A leading legal expert from Georgetown University Law Center will discuss the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, during the 32^nd annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Randy Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will present the lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” Friday at 10 a.m.in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Florida Law Review.

Barnett has written and commented extensively on the Affordable Care Act and represented the National Federal of Independent Businesses as their case against the ACA was presented before the Supreme Court last spring. In addition to discussing the decision’s general implications, Barnett will look at fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

Randy Barnett

The Florida Law Review Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law series was established by the U.S. Sugar Corporation and the law firms of Dunwody, White, & Landon, P.A. and Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody & Cole in honor of Elliot (JD 33) and Atwood Dunwody (JD 33). The honorees were brothers who dedicated their lives to the legal profession and who set a standard of excellence for The Florida Bar. As graduates of the University of Florida College of Law, they labored long, continuously and quietly to better the social and economic conditions in Florida.

The series is intended to perpetuate the example set by the Dunwody brothers by providing a forum for renowned legal scholars to present novel and challenging ideas.

An archived video of the Dunwody Lecture will be available at www.floridalawreview.com following the event.

More than a year after the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, legal, social and cultural questions raised by the case are still being discussed across the country. The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations will analyze a number of these questions during the 10^th annual CSRRR Spring Lecture, which will bring together experts from nine different departments at UF along with keynote speaker, New York Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow.

“At Close Range: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin,” will take place Wednesday at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180. The panel presentations will be from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and Blow’s keynote lecture will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and law school parking restrictions will be lifted in the green lots. The event will also be webcast at http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/0bb612b41ae84a359f258f135abb99321d.

The panels will look at a wide variety of issues raised by the case, from a multitude of academic perspectives. Some of the featured panels include “Jim Crow Riding High: The 21^st Century Assault on African-American Voting Rights in Florida,” “Half-Baked: Weed, Race and the Demonization of Trayvon Martin,” and “Racial Profiling, Security and Human Rights.”

“The Trayvon Martin case is a social touchstone precisely because it serves up topics we’re uncomfortable talking about in public, including race, crime, policing, interracial crime, use of deadly force, black crime victims, Southern race relations, media representations of race, and gun control,” said Katheryn Russell-Brown, director of the CSRRR and Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law. “The case offers an important opportunity for us to learn about, discuss and debate these myriad and overlapping issues. Our Spring Lecture event will contribute to the national discussion of the case and emphasize policy recommendations.”

The departments of political science; health services; philosophy; sociology, criminology and law; journalism and communications; history; English; anthropology, and African-American studies will all be represented. The academic papers, which comprise the basis for the panel discussions, will be compiled for the first installment in a new series in collaboration with UF Law’s Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center. The panel agendas and abstracts for the papers can be seen in the Collections of the UF Law Scholarship Repository at, http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/csrrr_events/10thspringlecture/panels/. For more information regarding the spring lecture, please visit the CSRRR homepage, http://www.law.ufl.edu/academics/centers/csrrr.

The University of Florida Levin College of Law’s CSRRR is committed to fostering communities of dialogue on race. The center creates and supports programs designed to enhance race-related curriculum development for faculty, staff and students in collegiate and professional schools. Of the five U.S. law schools with race centers, the CSRRR is uniquely focused on curriculum development.

About Charles Blow

After graduating cum laude from Grambling State University, keynote speaker 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. The Louisiana native 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, Fox News’ Fox and Friends, the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as numerous radio programs.

“Gay Marriage and the Promise of Equality” will be at noon in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180, with a book signing immediately following. The talk is free and open to the public. Parking restrictions in the green areas at the law school will be lifted for the event.

Sachs’ career as a human rights activist started in his student days at the University of Cape Town, when he took part in the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign. He devoted his law practice to defending people charged under racist statutes and repressive security laws. Many faced the death sentence. He himself was raided by the security police, subjected to banning orders restricting his movement and eventually placed in solitary confinement without trial for two prolonged spells of detention. In 1988, Sachs was the victim of a car bomb attack carried out by South African security agents, losing an arm and the sight of one eye.

