Applications for fall Conservation Clinic due April 10
Law Students interested in the UF Law Conservation Clinic for the fall semester may apply between now and April 10. The clinic is capped at 12 students. Students entering their fourth semester are eligible. Although, preference is given to those enrolled in, or intending to enroll in the Environmental and Land Use Law Certificate Program, students with an interest in the many intersections between environmental law and other areas of law and policy are encouraged to consider the clinic and meet with the director.

In the fall the clinic anticipates projects with current and new clients involving implementation of the recent conservation easement and conservation purposes amendments to the Florida constitution, multi-party conservation finance and management arrangements, water and watershed law and policy, clean energy (including local government solar financing districts), as well as continued work in sustainable redevelopment and coastal and marine policy, including adaptation to sea level rise.

Clinic students regularly travel for meetings, workshops and conferences, network with environmental professionals and occasionally must get their shoes wet. Students are encouraged to review the clinic Web site at to get a sense of the clinic’s project portfolio and products. Applications can be can accessed on the clinic Web site, in the offices of the Center for Governmental Responsibility and at Student Services. Interested students and students with ideas for projects based on their own interest and expertise are encouraged to contact Director Tom Ankersen at ankersen@law.ufl.edu or 352-273-0835.

Environmental Law(n) sports event April 2
The faculty affiliated with the Environmental and Land Use Law Program invite all interested students to join us for lawn sports (volleyball, bocce, badminton, croquet) on Thursday, April 2, from 4:30-6 p.m. The faculty will seek to improve its overall record against the teams mustered by the students. Pizza will be served. If you have an interest in environmental or land use law, please join us on Thursday afternoon, on the lawn to the south of Bruton-Geer for a chance to get to know your fellow students and professors. For more information contact Lena Hinson at elulp@law.ufl.edu.

Attention Student Alumni Association members
You are cordially invited to SAA’s inaugural Distinguished Gator Series event featuring Attorney General Bill McCollum on Thursday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall. Available to SAA members only, the Distinguished Gator Series is free and connects current students with prestigious alumni. Alumni discuss how their university experience shaped their careers and why staying connected to their alma mater is so important. Students will also have the unique opportunity to ask questions and mingle with our featured guest. Attire is business casual. Space is limited so be sure to register early. The deadline to RSVP is March 31. For more information contact saa@ufalumni.ufl.edu or 352-392-9533.

Enrollment deadline for Environmental & Land Use Law certificate program
Students wishing to enroll in the Environmental & Land Use Law Certificate Program this semester are encouraged to do so before Friday, April 3. For information on the ELUL Certificate Program and visit www.law.ufl.edu/elulp/certificate/index.shtml. Enrollment forms are available at www.law.ufl.edu/elulp/pdf/ELULP_Application.pdf or in 319 Holland Hall or Student Affairs. Students enrolled in the certificate program will receive e-mail notification regarding priority pre-registration for core courses.

Grad Tax speaker discusses policy and personal identity
Lawrence Zelenak, a law professor at Duke University, explained the philosophy underlying personal equity at on Friday. Zelenak addressed more than 50 students in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom and outlined several arguments proposed by public finance economists. “Philosophers have been raising questions about personal equity since Locke and Hume,” Zelenak said. One approach taken by public finance economists is to calculate a “lifetime endowment,” which looks at a person’s career over his or her lifetime. Congress, however, looks at one-year “slices” of a person’s life. “Congress, at the other extreme, says ‘maybe we should just look at the single year,’” Zelenak said. The current tax system, nevertheless, makes no effort to achieve lifetime equity, Zelenak said in a 30-minute question-and-answer session.

Conservation Clinic camping trip on bank of St. Marys
Faculty and students in UF Law’s Environmental and Land Use Law Program took advantage of the glorious spring weather and the largesse of White Oaks Plantation Conservation Center to camp on the banks of the St. Marys River on the Florida Georgia border. Students in the Conservation Clinic and the Professor Richard Hamann’s Adaptive Watershed Management course have been examining legal, scientific and management issues related to management of the transboundary river, including designation as an Outstanding Florida Water, harmonized local environmental regulation and the potential for an interstate compact. They have been collaborating with the University of Georgia’s environmental law practicum under the direction of Professor Laurie Fowler. Fowler will visit the UF Water Institute on April 14 to discuss her work developing River Basin Centers in Georgia. At White Oak students were treated to a tour of the facility, which provides a refuge for 35 species of endangered African wildlife. Several students braved the season’s last chill and swam across the river to Georgia and back.

