems. All you need: a specific state of mindfulness.

His work has paid off, and he will soon be recognized by the American Bar Association for his scholarship and leadership in this field.

Leonard Riskin, Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law, will be honored with the ABA’s Section of Dispute Resolution award for Outstanding Scholarly Work on April 6 at the section’s 15^th annual spring conference in Chicago.

This conference brings dispute resolution leaders, arbitrators, mediators, attorney advocates, neutral providers, consumers and scholars together to network and attend presentations and workshops.

Since coming to UF Law in 2007, Riskin has served as professor, mentor and director of the Initiative of Mindfulness in Law and Dispute Resolution. The ABA will honor him based on his extensive work in alternative dispute resolution with a focus on the perspectives that lawyers bring to the work.

“When I first started teaching in law school I noticed that there was a huge amount of suffering among law students, lawyers and clients. Some of the suffering, I thought, resulted from extreme adversarial perspectives and behavior,” Riskin said. “I thought that mediation was a way to reduce unnecessary adversarialism and suffering.”

Riskin began to write about and teach mediation in the early 1980s, and from that he became interested in mindsets lawyers use when addressing problems.

“A lot of my work has been designed to encourage or help law students, lawyers and mediators become more aware of what mindset they are using, and how that mindset affects the way they understand problems and the way they might try to deal with them,” Riskin said.

Eddie Mordujovich (JD 09), a business specialist at Koss Olinger Consulting LLC, worked as a research fellow in the Initiative of Mindfulness in Law and Dispute Resolution during his time at UF Law.

“What I learned with Len was how to not only use negotiation strategies and interpersonal conflict resolution strategies well, but to be in a frame of mind that is solid enough during the heat of negotiation to be able to actually put that knowledge into practice,” Mordujovich said.

He added that he has applied Riskin’s work in mindfulness and alternative dispute resolution to his former career in filmmaking and even during divorce negotiations with his former wife, which Mordujovich believes spurred both parties to reach a constructive outcome in a short time.

“This recognition by the ABA is particularly well-deserved given the light Riskin’s work sheds on bridging the gap between knowledge of effective negotiation techniques and the ability to put that knowledge into practice in the heat of the moment, when it is most needed,” Mordujovich said.

Riskin is the third recipient of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section’s award for Outstanding Scholarly Work since its creation in 2011. Harvard Law School professor Frank E.A. Sander and Georgetown University professor Carrie Menkel-Meadow received the award in years past.

“I feel honored because I very much admire the two previous recipients,” Riskin added. “I’m very lucky to have studied and worked with wise and thoughtful people from whom I learned a great deal. I especially appreciate working with my UF faculty colleagues and students.”

Adam Losey (JD 09) and Samir Mathur (JD 09) formed IT-Lex, a legal education nonprofit.

By Felicia Holloman
Law student writer

“The bar is very low for technology law humor,” observed Samir Mathur (JD 09). This was all the more reason for Mathur, Adam Losey (JD 09), Ralph Losey (JD 79), and Catherine Losey (JD 09) to form IT-Lex, a legal education nonprofit that promotes educational and literary advancement in the field of technology law.

Technology law (as defined by IT-Lex) covers legal issues regarding information security, privacy, and electronic discovery—all rapidly evolving areas of law that pose challenges to lawyers across the country.

Adam Losey compared the ever-evolving field of technology law to the “wild West. . . . It is interesting because we are creating the law, and watching collisions between antiquated legal doctrines and modern technological realities,” he said.

The idea for IT-Lex began last summer when Losey, and other attorneys and judges sent a letter to Above The Law, a popular legal blog. The letter discussed the importance of electronic discovery, or eDiscovery, and inspired Losey to create an organization that promoted education and scholarship in the burgeoning field of technology law, and that offered a merit-based way for the best and brightest law students to be integrated with leading scholars and practictioners (and to win cash prizes, to boot).

“If you understand technology law, you can add value from day one at nearly any law firm,” said Losey. As an attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP, Losey finds technology law a reoccurring topic in his work, and is a founding member of Foley’s brand-new eDiscovery and Data Management practice group.