During the 1980s and early 1990s Sachs was centrally involved in drafting the African National Congress’ proposed constitution for a new democratic South Africa. As a member of the Constitutional Committee and the national executive of the ANC he took an active part in the negotiations which led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy. He was appointed by President Nelson Mandela in 1994 to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court, and in 2005 he authored the court’s landmark decision requiring legal recognition of gay marriage in South Africa.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have Albie Sachs speak at UF,” said UF Law Senior Legal Skills Professor Joseph Jackson. “He’s a remarkable person and a major player in the constitutional transformation of South Africa, who has helped that country heal the divisions of the past.”

Sachs’ talk is co-sponsored by UF Law’s Center on Children and Families and UF’s Center for African Studies.

Sachs will also be giving a talk at the Center for African Studies at 4 p.m. titled, “Combating Corruption: Kenya’s Efforts to Judge its Judges.” Visit the African Studies website for complete details, http://web.africa.ufl.edu/.

Electronic discovery is increasingly becoming a fact of life for all litigators and this conference will feature a wide array of national experts discussing how to competently and cost-effectively handle e-discovery in small and medium cases. The conference will also shed light on the latest developments in Florida and federal e-discovery rules and will feature demonstrations of the latest e-discovery software and tools for each phase of the e-discovery process, for matters ranging from the most humble lawsuit to the largest mega-case.

The conference is part of UF Law’s E-Discovery Project, and is underwritten by the International Center for Automated Information Research, a University of Florida foundation established to promote innovation in information technology. Attendees will be eligible to receive 11.5 CLE credits.

The conference is free for full-time law students and UF faculty and staff. For registration and further information, visit the E-Discovery for the Small and Medium Case website.

Last week, the John Marshall Bar Association hosted its bi-annual community service week and encouraged awareness and fundraising for an alumnus battling brain cancer. Tonight, the Journal of Law and Public Policy is having a fundraiser at Chick Fil-A on Archer Road from 5 to 8 p.m. A portion of the sales will go towards the Dustin Rhodes Fund. Remember to tell the cashier that you are there to support the “JLPP Dustin Rhodes fundraiser. Meals ordered at the drive-through and inside will count for the fundraiser.

Dustin Rhodes graduated from UF Law in 2011, and in December 2012, he was diagnosed with the most aggressive type of Stage 4 brain cancer. Rhodes is one of 200 people in his age group who have been diagnosed with this and he has undergone brain surgery. The 29-year-old has a wife and an 11-month-old son and is currently going through radiation and chemotherapy. He hopes to recover, but his out-of-pocket expenses continue to rise, which is why his family created a fund for people to donate.

Rhodes’ family has chronicled his experience and struggle to fight his cancer from day one at the hospital. Read more at https://www.facebook.com/#!/DustinRhodesFund?fref=ts or http://dustrhodes.com/.

Get-well cards and birthday wishes were sent along with the donations collected at the JMBA table March 11-15 to Rhodes last week. However, it’s not too late to help him and his family. Donations are accepted online at http://dustrhodes.com/how-you-can-help/  or can be mailed directly to:

Dustin Rhodes
P.O. Box 14
Dallastown, PA 17313-0014

“The challenges facing Dustin and his family are severe,” wrote Dean Robert Jerry in an email. “I hope you will look at this and assist the JMBA effort in whatever way you can.”

Moot Court third at large NYC competition, Andrews named Best Advocate

During spring break, the Florida Moot Court Team sent 3Ls Nick Andrews, Robbie Boone and Bob O’Linn to New York City to compete in the 21st Annual Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition. Duberstein is the largest single-site moot court competition in the country, featuring 60 teams from all over the United States. Coached by Kristina Gandre (2L), the UF team was one of the few student-coached teams.

