Caroline Joan S. Picart (3L, joint J.D. and M.A. in Women’s Studies Candidate; Tybel Spivack Teaching Fellow) has a contracted and forthcoming book: Critical Race Theory and copyright in American Dance (Palgrave-Macmillan, forthcoming, 2013). She has also contracted three forthcoming law journal articles, two in an international London-based journal:

• Caroline Joan S. Picart and Marlowe Fox, “Beyond Unbridled Optimism and Fear: Indigenous Peoples, Intellectual Property, Human Rights and the Globalization of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Folklore” (Part I), 15 International Community Law Review 3, (2013), pages forthcoming.
• Caroline Joan S. Picart and Marlowe Fox, “Beyond Unbridled Optimism and Fear: Indigenous Peoples, Intellectual Property, Human Rights and the Globalization of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Folklore” (Part II), 16 International Community Law Review 2 (2014), pages forthcoming. 
• Caroline Joan S. Picart, “Cross Cultural Negotiations and International Intellectual Property Law: Attempts to Work Across Cultural Clashes Between Indigenous Peoples and Majoritarian Cultures,” 22 Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, pages forthcoming.

Her conference paper, “Monstrosity, Serial Killing, the criminal blackman and the Lesbian Female Serial Killer: Fact and Fiction in Depictions of Wayne Williams and Aileen Wuornos,”  was accepted and presented March 21 at the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities, University of London, England.

LIC Notes: Congressional Rules: CRS Primers

Do you ever teach your students or write about the functions of Congress? Several recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports discuss the workings of Congress and some changes to procedures that are being implemented. You will occasionally find useful diagrams in the CRS reports, such as those found in .

• The Amending Process in the Senate, March 15, 2013, http://hobnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/98-853_2013_03_15_40p.pdf
• Commonly Used Motions and Requests in the House of Representatives, March 15, 2013, http://hobnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/RL32207_2013_03_15_21p.pdf
• Changes to Senate Procedures in the 113th Congress Affecting the Operation of Cloture, March 13, 2013, http://hobnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/R42996_2013_03_13_32p.pdf
• House Committee Funding: Description of Process and Analysis of Disbursements, March 13, 2013, http://hobnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/R42778_2013_03_13_15p.pdf
• “Sense of” Resolutions and Provisions, March 11, 2013, http://hobnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/98-825_2013_03_11_5p1.pdf
• Lobbying Registration and Disclosure: Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate, March 7, 2013, http://hobnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/RL34377_2013_03_07_15p.pdf

• Senate Select Committee on Ethics: A Brief History of Its Evolution and Jurisdiction, March 7, 2013, http://hobnobblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/RL30650_2013_03_07_29p.pdf

If you are interested in other functions not discussed above, the Law Librarian’s Society of Washington D.C. maintains a list of “Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures” at http://www.llsdc.org/crs-congress/.

Important registration information from Student Affairs

The course schedules for the upcoming academic year (summer 2013, fall 2013, and spring 2014) have been released and are posted on the Student Affairs website: http://www.law.ufl.edu/student-affairs/current-students/course-schedules. You should be aware of information concerning distance education courses prior to registering for classes. Based upon ABA Standard 306(d), governing distance education in U.S. Law Schools, no student may obtain more than four credit hours of distance education(online/asynchronous) courses in the same term, and no student may receive more than a total of 12 credit hours of academic credit for distance education(online/asynchronous) courses to count toward the J.D. degree. Furthermore, since students are permitted, with prior approval, to complete up to six credit hours of graduate level courses to count toward law school graduation requirements, and since some students complete distance education courses through the Graduate School, the four credit hours and 12 credit hours limitations apply to these courses, as well. Thus, if a student is registered for an online graduate level course, this reduces the number of hours permitted for other distance education(online/asynchronous) courses either through the Graduate School and/or through the law school.

This information is particularly important for the Summer 2013 term, as there are currently 6 asynchronous (distance education) courses on the law school’s summer schedule of courses. Out of these six courses, one is a one credit hour course and the other courses are two credit hours. Therefore, you will only be able to register for up to two of these asynchronous courses during the summer term. Please review the schedule of courses carefully and plan your schedules accordingly. As you register for classes, you will be reminded of this requirement in ISIS when/if you register for any law distance education(asynchronous/online) course. If you attempt to register for a distance education(asynchronous/online) course, the following message will pop up to remind you of this rule:

“Per ABA Standard 306D, a law student may not register for more than four credits of asynchronous online courses in one term.”

If it is determined that you have registered for more than four credits of asynchronous (distance education/online) courses in any term (e.g., this summer), you will be notified to drop a course or courses. If this is not done, you will then be administratively dropped from the course or courses until you are in compliance with the ABA Standard 306(d).