Outside of work, both Losey and Mathur emphasized the importance of technology and its applicable laws in our daily lives.

“I brush my teeth with it every morning,” said Losey, who also builds computers as a hobby. In law school, Losey wrote a law review article on an eDiscovery issue that helped him to get a job teaching the same subject at Columbia University.

Although Mathur did not have a background in technology law before IT-Lex, he considers himself a “tech guy,” who is familiar with social networking sites and the latest technology products.

Mathur became involved in IT-Lex through Losey, whom he had known throughout law school. They lived a few blocks from each other on Second Avenue while attending UF Law.

Mathur is now the managing director of IT-Lex. He runs its website, which features twice daily posts covering technology law news.

The blog posts, submitted by law student interns and sometimes practitioners, are written in a style to make them entertaining for the less technology-savvy. “We try very hard to make them readable to those who can’t program their VCR’s and experts alike — a challenge indeed,” said Mathur.

The website also features videos of Losey, Mathur, and others explaining topics concerning technology law with skits and gags.

“Adam got slapped by his wife while speaking binary code in one, we had multiple takes for that one at his wife’s request,” noted Mathur when describing the lengths they went to create an entertaining video presentation on metadata.

However, Losey and Mathur also plan to make IT-Lex a scholarly venture with an anticipated journal publication. Submissions are reviewed by the members of IT-Lex, who are tasked with editing and generally prepping the articles for print.

Members are invited to join the organization based on their scholarship and work in the field of technology law. Current members include Ralph Losey (JD 79), Bill Hamilton  (JD 83), Francisco Ferreiro (JD 08), Catherine Losey (JD 09), and Jason Pill (JD 09); all UF Law alumni.

Meanwhile, a writing contest, sponsored by Foley & Lardner, is open to all law students who wish to have their technology law-related articles published in the first IT-Lex journal. The contest deadline is May 1. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000. However, all winners will get an invitation to become members of the organization and present their papers at a conference for those affiliated with IT-Lex.

The IT-Lex conference, called “Innovate,” will be held in Orlando, Fla. on Oct. 17 through 18, 2013.

“The hope is to get 100 to 200 attendees,” said Losey of the turn out to Innovate. The ultimate goal of the conference is to allow young lawyers and current practitioners to network and discuss all things technology law.

For more information on IT-Lex and how to become a friend of the organization, please visit: http://www.it-lex.org.

When the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, it proved to be a great step forward in showing the United States’ and Congress’ commitment to preserving our nation’s natural heritage and protecting native plants and animals from becoming extinct.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the ESA, the 19th annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Florida Levin College of Law will focus on the evolution of endangered species protection over the past four decades. “The Endangered Species Act at 40: Polishing the Crown Jewel,” will be held Feb. 21-23 at UF Law.

“I’m very excited about this year’s conference,” said UF Law Professor and Director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Program Mary Jane Angelo. “We are bringing in experts from around the U.S. to discuss the act’s many successes, such as the recovery of our national symbol, the bald eagle, as well as significant challenges we face in the future such as addressing impacts from habitat loss and climate change.”

Keynote speakers for this year’s conference include Carl Safina, founding president of the Blue Ocean Institute and award winning author of Song for the Blue Ocean and Eye of the Albatross, and Zygmunt Plater and Patrick Parenteau, attorneys in the landmark decision of Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill et al. – temporarily halting the completion of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River in order to protect the snail darter, an endangered species of fish.

The conference will also include multiple panel discussions, a workshop sponsored by The Florida Bar, and training opportunities for both attorneys and those outside the legal field.

UF Law student and PIEC co-chair Chelsea Sims said the PIEC is one of the largest student-run conferences in the nation.

“It’s a great opportunity for UF students to engage with cutting edge issues surrounding endangered species such as the Florida panther, corals, sea turtles, manatees and more,” Sims said.

To view the agenda and register for the conference, visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/academics/concentration/elul/public-interest-environmental-conference. UF Law students and faculty attend free-of-charge. Select “student” when registering.