The competition centered on a business bankruptcy case that highlighted the sensitive issues of waiver of the right to file bankruptcy and the application of the automatic stay to ongoing patent litigation.

The team argued in three preliminary rounds from March 9 to March 10. After the team passed the preliminaries, it argued twice more in the afternoon of March 10. During a reception with the judges, the 3Ls were notified they had advanced to the quarterfinals. On March 11, UF defeated New York University in the quarterfinals at the Conrad B. Duberstein U.S. Bankruptcy Courthouse in Brooklyn but fell short against Southern Methodist University in the semifinals. The third-place finish was a repeat performance for Andrews and O’Linn, who represented the team in the 2012 competition and received the Best Brief award. Although the team was disheartened by the close loss this year, it took solace in the third-place scholarship award. At the banquet, Andrews took home the coveted Best Advocate award and received a standing ovation. Added to the Best Advocate award Boone received at the Cristol Kahn Paskay Bankruptcy Competition, this is the most decorated group the Florida team has assembled this season.

The team looks to build on this recent momentum in the upcoming Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition. Matthew Moats and Joey Posey, 2Ls, left March 15 to compete in the regional round. On March 23, Stephanie Generotti and Kate Livanec, 2Ls, will represent the Florida team at the Wechsler National Criminal Law Moot Court Competition.

New library food policy

Based on recommendations by students and the Student Library Advisory Committee (SLAC), the first floor is now a “no food zone.” Beginning Monday, March 11, food is allowed on the second floor, but only snacks, either non-messy fruits and vegetables or the vending machine variety (pretzels, chips, cookies, etc.). Study rooms remain food-free. Library staff hope this will accommodate student needs, both for quick bites while studying, and for completely quiet, food-free zones. Remember that drinks need a secure lid! Thank you for helping make the library a pleasant place to study. For more information, see Shira Megerman in HOL 175B.

LIC Notes: International Law Refresher: A New CRS Report

Need a quick refresher on how international law affects U.S. law for you or your students? Recently published Congressional Research Report International Law and Agreements: Their Effect Upon U.S. Law provides a 21-page introduction on international agreements and customary practice. It also includes nice flow charts that summarize the steps for making a treaty and an executive agreement.

International Law and Agreements: Their Effect Upon U.S. Law, March 1, 2013. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32528.pdf

UF Law Alumni and Student Orange & Blue-B-Que

Join your fellow (and future) UF Law alumni at the law school campus on Saturday, April 6, at 11 a.m. (before the spring Orange & Blue Debut football game) for this inaugural event hosted by the Center for Career Development. The CCD hopes to provide an atmosphere that helps foster connections between current and future generations of Gator lawyers. RSVP by March 31 here: Orange and Blue-B-Que RSVP.

2013 Class Gift Legacy

The University of Florida Levin College of Law would not be what it is today without support from alumni. As you prepare to join the distinguished Gator Nation alumni network, now is your chance to make a difference and leave a legacy for future generations of students. Consider making a gift, at any amount, in support of your college. UF Law appreciates your support, as the 2013 Class Gift campaign aims to achieve 100 percent participation from all graduating 3Ls.

To make a gift today visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/alumni/giving/class-gifts.

The University of Florida Levin College of Law is up in U.S. News & World Report rankings released March 12. Among the nation’s 201 public and private ABA-accredited JD-awarding law schools, UF’s law school is 23rd among public schools and 46th overall.

The publication places the school in two top specialty program rankings: first among public law schools and third overall in tax, and fifth among publics and 12th overall in environmental law. UF Law also continues to be highly rated in terms of reputation – 10th among publics and 26th overall in the assessment of practicing lawyers and judges, and 15th among publics and 35th overall in the assessment of academics.

“We are pleased that we continue to be one of the best values available in legal education,” said UF Law Dean Robert Jerry, referring to UF Law’s high placement for quality and equally low placement for cost among all U.S. law schools. “We’re among the three most affordable law schools in the US News top 50, when taking tuition and cost of living into account.