2009-2010 law school calendar photo contest
Do you like taking photos? Are you interested in seeing your work in print? This year, the Communications Office and Student Affairs is asking you to submit your best photo for the 2009-2010 calendar. You do not have to be a professional photographer to enter this contest. The winning photo will be chosen by a committee and published in the 2009-2010 calendar. The deadline to submit is April 1, 2009. For examples of photos used in previous calendars, visit www.law.ufl.edu/news/calendar.shtml. For more information contact Communications Coordinator Katie Blasewitz at blasewitz@law.ufl.edu or 352-273-0652. (Photo by Joshua Lukman)

L.A.W. donates money raised from professor auction
Officers from Law Association for Women met with Alachua County P.A.C.E. to donate $2,040. The money was raised as part of L.A.W.’s annual professor auction held last semester. P.A.C.E. (Practical Academic Cultural Education) is a not-for-profit, state-wide organization dedicated to helping at-risk girls from 12-18 who are experiencing difficulty at home or school. Since 1985, PACE has helped more than 12,000 girls to stay in school and to stay out of the juvenile justice system. UF’s L.A.W. is proud to support our community and such a worthwhile endeavor. L.A.W. also thanks the professors and students at the Levin College of Law who made it possible by their generous contributions.

“One of the areas that were of particular concern in Bradenton Beach was the anchoring of boats next to the City Pier, which by itself is not a problem, but it often leads to abandoned and derelict vessels, illegal discharges , and safety and “land use” conflicts with shoreside neighbors.” Ankersen said. “We learned a lot about this from the 2004-05 hurricanes.”

Ankersen, legal skills professor and director of the Conservation Clinic at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, said the solution to the problems occurring at Bradenton Beach, Fla., was the addition of a mooring field to the boating area.

The plan was to install moorings instead of relying on anchors because they are safer and will increase the number of boats that can fit in a particular area. Though there are management costs and liability concerns associated with the installation of these fields, Ankersen said it will be relatively inexpensive to the boaters.

Ankersen said the pressure to have mooring fields has increased as the development of the coast has increased in Florida because traditional marinas are being pushed out by what are called “dockominiums”. Dockominiums is a concept where boaters can buy a slip and keep it for the life of the lease, so the ability for the first-come first-serve boater to get access to marina slips was being restricted. This helps justify the need for mooring fields.

William Grant Watson (JD 05) and Cathleen Kenney (JD 06), former students of the Conservation Clinic who are currently practicing law in Florida, were heavily involved in the project with Ankersen. The mooring project didn’t reach fruition though until 2008, well after the students had graduated.

“The real world doesn’t run on semesters or even academic years,” said Ankersen on the length of time it takes to complete projects. “Things usually take longer than the amount of time that the students are here with us.” Watson is currently working in law firm in Lake County. He said he is thrilled to see what has happened at Bradenton Beach.

“There was a lot of hard work and long hours that went into putting together this plan, and as with everything else in life, it’s great to see results,” said Watson.

Kenney, who is currently working for a small private firm in Ocala, was also excited to find out Bradenton Beach was creating a mooring field. She said she really enjoyed working on the project.

“Really, our project was both an opportunity to learn about the preservation of Florida’s coastal communities and continued water access, and an opportunity to disseminate this information to people eager to learn,” said Kenney.

Ankersen said the interesting aspect of this project was the intergovernmental relationship between Manatee County and Bradenton Beach.

Because of the location of the boundary line, the submerged lands beneath the water were under the jurisdiction of Manatee County. That meant that Manatee County had jurisdiction over all of the water, even though the area of importance was immediately adjacent to the Bradenton Beach municipal pier.

Ankersen said through working with Ralph Brookes (JD 84), and a Manatee County attorney, they were able to draft a special act of legislation to change the boundary line so a mooring field could be built at Bradenton Beach. Currently, Bradenton Beach has the only mooring field in Florida enshrined in legislation.

“Most students don’t realize that there are laws in Florida that are never codified in the Florida Statutes,” said Ankersen, referring to Special Acts. “That was a real eye opener for Grant and Cathy.” Though Ankersen is moving on to other projects, maybe it was fate that he ended up working in these boating situations.

“I grew up in Florida and my last name is Ankersen,” he said when asked about his interested in boating. “So I guess I was destined to work on these issues.” Ankersen and the Clinic continue to work with the State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on boating law reform, and with the Florida Department of Community Affairs and waterfront communities on water access issues.

The UF Law Conservation Clinic was commissioned by the Office of the Provost to conduct a university-wide review of UF’s sustainability curriculum, including courses, academic programs and centers and institutes.

Third-year law student Brenda Appledorn (above, left) conducted the review under the supervision of clinic Director Tom Ankersen (above, right).

The review concluded that “[a]lthough there are significant curricular gaps, the University of Florida already has a rich curriculum in courses that is based in sustainability theory or relates to sustainability principles, and that rivals the curricula at peer and other institutions which have formalized their sustainability curricula into interdisciplinary programs, including graduate and undergraduate degree programs, certificates and minors.

“The university should consider creating a programmatic emphasis in sustainability at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and provide additional strategic resources to leverage its current curricula.”

The Provost accepted the clinic’s report and directed the University Sustainability Committee to develop an implementation plan. Ankersen was appointed as an ex-officio member of the committee.