“Any student that is interested in learning about the status of endangered species, the role of climate change, or the interface of science and policy regulating endangered species will enjoy this free event at the law school campus,” said Rachael Bruce, UF Law student and PIEC co-chair. “Please come out and join us.”

Sandra S. Froman, former president of the National Rifle Association, speaks about gun regulation, the psychology of the gun laws and the attitudes of people who own guns during a panel at UF Law on Feb. 6. (Photo by Haley Stracher)

By Francie Weinberg
Student writer

The food was warm and the rhetoric from the former NRA president was hot.

“It just takes one,” said Sandra Froman, former president of the National Rifle Association. “Violent criminals go to where they know there are going to be unarmed victims, like a classroom. And then the rest of us are left without the ability to protect our families.”

The UF Law Federalist Society and CaribLaw sponsored “Gun Regulation, the Second Amendment, and the End to Mass Shootings” on Feb. 6 at UF Law.

The second-floor Holland Hall classroom was filled with students and faculty with food provided by Reggae Shack Cafe. They listened to Froman discuss recent mass shootings, the new national discourse on gun regulation and whether the conflict between individual freedom and safety can ever be reconciled.

Stephen D. Pittman, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief operating officer for Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, Inc., provided commentary. He focused on why mass shooters behave the way they do, whether these tragedies could be prevented, if gun regulation is the answer, or if the solution lies somewhere deeper in the social psyche.

“I think the biggest myth we’re facing is that our mental health system is somehow sufficient to keep us safe from gun violence,” Pittman warned. “It certainly is not. It is a component to help protect people from themselves and to help protect people from those who are mentally ill and violent, but it is only a piece of the puzzle.”

Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, Inc., is a private, nonprofit mental health center that has provided services in Alachua County since 1958. Meridian now serves a 10-county area in North Central Florida. Meridian’s primary focus is on inpatient, residential and outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Pittman has specialized in mental health as an administrator and clinician in adult and juvenile settings over the past 20 years. Pittman currently has operational and clinical oversight for Meridian. He has also worked as a clinical psychologist in private practice and as a mental health educator and consultant. His expertise in mental health and statutory policy issues is also greatly influenced by his 13 years working for the State of Florida’s Department of Corrections and by his service as an expert witness in federal court litigation. Pittman holds two advanced degrees in Counseling Psychology from UF.

Froman has served on the NRA Board of Directors since 1992. She also an NRA-certified instructor. Froman is a practicing attorney in Phoenix where she works on legislative matters. She writes and speaks internationally about the importance of protecting Americans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, and promotes the importance of firearms education especially among women, youth and minorities. Froman graduated from Harvard Law School in 1974 and is on the board of trustees for George Mason University School of Law and the University of Arizona School of Law.

Professor Christine Windbichler, of Humboldt University Law School in Berlin, chats with faculty at UF Law last week. Windbichler is teaching a segment of a foreign enrichment class at UF Law, Doing Business in Europe: Selected Issues. (Photo by Haley Stracher)

Interested in exposure to international law concepts before engaging in the legal practice? Can you think outside the box of national law?

As globalization continues apace, lawyers are more likely to encounter an element of international or foreign law in their daily practices.

Doing Business in Europe: Selected Issues is a foreign enrichment class with 28 UF Law students enrolled this spring and coordinated by Professor Claire M. Germain, associate dean for Legal Information & Clarence J. TeSelle Professor of Law

Four distinguished international professors each lead a two- or three-week segment of the course and include: Luca Castellani, head of the Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RCAP) of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Incheon, Republic of Korea; Professor Christine Windbichler of Humboldt University Law School, Berlin; Professor Emeritus Xavier Blanc-Jouvan of the University of Paris I Sorbonne Law School and former director of the Comparative Law Institute, Paris; and Eric Noual, attorney specializing in insurance law, Paris.

The class comparatively analyzes key concepts of international commercial law. It especially focuses on the common law/civil law convergence and distinctions, the process of Europeanization of contract and business law and with U.S. law comparisons.

“I’m especially impressed by the students’ lively interest in things international,” Windbichler said.