Elizabeth Dale
Affiliated Associate Professor of Law
Dale presented a paper to the American Bar Foundation/Illinois Legal History Seminar Oct. 18. The paper is “Putting ‘Liberty’ in its Place: Discussions of ziyou, Slavery, and Sovereignty in Turn-of-the-Century China.”

Robert Jerry
Dean, UF Law and Levin Mabie & Levin Professor of Law “UF-sponsored health plan costs $300 more this year” (Oct. 15, 2010, The Independent Florida Alligator)

Because of a change in providers this fall, UF students saw an increase of almost $300 in the cost of their school-sponsored insurance plans, with a very similar plan to what was already in place. The director of the Student Health Care Center said they changed providers to avoid an even bigger increase in rates.

From the article:
Robert Jerry, dean of the Levin College of Law, said he is not surprised that student plans are increasingly expensive. The student population is healthier than most demographics, so student insurance is priced to make more profit than other insurance products, he said.

Jerry believes the new health care legislation passed by Congress may also have an effect on student health care plans. The new law states that full-time students can be covered by their parents’ insurance up until age 26.

There are ways to bring insurance costs down for students, but it’s not in the hands of the university, Jerry said. If the state and federal governments team up to regulate insurance and provide everyone with some degree of health care, costs would go down.

“We ought to have a system where everybody has some kind of access to basic health care,” he said.

Lyrissa Lidsky
Stephen C. O’Connell Chair, Professor of Law
“Wannabe warriors an ‘insult’ to their bravery” (Oct. 17, 2010, Pensacola News Journal)

The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 has been gaining some attention lately with two cases involving the act in federal appeals courts. The act made it a federal offense to wear a military medal or for a person to say he or she earned a military medal if the person did not in fact earn a medal. Opponents of the act say it violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional, but admit the speech it would protect in this case is reprehensible.

From the article:
Lidsky said it is constitutional to punish people for making false statements in certain contexts — such as fraud, defamation, lying under oath or shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater — but the Stolen Valor Act is tricky because it doesn’t show clear damages to a victim.

“It’s making it a crime to tell a lie, but it’s making it a crime to tell a relatively harmless lie,” Lidsky The authors of the law contend that the lies erode the true value of military honors, but Lidsky asked, “Is there any evidence that that has had any effect on the morale of the troops?”

Joseph Little
Emeritus Professor
“Elect or appoint judges?” (Oct. 17, 2010, Orlando Sentinel)

Little commented on the benefits of having a system where voters can elect trial judges.

From the article:
Those who favor election, including Professor Joseph W. Little of the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida, say it protects the public by making judges more accountable.

Diane Mazur
Professor of Law
“How Does the Military Prove That Someone is Gay?” (Oct. 13, 2010, Slate)

Mazur is thanked as a source at the end of this article, which looks at the various methods the military has used to determine if a member of the military is gay. The determination and discharge proceedings usually focus on the actions of the person under scrutiny, rather than his or her actual sexual preferences.

“There is no legal reason to appeal DADT ruling” (Oct. 18, 2010, San Marcos Mercury)

The column looks at the recent ruling that found the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy unconstitutional and presents an argument about why there is no legal obligation to appeal the ruling. The article references a memorandum Mazur wrote on the topic.

From the article:
Diane Mazur, a professor of law at the University of Florida College of Law, has laid out in a legal memorandum the basics about executive discretion to decline to appeal laws held to be unconstitutional. Mazur’s primary areas of research include civil-military relations and military law generally. In her memorandum, she explains that the usual expectation is that the Justice department “will defend federal laws from constitutional challenge.” However, the usual practice is not mandatory: “There are well-recognized, standard exceptions that give the executive branch discretion in deciding whether or not to defend a law in some circumstances, and they would apply in deciding whether to appeal a court ruling finding that (DADT) is unconstitutional.”

Michael Seigel
Professor of Law
“Should authorities need a warrant to put a GPS tracking device on your car?” (Oct. 17, 2010, St. Petersburg Times)

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that law enforcement can use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track suspected criminals – without obtaining a warrant. The court also indicated that police could also go onto private property in order to install a GPS device. Seigel commented on Florida’s laws pertaining to the use of GPS.

From the article:
To use GPS tracking, they simply must convince a judge that it’s “relevant” to their investigation, said University of Florida law professor Michael L. Seigel.

“It’s a much lower standard,” he said. “It’s not requiring them to show any suspicion about an individual’s guilt.”

There’s also an easy way around state law. Local agencies could just ask the federal government for help. Federal agents don’t need a warrant to use GPS tracking devices in Florida, Seigel said.