If there should be any questions or concerns about any of this information, please feel free to contact Assistant Dean of Students Kari Mattox at mattoxk@law.ufl.edu, or stop by the Office of Student Affairs.

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.

Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colordblindness" addresses the crowd Wednesday, Sept. 22. (Photo by Joey Springer)

“We have not ended the racial caste system in America, we have merely redesigned it,” said Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” at her discussion Sept. 22.

Students, faculty and community members gathered to hear the lecture and ask the first-time author questions. Alexander intended her book to be “a wake-up call.”

“It was my greatest hope in writing The New Jim Crow that it would help to stimulate public dialogue and debate about a phenomenon that has been ignored for far too long in this country – the mass incarceration of poor people of color,” Alexander said. “I’m thrilled that I’ve been invited to share my work and research, and that the university community is eager to have a serious conversation about our nation’s undercaste.”

She recognized that the idea may seem absurd, even admitting that 10 years ago, she thought a bright orange sign in Oakland, Calif., that said “the drug war is the new Jim Crow” was ridiculous. However, after spending 10 years working on issues of racial profiling, drug law enforcement, police brutality and attempting to assist individuals “attempting to ‘re-enter’ a society that never seemed to have much use for them in the first place”, she finds the claim irrefutable.

“With the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, people of all colors are more reluctant than ever to acknowledge that an enormous percentage of the African American community remains locked in a permanent, second-class status. Our nation’s prison population has quintupled for reasons rooted more in politics than crime, and the racial dimension of this tragedy is undeniable. In major American cities today, the majority of young African American men are behind bars or branded felons for life. And once branded a felon, you’re trapped. You’re ushered into a parallel social universe in which you can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits. So many of the old forms of discrimination that we supposedly left behind, are suddenly legal again once you’ve been labeled a felon.”

When asked the best way to take a stand on the issue, Alexander responded that it is “not easy.” Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., she continued, “You have to be willing to stand alone if you are going to stand for justice. This is as true today, as it was back then.”

She said the most important thing anyone can do is to raise awareness and break the silence about how mass incarceration works and how it has devastated communities. She hopes The New Jim Crow will provide the information people need to start discussing “the devastating impact of the War on Drugs and the ‘get tough’ movement on poor communities of color in the U.S.”

“Nothing short of a major social movement has any hope of ending the mass incarceration in the U.S.,” she concluded.

The Center on Children and Families and the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations sponsored Alexander’s lecture.

Students, faculty and community members discuss race relations and Michelle Alexander's new book. (Photo by Joey Springer)

Students, faculty and community members came together for a book discussion on Wednesday, Sept. 15, in anticipation of legal scholar and Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Michelle Alexander’s upcoming visit.

The discussion focused on Alexander’s new book, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” which is the topic of Alexander’s lecture Wednesday, Sept. 22, at noon in the UF Law’s Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom.

The book examines the current state of race and racial justice in the United States, stating that the racial caste system that existed during the pre-civil rights era is still in place, it has just been redesigned.

Alexander points out that even though the U.S. has elected its first black president, many young black men remain disadvantaged in major U.S. cities because they are labeled as felons or are already behind bars. The criminal justice system – while maintaining an outward stance of colorblindness – serves as a modern means of racial control, according to the book.

Katheryn Russell-Brown, Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations, and Nancy Dowd, Director of the Center on Children and Families, organized the event with the goal of having “informed conversations about these important topics,” Brown said.

“We, as faculty, are no more knowledgeable or insightful than you, as students,” Dowd said. “We are all trying to find our way together in examining these important issues. It was a profound experience to read this book.”

At the book discussion, Adessa Barker, 3L, noted the differences between the new and old Jim Crow. “It’s subtle. Once you get the stamp of ‘convict,’ it affects your whole life, and puts your family into a downward spiral.”

The New Jim Crow calls for a reevaluation of the current system and seeks to bring the issue of mass incarceration to the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in the U.S.

The discussion is sponsored by the Center on Children and Families and the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations. The event is free and open to the public.

About Michelle Alexander:
Alexander joined the OSU faculty in 2005 where she holds a joint appointment with the Moritz College of Law and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Prior to joining the OSU faculty, she was a member of the Stanford Law School faculty, where she served as Director of the Civil Rights Clinic. Alexander has significant experience in the field of civil rights advocacy and litigation. She has litigated civil rights cases in private practice, as well as engaged in innovative litigation and advocacy efforts in the non-profit sector. For several years, Alexander served as the director of the Racial Justice Project for the ACLU of Northern California, which spearheaded a national campaign against racial profiling by law enforcement. While an associate at Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak & Baller, she specialized in plaintiff-side class action suits alleging race and gender discrimination. Alexander is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Vanderbilt University. Following law school, she clerked for Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the United States Supreme Court and for Chief Judge Abner Mikva on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Nancy Dowd

Do feminists see women as a diverse group in need of support and men as only one thing: male and privileged?