“At the same time, I caution every year that U.S. News and other rankings need to be considered in context and weighed along with other factors in evaluating institutional quality and fit, particularly when one considers the many factors not reflected in this ranking that make UF Law a leading law school,” Jerry said. “For example, we have a proven track record in providing leaders for the profession at both the national and state levels, and the prominence of our alumni in the federal and state judiciaries also sends a strong statement about our quality.”

In other national rankings, UF Law was fourth among public law schools in 2011 (eighth among all law schools in the nation) in the number of its graduates serving as federal district and circuit court judges.  More than 250 graduates serve as state appellate and trial judges in Florida, and many serve in those roles in other states as well. A 2012 Journal of Legal Education article titled “Where Do Partners Come From?” surveyed the National Law Journal 100 law firms and found that UF Law ranked 11th among publics and 29th overall in the number of alumni graduating from 1986 to the present serving as partners. A ranking by Super Lawyers magazine placed UF Law first in Florida, fourth among public schools, and eighth overall in “output,” i.e. the caliber of a school’s graduates. A 2012 article from Legal Metrics ranking law schools based on the number of arguments by their alumni before the U.S. Supreme Court since 2000 placed UF Law in the top 10 nationally.

“That a large number of law schools hire our graduates as law professors is also a sign of the college’s strength,” said Jerry.

A study published in the August 2011 Journal of Legal Education ranked UF Law in the top 33 (17 percent) of law schools nationwide, and as high as 22nd (11 percent) in one calculation, for the impact of its faculty on the law.

UF Law is also one of the top 10 law schools in the nation for Hispanics, according to Hispanic Business Review (seven times in nine years), and was ranked in 2012 as one of the top six schools for blacks in the South by On Being a Black Lawyer magazine.

It is unusual for a school to be so affordable, successful in both academia and the profession, and highly rated in such diverse areas.

“Thanks to our exceptional faculty and outstanding graduates, the UF Law Graduate Tax Program has ranked at the top of the U.S. News specialty tax area for as long as they have published the list, and remains the No.1 public school in this area,” said Associate Dean for Graduate Tax Mike Friel. “We are always gratified to see the program’s quality recognized in this way.”

ELUL Program Director Mary Jane Angelo said, “We are proud that UF’s Environmental and Land Use Law Program continues to be distinguished as a top program in this critical area. We have a large and dynamic program, and the faculty and students work very hard through projects like our annual Public Interest Environmental Conference, which attracted 250 participants to Gainesville this year, to make a genuine impact on current environmental issues.”

Jerry concluded, “The University of Florida is a quality school that cares about our students and offers them multiple paths to career satisfaction and success. We have state-of-the-art facilities and a beautiful campus, and we are part of one of the best and most comprehensive universities in the nation. The loyalty and influence of the Gator Nation’s law alumni cannot be overstated. Rankings like those published in the Journal of Legal Education and elsewhere offer interesting information for prospective students to consider and can help guide us in our continuing efforts to improve, but should be used as only one data point among many.”

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.

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 passed, but the essay submission deadline is March 31 for those who met the initial deadline. 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 the 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.

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

DiMatteo has been asked to co-chair a conference entitled “Transatlantic Perspectives on Commercial Contract Law” to be hosted by the Edinburgh University Law School. The unique conference format will pair 10 scholars from the United Kingdom with an equal number scholars from the United States on selected topics. The goal of the conference is to flesh out the differences in the world’s two major common law systems in the area of contract law.  Professor DiMatteo and UF Law Professor Jeffrey Harrison will present papers at the conference, which will be held Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, 2013.

Robert Jerry
UF Law Dean; Levin Mabie & Levin Professor of Law

“UF business grad school ranked 15^th” (March 12, 2013, The Gainesville Sun)

This article summarizes the recent US News rankings for various colleges at UF, including UF Law, which is ranked 23^rd among public schools and 46^th overall, two places higher than last year.