Dean Robert H. Jerry

On behalf of our faculty and staff, I welcome all our new and returning students to the college. As we begin this new academic year, Steve Zack, (JD71), serves as the 2010-11 president of the American Bar Association, the fifth UF Law graduate to do so, more than any other school in the past four decades. I doubt that any other law school in the nation has ever been able to celebrate the accomplishment of having all of these offices occupied by its alumni in the same year: ABA President (Steve Zack); and, with its state bar association (for us, the Florida Bar Association), the president (Mayanne Downs, [JD87]); the president-elect (Scott Hawkins, [JD83]); the past-president (Jay White, [JD83]), and the Young Lawyers Division President (Renee Thompson, [JD99]). And Joe Milton, (JD69), received the Florida Bar Foundation’s 2010 Medal of Honor, the highest award presented to a member of the Florida Bar. Whether it’s bar officers, the judiciary, or the private sector, UF Law alumni have been and are leaders, and it all begins here.

This is already shaping up to be an active fall, with events ranging from the Glasser Barbecue (Tues., Sept. 14) to the University of Florida’s Constitution Day Program at the law school (Fri., Sept. 17). Details on other events and announcements, including important information about career development and student services, alumni activities and more, can be found in this and upcoming issues of FlaLaw Online, and I encourage you to make a habit of reading FlaLaw Online each Monday morning.

This year is also a time of great change in the legal profession, and many of our activities and events will explore these changes. The job market for new law graduates, although showing some signs of improvement, remains difficult, and we will have a number of programs designed to help prepare you to deal with these realities. Steve Zack’s ABA agenda for this year includes promoting access to and preservation of the justice system, civic education, and protecting human rights, and we will have programs that discuss each of these imperatives. Indeed, some of your faculty will have key positions on the committees that will work on these issues this year.

We have several new faculty colleagues who are joining us, and I hope you meet them soon: Tom Lin (teaching Business Organizations in fall and Corporations in the spring); Rachel Rebouche (teaching Comparative Family Law in fall and Perspectives on Family in the spring); Paul Gugliuzza (visiting, teaching Legal Research and Writing); Mark Snider (interim tax professor); Sylvia Menendez (visiting, Legal Drafting); and Joel Mintz (visiting; teaching Local Government and a seminar in Environmental Enforcement in the spring). Distinguished international visitors include Guido Pfeiffer (Germany, Introduction to Ancient Law); Tomasz Giaro (Poland, European Legal Tradition); and Adjunct Prof. Attila Andrade (Brazil, Doing Business in Latin America, and Practical International Business Transactions).

There are some new faces in the administration, too. Rick Donnelly has been named acting director of the Legal Information Center (library) following the retirement of Kathie Price, and we welcome two new reference librarians: Jenny Wondracek (teaching Advanced Legal Research via distance learning) and Shira Megerman, who as student services librarian will focus on 1Ls. We also welcome our new registrar, Debby Hyatt, who comes to us from Florida Atlantic, our communications coordinator/FlaLaw Online editor, Whitney Smith, formerly of The Gainesville Sun, and Grace Northern, who comes to us from the White House to join our fundraising team as associate director of Development and Alumni Affairs. Recruiting will soon begin for a new assistant dean position in the Office of Student Affairs who will focus on academic advising, academic support, and professional development.

I am pleased that our newest building, the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center, has been completed (with the exception of the interior of the second floor, which is scheduled for completion by fall 2011). The completion of the center’s courtroom finishes the total reconstruction of the college’s academic space during this decade. If you have not yet seen the courtroom, I hope you will soon visit it. We will have a courtroom opening celebration later this year and then a building dedication after all construction is completed. We have a new sidewalk on the northwest lawn; returning students will understand what I mean when I say this location for the sidewalk was selected by our students. If you’ve used the new walk, you’ve noticed the new sculpture generously donated to us by Marty Margulies, for whom the northwest lawn is named. As explained elsewhere in FlaLaw, this is a major work of art by an internationally prominent sculptor, which now makes our law school a destination for Gainesville visitors interested in viewing modern art.

This newsletter is for you, and I hope you will speak through it by submitting your news and suggestions to our Office of Communications at flalaw@law.ufl.edu. You also will find much information on our website, www.law.ufl.edu, such as policies and guidelines to which students and other members of our community are expected to adhere, as well as details and updated information on support services, financial information, student organizations, centers and institutes, course descriptions, faculty and staff, maps, and other helpful information.

Again, welcome to and back to the Levin College of Law. It’s great to be a Florida Gator, and I look forward to all of us having a very successful year.

— Bob Jerry, Dean and Levin, Mabie and Levin Professor