A new book by University of Florida Law Professor Nancy Dowd, “The Man Question: Male Subordination and Privilege,” (NYU Press), says it’s time to change this perspective and apply the feminist anti-essentialist view to males as well as females.

Dowd explains that feminism is credited with getting us to “ask the woman question” in virtually every discipline and in public policy, to question women’s status and to challenge women’s absence. Feminism readily acknowledges that all women are not created equal, and many factors, including race and class, help define individuals. Men receive a less-nuanced analysis.

“The core message of the book is that gender analysis is not just for women and girls; it is also for boys and men,” said Dowd, UF Law’s David H. Levin Chair in Family Law and director of the Center on Children & Families. “That means asking the man question, both when we are aware that men are at the heart of the issue, and when we tend to overlook them.”

In the book, Dowd draws from masculinities scholarship as well as feminist analysis to examine issues of manhood and masculinity. She ultimately demonstrates how both subordination and privilege is constructed for men and boys. She suggests how “the man question” should be asked, and then explores some examples of where this leads; including for boys, education and juvenile justice; and for men, fatherhood and adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

As these questions are asked, it is critical to see differences among men, rather than treating all men as alike. We need to not only ask “what about men?” but also “are all men alike in this situation?” Dowd said.

“Sometimes some men are more disadvantaged than others, particularly along lines of race and class,” Dowd said, illustrating her message by pointing out the disproportion of boys and men in the juvenile justice and adult criminal justice populations. Those men and boys in the system are also disproportionately men of color, she said.

Ultimately, Dowd seeks to expand our understanding of privilege and subordination by incorporating the study of masculinities into feminist theory.

“My prior scholarship had focused most recently on fatherhood, which combines my interest in family law and gender issues,” Dowd said. “In the course of writing a book on fathers, it was clear to me that masculinities were a critical barrier to shifting fatherhood toward a care-giving, nurturing model.”

Dowd also credits her law students for challenging the norms of gender analysis that pointed out the need for the book.

“Gender analysis is all about equality and justice, and once you begin that scrutiny, it is not limited to one particular group or category. The equality of all is essential.”

Dowd is also editor and a contributor for the book, “Justice for Kids: Keeping Kids Out of the Juvenile Justice System,” which is scheduled for publication next year. She is the author of two previous books – “In Defense of Single Parent Families” and “Redefining Fatherhood” – and co-author of two books – “Feminist Legal Theory: An Anti-Essentialist Reader” and “Handbook: Children, Culture and Violence.” Her areas of expertise include Constitutional law, family law, feminist jurisprudence, employment discrimination and civil rights. She can be reached at dowd@law.ufl.edu. View her faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/dowd/.

Lawyers Crossing Lines is a collection of true stories about lawyers from all segments of the legal profession. The authors, Michael L. Seigel, University of Florida Research Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and former first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, and James L. Kelley, who prior to his death, practiced law for more than 30 years and taught professional responsibility at Georgetown University Law Center, chronicle those who have transgressed ethical boundaries in a big way.

The book’s 10 chapters reveal in rich detail some of America’s most infamous trials and legal personalities. Chapter titles include, “The Ironic Road to Club Fed,” “The Legal Doctor Kevorkian,” “The Case of Casanova and His Clients,” and “Vegas Judge Gone Wild.” Comments and questions designed to explore the issues in greater depth follow each tale.

Here’s what the legal profession has to say about Lawyers Crossing Lines.

“Students learn more from real life than they will ever learn from just reading cases and codes,” said Laurie L. Levenson, David W. Burcham Chair of Ethical Advocacy and professor of law, Loyola Law School. “This book provides an opportunity for students to learn the critical lessons of ethical practice by carefully examining situations where lawyers crossed the line. These are lessons that will stick with them forever.”

“I use Lawyers Crossing the Lines, in a required first-year course on professionalism,” said Patrick E. Longan, William Augustus Bootle Chair in Ethics and Professionalism, Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law. “The stories make it possible for the students to see problems of ethics and professionalism from the perspectives of real lawyers dealing with real situations. They learn more from discussions about the stories than they could possibly learn from just studying abstract principles.”

“The stories contained in this work are compelling, instructive and witty,” said Paul Byron, partner, Overchuck, Byron, Overchuck P.A., Winter Park, Fla. “I had the pleasure of working with Professor Seigel when he was second in command at the U.S. attorney’s office. Mike leads by example, and his message was clear – always take the high road and never short cut ethics. This is a lesson for lawyers, young and not-so-young, to live by.”

To order Lawyers Crossing Lines: Ten Stories, 2nd Edition, visit www.cap-press.com/isbn/9781594606847.