From the article:
Law school Dean Robert Jerry said he was pleased to the see the improvement, but he thinks rankings are only part of a bigger picture.

“This is one data point out of a great many that anyone thinking about a law school’s quality ought to think about,” he said.

“UF Law school rises in US News & World Report rankings” (March 13, 2013, The Alligator)

This article focuses on UF Law’s rise in the US News rankings.

From the article:
Robert Jerry, dean of the law school, warns that this data should be taken with a grain of salt.

“Rankings are very sensitive to employment data, and the employment data they use is not audited,” he said. “There is a lot of confusion in law schools about whether someone is employed in a part-time or full-time job. It creates a considerable inaccuracy that has an impact on the rank itself.”

Although wary, Jerry was pleased by the potential effects of rankings on reputation.

“We have a ranking of 3.9 [out of 5] on how judges and lawyers think about our law school, 10th highest among public law schools nationwide, 26th highest among all law schools,” Jerry said. “If [judges and lawyers] like what you’re doing, they like your graduates.”

Tom Lin
Assistant Professor of Law; Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center

Lin was recently the feature speaker at the 2013 UCLA Law Review Scholar Forum, where he delivered remarks entitled “The New Investor,” in connection with a forthcoming article about law, technology, and finance.

Joseph Little
Emeritus Professor

“Agreement spells end of Port of Tampa deputy director’s tenure” (March 12, 2013, Tampa Bay Times)

Little commented in this article about the Tampa Port Authority letting go its deputy port director of operations and engineering after almost 17 years of employment.

From the article:
University of Florida law professor Joseph Little said the agreement appears to be standard. It also appears to have been brokered by both sides to settle several outstanding issues, allow a clean break and eliminate the possibility that Kirincich might sue his former employer.

“It seems to me, as I read it, that there’s a lot of behind the scenes stuff why he was discharged or why he chose to leave,” Little said. “But there appears to be a working out of the severance of the relationship and the employer wanted to make sure he was not going to meddle in the affairs of the authority anymore, so whoever new comes in won’t be encumbered by that.”

Jon Mills
Dean Emeritus; Director, Center for Governmental Responsibility

“Law barring personal info from court records bring delay” (March 10, 2013, Tampa Bay Times)

This article is about the delays courts have been facing since a law was passed mandating the removal of personal information such as social security numbers from files.

From the article:
“I think there are still growing pains here,” said Jon Mills, a University of Florida law professor and former Florida House speaker. “The removal of personal information, things like Social Security and other things, we always knew that was going to be important, and not necessarily easy.”

Carl Schwait
Adjunct Professor

“New Florida Ad Rules Cover Lawyer Websites, Relax Some Restraints, Remain Very Detailed” (Feb. 13, 2013, ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct)

Schwait was quoted in the manual after he recently served as the chairman of the committee that submitted amendments to the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar in reference to lawyer advertising rules. The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the amendments Jan. 31, 2013, and Justice Pariente noted in her dissenting opinion: “The Bar commenced further study under the able leadership of Board of Governor member Carl Schwait and proposed the amendments currently before the Court.”

From the article:
Carl B. Schwait, a member of the bar’s board of governors who chaired the committee that developed the revised rules, told BNA he believes the rules strike the right balance between protecting consumers, which the Florida Supreme Court has focused on in its decisions, and complying with the First Amendment, which is the chief concern of the federal courts.

“We wanted to mesh those two’ in rewriting and restructuring the rule,” Schwait said. He is a partner with Dell Graham in Gainesville, Fla.

Schwait said that compared with the old standards the revised rules are more articulate about the boundaries of permissible advertising while being more compliant with constitutional dictates.

“We tried to provide much more of a bright line for lawyers so they would be comfortable that their advertisements comply with the rules no matter who is evaluating their ads within the bar,” he said.

Schwait noted that this revamp does not amend other rules pertaining to for-profit lawyer referral services. “Revisions to those rules are being developed on a separate track,” he said.